Prisoners
(asked on 13th June 2022) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) male and (b) female prisoners have (i) mental health issues; (ii) a physical health condition; (iii) a learning disability; (iv) a physical disability; (v) unemployment histories; (vi) housing issues or are homeless; (vii) family or relationship difficulties; (viii) social isolation; (ix) financial issues; (x) substance misuse issues; (xi) experienced physical, psychological or social trauma and (xii) two or more of these needs or issues.
The answer to question (ii) is information held by the Department for Health and Social Care. We can provide information from individuals in prison as, at 30 June 2021, who have a detailed assessment (Layer 3) completed on the Offender Assessment System (OASys). Individuals have been excluded where there is missing data for any of the assessment items required to answer questions (i) and (iii) to (xii). Definitions used for specific needs areas are given below.
Numbers
Issue(s) | Count - Female | Count - Male |
Mental health issues | 628 | 7,555 |
Learning disabilities | 35 | 889 |
Physical disabilities | 163 | 3,391 |
Unemployment histories | 783 | 15,590 |
Housing issues or homeless | 1,521 | 34,705 |
Relationship difficulties | 1,841 | 40,614 |
Social isolation | 298 | 5,058 |
Substance misuse | 1,341 | 31,267 |
Financial issues | 1,299 | 35,680 |
Physical or psychological trauma | 1,694 | 21,883 |
Two or more issues | 1,973 | 47,050 |
Number of prisoners with full assessment | 2,090 | 55,564 |
Proportions
Issue(s) | Proportion - Female | Proportion - Male |
Mental health issues | 30% | 14% |
Learning disabilities | 2% | 2% |
Physical disabilities | 8% | 6% |
Unemployment histories | 37% | 28% |
Housing issues or homeless | 73% | 62% |
Relationship difficulties | 88% | 73% |
Social isolation | 14% | 9% |
Substance misuse | 64% | 56% |
Financial issues | 62% | 64% |
Physical or psychological trauma | 81% | 39% |
Two or more issues | 94% | 85% |
Definitions used
Item (i), mental health issues: OASys reports significant difficulties (score of 2) on question 10.2 psychological problems and/or question 10.6 psychiatric problems.
Item (iii), a learning disability: the disabilities listed on Delius include a learning disability.
Item (iv), a physical disability: the disabilities listed on Delius include hearing difficulties, a progressive condition, reduced mobility, reduced physical capacity, severe disfigurement, speech impairment or visual impairment.
Item (v), unemployment histories: OASys reports significant difficulties (score of 2) on question 4.3 employment history.
Item (vi), housing issues or are homeless: OASys reports a criminogenic need in the accommodation section.
Item (viii), social isolation: OASys reports significant difficulties (score of 2) on question 10.3 social isolation.
Item (ix), financial issues: OASys reports that the assessor judges financial issues to be linked to “risk of serious harm, risks to the individual and other risks” and/or linked to offending behaviour.
Item (x), substance misuse issues: OASys reports a criminogenic need in the drug misuse and/or alcohol misuse sections.
Item (xi), experienced physical, psychological or social trauma: OASys reports that any of the following were present – question 2.10, current offence disinhibited by a traumatic life event; significant difficulties (score of 2) on question 6.3, experience of childhood; question 6.7, victim of domestic violence, and question 10.7, history of severe head injuries, fits, periods of unconsciousness.
Item (xii) checks how many of (i) and (iii) to (xi) are present, and is counted as present if two or more of these ten items are present.