Understanding the social care support needs of Scotland's prison population
There has been an increasing need for social care support among the prison population, an issue the Scottish Government has committed to address. One challenge for providing integrated health and social care in prison settings is to understand the scale of the problem: how many people in custody have social care support needs?
Our latest study, published today on the Scottish Government website, attempts to provide an answer to this question.
Previous literature on the subject indicated that the prevalence of physical, mental health and other conditions among the prison population is high, and the prison environment can both exacerbate these problems and be the initial trigger. Furthermore, our interviews with key stakeholders (including prison staff, health and social care professionals) suggested there are unmet social care support needs in Scottish prisons, with the problem of addressing invisible disabilities being the most prevalent.
Our quantitative model puts the proportion of people in Scottish prisons with social care needs at 7%-10%, a substantially higher level than the 2% estimated by the Scottish Prison Service (2018).
Our research concludes with another question: should preventative social care support be considered in Scottish prisons, so that individuals who do not currently have social care support needs become less likely to develop them? Examples of preventative social care support that could be provided in Scottish prisons include support and encouragement of people in custody to participate in the prison community, as well as measures assisting with their transition back to life outside prison.
Although preventative social care support would be provided to more people than those with existing social care needs, the cost per person would be substantially lower, potentially leading to reduced overall spend. This is because small amounts of social care support can reduce people’s chance of developing serious social care needs requiring disproportionately high costs to address.