In recent years the prison population has been the steadily increasing, especially the male prison population
The main aim of the New Routes programme is to reduce reoffending in Scotland by supporting individuals to reintegrate into their communities beyond their prison sentence and build a sustainable future through inclusion in society. The scheme provides mentoring and support six months pre-release and post-release from prison.
The mentoring service is provided in two parts:
- The first part supports motivation and change in attitudes and behaviours. Individuals are supported to identify their needs and create a personal release plan.
- The second part addresses the barriers the individual seeks to overcome in order to re-integrate into the community. Services are tailored to individual needs and can include, for example, helping an individual to secure accommodation, enrol with a GP, gain employment, set up bank accounts and access addiction services.
This report is the first stage of a four-year project that will evaluate the effectiveness of New Routes on reoffending and other outcomes for ex-prisoners. This first report looks at the data collected by the Wise Group since 2013 on self-assessed outcomes of individuals who partake in the programme. Future stages will use data to look at other outcomes that can be externally measured to provide a robust evaluation of the impact of the programme.