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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent of throughcare provision for prisoners with problematic drug use. Effective throughcare services have been recognised as important because they help to ensure that any progress in treatment made in prison is continued on release. Previous research demonstrates that examples of good practice in throughcare provision for prisoners with problematic drug use exist in many parts of the world. However, evidence from recent work carried out in Europe indicates that the implementation of throughcare services for this group of prisoners is limited and ineffective in some EU member states. This paper aims to explore the reasons for such failure and to identify the barriers to implementing effective throughcare for this particular group of prisoners.

This paper is drawn from research carried out as part of a European project funded by the Directorate General Justice of the European Commission. The project involved six partners from a range of different member states. The research involved a literature review, followed by in‐depth interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders. Each partner carried out the qualitative research within their own country, in order to enable the team to capture local nuances.

The findings indicate that key barriers to implementation of effective throughcare are resources which impacts on the availability of support services, attitudes and training of staff and ultimately the continuity of care.

This paper adds to the body of knowledge regarding the provision of effective throughcare to those with problematic drug use.

The study aimed to identify and define core components of Throughcare. The global prison population has reached its highest level to date (11.5 million), with comparative data on recidivism unavailable. Despite the global shift away from punitive and towards rehabilitative approaches, reintegration programming (Throughcare) is limited, ill-resourced or non-existent in many countries.

This study conducted a global e-Delphi consensus study of professionals working in prison and correctional services to define critical components of effective rehabilitation and reintegration programming. Consensus was defined a priori as 70% or more participants scoring an outcome from 7 to 9 and fewer than 15% scoring it 1 to 3.

Following a call for expression of interest circulated to the International Corrections and Prisons Association member list (n = 7282), 175 members agreed to partake in the e-Delphi rounds. In Round One, 130 individuals completed an online survey where 35 statements were scored by importance, each with opportunity to provide written feedback. A total of 33 statements exceeded the set threshold of consensus. Written feedback supported refinement and further development of statements in Round Two. A total of 108 individuals completed Round Two. A total of 39 out of the 40 statements exceeded the set threshold of consensus.

Consensus statements are useful to provide a shared understanding for inter-agency Throughcare partnerships, to inform national prison policies and to expand prison and support staff capacity building and programmes all over the world.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, to date, this is the first known attempt to elicit consensus from a broad range of professionals working in the field of prison and correctional services on core components of effective rehabilitation and reintegration programming.

This paper examines the social and institutional context of barriers to drug service throughcare and aftercare for prisoners in England and Wales, including those that specifically affect Black and minority ethnic prisoners. A research project in 2004 reviewed relevant literature and statistical data, mapped prison drug services, and sought the perspectives of relevant stakeholders: in total, 334 individuals were recruited to the study. The methodology facilitates analysis of the structure of services and the agency prisoner in accessing them. Recommendations are made for changes to the structure and delivery of prison drug services.

This paper aims to report the findings of an evaluation study concerning the Central Registration Points (CRPs) for drug users in Belgian prisons. CRPs support drug users to link with community-based services.

The study applied a multi-method approach that involved an exploratory literature review; a secondary analysis of the CRPs’ databases; a qualitative study of the perceptions of a diverse sample of stakeholders with regard to the functioning of CRPs; and a prospective registration study.

One-third of the clients never attended an outpatient or residential substance abuse service before prison entry. This illustrates that the CRPs managed to reach clients who were not previously reached by (substance abuse) treatment services. All interviewed actors emphasized the added value of the CRPs in terms of informing, contacting, motivating and referring prisoners with a substance abuse problem.

Based on the research findings, two issues seem to be of paramount importance in the successful practice of CRPs: the confidentiality and specific expertise on (substance abuse) treatment. Given the complex situation of drug users in prison, an independent positioning and categorical assistance with drug-specific expertise seem to be essential.

CRPs can be considered to be one of the “building blocks” that contribute to high-quality care and continuity of care for drugs users in detention.

This paper aims to describe: the need for substance misuse treatment with high risk, personality disordered prisoners, and the implementation of two evidence-based psychological interventions aimed at addressing substance misuse within a high secure, personality disorder treatment unit and potential future evaluation options.

In addition to the literature base evidencing the need for substance misuse treatment with this population, the Iceberg and ‘InsideOut’ interventions are presented. These interventions adopt a risk reduction and health intervention approach respectively. This includes explanations of how they came to be implemented within a prison based personality disorder treatment service and potential ways to evaluate these services.

Evidence-based psychological interventions can be implemented for this population whilst being responsive to changing government priorities for substance misuse treatment. The organisation’s research strategy includes an intention to evaluate these interventions in order to inform future delivery.

