Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Swaleside, published on 3 September 2021, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of resettlement services offered at HMP Swaleside.

There is room for improvement in the resettlement service offered at HMP Swaleside.

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) noted that 26 prisoners were released from Swaleside directly into the community without having spent time at a resettlement prison prior to release.

However, it should be noted that these men were provided with support in preparation for their release, including assistance with securing accommodation on release, setting up bank accounts and obtaining ID cards. Additionally, all prisoners are appointed a Community Offender Manager (COM), more commonly known as a Probation Officer when they are seven months from release or seven months from their parole date. The COM supports ex-offenders to help prevent them from re-offending after they leave prison.

The Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) model was implemented from April 2018 as a framework to co-ordinate a prisoner's journey through custody and back into the community. OMiC intends to put rehabilitation at the centre of custodial and post-release work to reduce reoffending and promote community reintegration. The Governor of HMP Swaleside, Mark Icke, and his team are committed to the success of this framework and are looking at ways to engage the population and local services to assist with resettlement opportunities.