PEOPLE are routinely leaving prison without identification, making it impossible to set up bank accounts or access benefits or healthcare, according to an arts organisation working with prisoners, which is calling for them to get better support to break the cycle of re-offending.
Leading academics and practitioners from Vox Liminis, working with prisoners and those recently released from jail on the Distant Voices songwriting project, claim that better planning before release – and support following it– is urgently needed.
Workshop participants said that they had been unable to open a bank account because the prison service had not ensured they had identification before release, leaving them destitute because benefits could not be paid to them.
Others were unable to access health services or medication due to a lack of ID, with one man waiting four months to see a GP after being released following a 15-year sentence because he could not register without a driving licence or a passport, which he did not have and could not afford.
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Some spoke about catch-22 supervision orders – one young father was banned from going anywhere that sold alcohol, stopping him from being able to buy nappies or groceries for his young children.
Often ex-prisoners struggled to rebuild family relationships or their own sense of identity. This negatively impacted not only on themselves, but on their families, and made it feel like their punishment continued even after the sentence was served.
Alison Urie, director of Vox Liminis, said: “There needs to be a much more in-depth re-entry process that supports people in prison and afterwards. Only a very small number of long-term prisoners go through the open prison estate, for example, which supports re-integration by allowing visits home, setting up work placements and so on. This should be the experience of more prisoners.
“But no matter where someone is in prison there must be an answer to the issue of ID – for people to be in prison we must be sure of their identity. Surely people should be supported to set up bank accounts so they can get benefits and healthcare? Quite simply if people are given a way to move forward it is a way of reducing crime.”
Fergus McNeill, professor of criminology for the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, who is also on the board of Vox Liminis, added: “The ID issue, from our experience in the project, is particularly acute for people who have served long sentences. People serving short sentences might drop off GPs’ and dentists’ lists. They often lose tenancies, and frequently have their possessions dumped in the process.
“Some research suggests that long sentence prisoners manage their time – make it survivable – by narrowing their horizons to within the prison. That might slightly soften the pains of imprisonment, but it can also weaken family and friendship ties on the outside. The end result, for some people, is a feeling or sense of estrangement. They come out feeling the world they left behind has gone, even familiar places can seem foreign to them.”
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He said that while ID cards might be helpful, they should be “free, opt-in cards for all adults” so ex-prisoners didn’t feel stigmatised by them. “But I think we need to legislate to guarantee certain rights for people who have done their time,” he added. “In some Nordic countries, governments have made pledges called ‘reintegration guarantees’ which underscore the duty of all public authorities, and of civil society, to support the reintegration of people who have been in prison. I’d like to see a Scottish Reintegration Guarantee.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said it was “committed to helping those in our care transform their lives and we seek to deliver improved outcomes for those leaving custody so they can make a successful transition back into their communities”. Re-integration measures included “enabling access to key services such as DWP, housing and health and encouraging those in our care to engage with support services in preparation for and during the transition period”, she added.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are working to ensure that people leaving prison are effectively supported to reintegrate into their communities. This supports reductions in reoffending and enables people who have served their sentence to make a positive contribution to society. We would always be open to learning from the experiences of other countries with prison reintegration and rehabilitation.”
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