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Government failing to support prison leavers to resettle in the community, watchdog warns

THE government is not consistently supporting prison leavers to resettle in the community, according to the independent public spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office also report found that HM Inspectorate of Prisons did not rate any prisons as “good” for rehabilitation and release planning in 2022-23, compared with 3 per cent in the previous year and 30 per cent in 2019-20.

Official figures show that 38 per cent of prisoners released from custody between April 2020 and March 2021 reoffended in the following 12 months.

A severe shortage of probation officers combined with high caseloads means that the prison and probation service (HMPPS) is not completing all the resettlement work it knows is essential, the report added.

Committee of public accounts chairwoman Meg Hillier said HMPPS has launched new initiatives in housing and employment to help prisoners resettle, but “it must improve its understanding of what works so it can ensure these initiatives are making a real difference for the £550 million of taxpayers’ money it is investing.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said that the government was investing an extra £155 million into the services to address the issues.

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