AIBU to assume prisons would help prisoners being released find somewhere to stay?

[PandemicAtTheDisco]

We have a disreputable family member who has just been released and is demanding we house him. He has asked several times whilst he was in prison and we all said no. We keep saying he is no longer welcome.

There is a long history of verbal and physical abuse, theft, identity fraud and alcohol and drug-induced disturbance - music playing loudly all night, unpaid bills, property damage etc. He has MH issues and health issues.

He has been released and says he has nowhere to go and no one will help him.

AIBU to assume Prisons would have sorted out somewhere for him to stay?

Why should they? Does he have a probation officer.

They should but they dont.

He should go to Housing and they'll hopefully find him a hostel.

I'd imagine they'd ask, but if they were told they didn't need it...
Otherwise I'd assume referral to homelessness service? Is that the plan?

No but it's still not your problem.

Yes, he does. Someone phoned us on his behalf to ask if he could come and stay with us, they said they fully understood why it was not feasible and they would try elsewhere. I thought they were conected to probation services.

He is vulnerable and requires supported accomodation. He has always been housed when coming out of prison and hospital before.

Well they don't release people from hospital without suitable accommodation so you'd think they'd do the same with prisoners?

I thought that the prison service arranged for them to stay in a halfway house of there was no one else willing to take them? Are you sure this person hasn't been offered something and they are just refusing it?

It will become our problem when he turns up late at night and starts pounding on the door. The police always try to persuade us to let him stay but the last few times they took him away.

My belief was that they would help find temp accomodation for his release and they did this for all prisoners being released.

We sadly cannot believe anything the family member says.

My knowledge is old. In certain circumstances probation will make arrangements, certainly not for every prisoner being released. They would be told to try to make their own arrangements or report to council offices as homeless. Possibly council informed in advance.

Given the shortage of housing for people who are not coming out of prison, you have to imagine the outcry if prisoners were all housed on release, and people potentially committing crimes to get housed.

If he's not high risk he won't meet criteria for an approved premise, some areas have the cas3 pilot which is organised by probation but it's only 84 nights accommodation and it's possible for people to burn their bridges there if they've been housed before, or but be strange if they have eg arson offences. Probation will have made a duty to refer to the local authority and he will have been told to present there as homeless.
The local authority wait time for a single person without an assessed priority need are 7-10 years in my area.
Some local authority areas offer a rent deposit scheme if someone is on benefits that will pay their rent but he will need to engage with DWP and local authority homelessness prevention team.

You're wrong I work in this area.

Prison do check and if he gives your address then that's sorted. Prisoners are free to give any address unless there are bail conditions. If they say no fixed abode then probation or housing get involved. Is he under probation op? You can say no to him for sure. He needs to access emergency accommodation via the council or a probation hostel

The problem is it's almost impossible to get adult social care to assess anyone as needing supported living, probation can't override that. If there's substance misuse it's very easy for them to say his needs are substance related not adult social care, there's also the issue with dual diagnosis that ASC say it's mental health's responsibility and mental health say he is ASC responsibility and you end up with an exhausted probation officer in the middle trying to persuade anyone to take him. He may also have been offered cas3 and not shown up, if that's the case he'll be recalled soon

Probation hostels don't exist approved premises do and they are only for the biggest risk violent and sexual offenders (and terror related stuff) which doesn't sound like this person.

Wrong about what? Prison or hospital? You didn't say which you work in.

If prison I have no idea hence the question. If hospital then I guess things have changed as it was a nightmare years ago getting my gran released as they deemed her housing unsuitable so we had to find her an alternative.

Prisons aren't the same as hospitals and run entirely differently.

He told us he had to stay in prison because they had nowhere for him to go and that he should have already been released.

He is supposed to have a tag etc, but how can he have one if he's homeless?

@PandemicAtTheDisco is he taking any personal responsibility for his situation?
Either the homelessness or being in prison?

Local council will provide temporary accommodation for people who have left prison. They wouldn’t keep someone in jail just because they have no where else to go, it’s too over crowded as it is.

Absolutely there should be some kind of transitional housing and lots of back to work support. I used to work in this area a long time ago. But basically we need to support people’s transition back to normal life. You see some people, and I’m mainly talking about petty crime or drug related offences, where they actually start to do quite well in prison with the routines and they start taking up educational opportunities and get clean but then it falls apart again in the outside world because it’s hard to make a go of life after prison.

Even if you only look at it coldly, from a money saving point of view, it would be much cheaper to support people’s transition back into normal life rather than end up paying for them to be back in prison again.

He likes others to sort out his problems, he acts inapable and never accepts responsibility.

It's hard because he does have health and MH issues. I always try to keep this in mind.

It sounds like he got sent to the council and had to queue up for an hour, he says they wouldn't help him. He can't hear very well but doesn't listen anyway.

Despite my earlier comment. I was very much talking from an objective viewpoint. You are under no obligation to take care of this person. There needs to be state support in this regard.

No shit sherlock.

I only know one person who spent time in prison and he had to have somewhere to go when he was released. Again this was a long time ago.

I used to work for a homeless persons housing charity. Some probation officers go above and beyond to help, and some don’t. In my experience, it has depended on the person they are looking to house and how much they personally WANT to help them.