You will be allocated a prison based social worker if you will be
supervised on release:
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Sentence of 4 years or over
Life sentence
Supervised Release Order
Extended sentence
Convicted of any sexual offence
Duty service – We also provide a duty service to all convicted prisoners and
those on remand.
Your allocated social worker will arrange to meet you and offer a full
explanation of your licence and their involvement with you throughout your
sentence.
Our core tasks are:
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Providing reports for the Parole Board and Tribunals for prisoners being
released on any kind of licence.
Providing risk assessment for Integrated Case Management case
conferences and the Parole Board and Tribunals
To liaise with criminal justice colleagues in the community to help
prepare prisoners for release.
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To offer support to those prisoners struggling to cope at any stage in
their sentence.
Encouraging prisoners to address their offending behaviour via relevant
offence focused interventions.
How do I contact a social worker?
You can request a duty referral form from any Hall officer. If you would like
to make a confidential referral then you can ask a Hall officer for an envelope
to put your referral in and mark it ‘social work unit, private and
confidential’.
Social Work will help with matters such as voluntary throughcare; child
protection referrals; struggling to cope with your sentence; links to your
supervising officer.
Hall Officers will help you with matters such as: prison routines; benefits;
advice regarding contacting family, lawyers and courts; visitor issues;
enquires about HDC; referring you to the links centre for housing problems
and benefits advice.
Information Sharing
All information and behaviour that relates to a prisoner’s past offending or
that places a prisoner at at risk of committing further offences may be
shared with other prison staff, community-based Social Work, and the Parole
Board. We also share some information with agencies that may work with
prisoners after their release from prison.
We are also duty-bound to pass on any information that we receive which
could indicate that a prisoner is a potential risk of harm to himself or to
others.
Social Work information about a prisoner is held in a file that is kept within the
prison. This is transferred with the prisoner if there is a move to another prison.
Prisoners can access their file on request.
Complaints
If you are not happy with the way you have been treated by a prison-based Social
Worker, you can ask to make a complaint and they will tell you how.
Can I get help after I’m released?
If you are not subject to statutory supervision upon release and want support
to address your offending related issues and rehabilitation back into the
community you can ask for advice and guidance from your local Social Work
office once released.
Your local Social Work office has a duty to provide this service for up to 1 year
following your release. This is a voluntary service so you have to ask for it. It
cannot be forced upon you.
If you think you may benefit from this service, contact your Personal Officer or
Prison Social Work Unit for an application form for Voluntary Throughcare
and arrangements for an appointment can be made.