The high levels of co-morbidity between personality disorder and substance misuse disorders in the high security prison estate highlights the need for substance related treatment for this population. Given the responsivity issues relevant to personality disordered offenders, the format of delivery of evidence-based psychological interventions has to be considered.

This paper discusses the application of evidence-based psychological interventions for substance use within a high secure, personality disordered population which has developed as a result of ministerial changes within the treatment of both substance misuse and personality disorder.

Most prisoners are eventually returned to their communities, making their transition into the community and aftercare a fundamental aspect of successful re-entry. This paper aims to explore the stages of someone’s reintegration from pre-release, through to reintegration and desistance and consider the factors relevant to the re-entry process for those who have offended and how to enhance this process. The aim of this paper was twofold; first to highlight the various factors and issues involved in the re-entry and reintegration process, particularly for those who are released after imprisonment and, second, to consider the significance of aftercare services in facilitating this process.

This paper opted for a brief review of the literature regarding incarceration and reintegration and some of the gaps in the literature. This paper will commence with a discussion of the effects of imprisonment on those who are incarcerated, then a consideration of the re-entry process, followed by a discussion of the reintegration process and desistance. Following will be reflections regarding the implications for practice. A case study is used to illustrate these points.

The current paper proposes a framework by which organisations and service providers working with those who are released from prison can use or incorporate into their practice to enhance aftercare support. The case study is used as an example to further illustrate this.

Implications for practice are also considered as well as recommendations to aid the re-entry and aftercare process. Suggestions are also offered to those agencies that are responsible for the provision of aftercare services for those released from prison.

This paper offers some considerations regarding the importance of the preparing and planning for release with a specific focus on aftercare services and their role in the re-entry and reintegration process.

The links between substance use and offending are well evidenced in the literature, and increasingly, substance misuse recovery is being seen as a central component of the process of rehabilitation from offending, with substance use identified as a key criminogenic risk factor. In recent years, research has demonstrated the commonalities between recovery and rehabilitation, and the possible merits of providing interventions to substance-involved offenders that address both problematic sets of behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the links between substance use and offending, and the burgeoning literature around the parallel processes of recovery and rehabilitation.

This is provided as a rationale for a new treatment approach for substance-involved offenders, Breaking Free Online (BFO), which has recently been provided as part of the “Gateways” throughcare pathfinder in a number of prisons in North-West England. The BFO programme contains specific behaviour change techniques that are generic enough to be applied to change a wide range of behaviours, and so is able to support substance-involved offenders to address their substance use and offending simultaneously.

This dual and multi-target intervention approach has the potential to address multiple, associated areas of need simultaneously, streamlining services and providing more holistic support for individuals, such as substance-involved offenders, who may have multiple and complex needs.

Given the links between substance use and offending, it may be beneficial to provide multi-focussed interventions that address both these behaviours simultaneously, in addition to other areas of multiple and complex needs. Specifically, digital technologies may provide an opportunity to widen access to such multi-focussed interventions, through computer-assisted therapy delivery modalities. Additionally, using digital technologies to deliver such interventions can provide opportunities for joined-up care by making interventions available across both prison and community settings, following offenders on their journey through the criminal justice system.

Recommendations are provided to other intervention developers who may wish to further contribute to widening access to such dual- and multi-focus programmes for substance-involved offenders, based on the experiences developing and evidencing the BFO programme.

Since the early 1990s, various countries have introduced HIV prevention programmes in prisons. Such programmes include education on HIV/AIDS, HCV and on drug use for prisoners and for staff, voluntary testing and counselling, the distribution of condoms, bleach, and needles and syringes, and substitution therapy for injecting drug users. Other forms of drug‐dependence treatment, as well as drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction measures may also be relevant to managing HIV/AIDS and HCV in prisons, and may facilitate HIV prevention measures ‐ or have unintended negative consequences for such measures. Prison systems in a growing number of countries are implementing such programmes. However, many of them are small in scale and restricted to a few prisons. Provision of care and treatment for people living with HIV or AIDS has become a priority worldwide, and it is considered to be a basic human right. This includes the provision of antiretroviral therapy (ARV) in the context of comprehensive HIV/AIDS care. Providing access to ARV for those in need in the context of correctional facilities is a challenge, but it is necessary and feasible. Studies have documented that, when provided with care and access to medications, prisoners respond well to ARV. Part 3 of the select annotated bibliography on HIV/AIDS and HCV in prisons contains selected “essential” articles and reports that provide information about (1) substitution treatment and other forms of drug‐dependence treatment; (2) other drug demand and drug supply reduction measures; and (3) care, treatment, and support for prisoners living with HIVor AIDS and/or HCV. Each section also contains a brief review of the evidence, based on recent work undertaken by the World Health Organization (WHO).