Working with Complexity
This report highlights the experiences of women coming to HMP Styal, and the interrelation of their various unmet needs. It traces the common cycles and paths that lead them to crisis and offending. It also outlines a service that would improve their chances of leading crime free, healthy lives. The report is based on a needs assessment of the issues faced by women with mental health problems in HMP Styal who are returning to Greater Manchester. It examines why they become caught up in a cycle of abuse, crisis, drugs, breakdown and crime followed by imprisonment.
The report goes on to explore the challenges of delivering services to women with multiple needs. It highlights the need to outline more effective interventions to support them in the community and reduce rates of re-offending. Our needs assessment sought to understand the women’s mental state, their lives in the community and their past experiences – particularly the relationships they have formed. Although the findings are not a representative sample of Styal’s prisoners, the needs of the individuals do match the national profile of vulnerable women prisoners.
The report includes key statistics about aspects of the women’s lives, including housing, family and support networks, abuse, drug dependency, mental health and reoffending. Figures demonstrate the coincidence of problems – for example, 41.3% were repeat offenders who had experienced neglect, a mental health problem, and drug dependence.
The statistics and interviews gave us evidence that we used to establish the root causes of the women’s behaviour. We saw how these fed into cycles and resulted in the women repeatedly re-offending instead of securing help to resolve their problems.
Although many of the problems are long-term and deeply engrained, the support offered is generally either short and sporadic, or dependent on the length of sentence. We worked closely with the women to identify the key elements of a service that could respond to their complex needs. The aim was to improve their chances of leading healthy, crime-free lives.
The five key elements were:
- coordinating support
- focusing on mental health needs
- providing support to find accommodation and sustain tenancies
- providing through the gate support
- providing sustained support.
This report is part of a process, rather than the end of one. We hope that the model proposed in this document, and the process taken to reach it, can provide a starting point from which to think about the way ahead.
