Drugs throughcare in a local prison: a process evaluation

This paper discusses the implementation process of a throughcare project fo r short-term and remand prisoners with substance misuse problems in a local prison. The aim of the Project was to assess the needs of such prisoners a nd refer them on to outside agencies on release. The introduction of a new group of workers into such a highly structured environment as a prison with out adequate preparation and induction and at a sensitive time, led to cons iderable difficulties in the short term. Despite this, the Project saw more than 1000 inmates in its first 9 months of existence-the great majority of whom were heroin users, and about half of whom had not been in contact wit h any drug agencies/services in the community. While the effectiveness of t he Project within the prison cannot be faulted, its success in getting pris oners to contact agencies on release remains unclear. The relevance of the Project to the CARAT scheme is noted.