Health & Social Care in the Criminal Justice System

Introduction

Many people who come into contact with the Criminal Justice System are amongst the most socially excluded and vulnerable in our society. We know that some of the key characteristics of this group of people are that they have high health and social care need and they suffer from health inequalities.  Children and young people subject to the criminal justice system are a particularly vulnerable and high-risk group.

We also know that, for example there are a greater number of people in our prisons who have mental health problems than in the wider community; that substance misuse is a key factor in offending behaviour; that there are extremely low levels of literacy and numeracy amongst the offender population and that access to health and social care services has been limited for the majority of offenders. 

Offender Health at the Department of Health is a partnership between the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health with an overall aim of working to improve the range and standard of health and social care services for offenders and others in contact with the Criminal Justice System (CJS), both within prisons and in the community. Working with NHS, social care and criminal justice system partners, their aim is to provide offenders with access to the same quality and range of health care services as the general public receives from the NHS. Since April 2006, commissioning responsibility for healthcare services in prisons has been fully handed over to NHS Primary Care Trusts.

The Health & Social Care in Criminal Justice (HSCCJ) programme is the title for the national programme of work led by Offender Health and delivered through 8 Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) Regional Development Centres.  The programme focuses on working with our key partners to ensure that the health and social care needs of those in contact with the Criminal Justice System (CJS) are addressed at key points along the criminal justice pathway.

Key Regional Partners

Our key regional partners include: Metropolitan Police; London Probation, HM Courts Service London; HM Prison Service London/NOMS London; London PCTs; Mental Health Trusts; Government Office for London; GLA; Local Authorities; Third Sector provider & R&D organisations (Sainsburys Centre; Nacro; Revolving Doors Agency; Together; CLINKS, etc); R&D networks (Prison Research Network; PETaR, etc).