Throughcare: Stages in the Provision of a Throughcare Service to Prisoners

Throughcare Map

Referrals to Link Agencies and Link Centres

Prison Link Centres and Referrals to Agencies

Prisoners may be referred to a range of community based agencies through the SPS Links centre where a range of agencies are on site to work with offenders before release. Assistance with a range of practical needs to assist resettlement following release is available including drug/alcohol counselling, assistance with accommodation, benefits advice and employment counselling.

Referrals will also be made to the Throughcare Addictions Service. Contact with the Throughcare Addiction Service will normally be confined to the last six weeks of the prisoner's sentence and the immediate six weeks after release. This will ensure an intensive level of support at a critical time.

Voluntary Throughcare for short term prisoners and the Throughcare Addiction Service

Voluntary throughcare is often referred to as Phase 2 of the Enhanced Throughcare Strategy. Voluntary throughcare is about providing services/support to prisoners on release in order to help them avoid reoffending and resettle in their community. A key, new component of Phase 2 is the Throughcare Addiction Service. This service seeks to engage prisoners at least six weeks prior to release from custody, motivate them to address addiction and associated problems, and then link them into community based resources upon release. TAS will continue to work with the prisoner for at least six weeks post release.

The Throughcare Addiction Service (TAS), which is managed by local authorities or by one of their contracted service providers, is a developing service. Local authorities began taking referrals on 1st August 2005 after the Scottish Prison Service's Transitional Care service provider, Cranstoun's, contract ended.

The Throughcare Addiction Service will have close working links with the Scottish Prison Service and community health and addiction resources. Together, they will provide the continuity of care required to help prisoners successfully address addiction problems.

Referrals to Link Agencies and Link Centres

Please note that the contents of Throughcare Map have not been updated since 2009. As a result, certain of the processes described here may no longer be current and accurate. It remains online as an historical resource, but has been superseded by Youth & criminal justice in Scotland: the young person's journey.