Glasgow City Council is committed to providing a range of robust services that can assist the individual and their families during and after the period of custody.
The council operates according to the National Objectives and Standards for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System.
These standards define throughcare as:
"The provision of a range of Social Work and associated services to prisoners and their families from the point of sentence or remand, during the period of imprisonment and following release into the community. The services are primarily concerned to assist prisoners to prepare for release, and to help them settle in the community, within the law".
Prison based services
Open doors mental health project
Housing services for ex-prisoners
Clyde Place diversion team
Key Objective
To assist prisoners and their families to prepare for release and resettlement in the community
Prison based services
Social work services in prisons is undertaken by local authorities in collaboration with the Scottish Prison Service
The City Council provides services in HMP Barlinnie with a team of social workers based within the prison supported by the open doors mental health project. The service is provided to all prisoners, not just those from the Glasgow area.
Barlinnie Prison receives male prisoners from courts mainly in the West of Scotland. It retains all remand prisoners and adult convicted prisoners serving less than four years. It allocates long term prisoners to Shotts, Glenochil and Kilmarnock prisons and suitable prisoners from its short term convicted population to a range of lower security prisons. The current population is just over 1100 prisoners; both remand and convicted aged from 21 upwards and a significant proportion of these have addiction or mental health problems, in some cases both.
The following categories of prisoner are deemed to be priorities for the team:
- At risk of self injury
- Identified as vulnerable
- First time in custody
- Mentally disturbed
- Learning disabilities
- Schedule 1 offenders
- Statutory supervision
- With or at risk of HIV/AIDS
- Sex offenders
- Addiction problems
- Charged with serious violent offences and capital crimes
The social work team is in regular contact both with other prison based units and community based social work teams and criminal justice, children and families and community care agencies.
The team also has regular contact with housing authorities, medical professionals, addiction services and, in the case of sex offenders, the police across the United kingdom where this is relevant to the prisoner’s situation.
Back to top
Open Doors Mental Health Project
The key objectives of the Open Doors project are:
- Promotion of positive mental health within HMP Barlinnie
- A multi-disciplinary and needs-based approach to work with individuals with severe mental health problems
- Work with individuals to assist them to engage with services in prison and beyond
- Addressing offending behaviour to reduce the risks of returning to custody
- Individuals referred to the project have a range of mental health problems, which are often complex, with no clear diagnosis and may have personality or psychological problems
- Individual and group based work takes place with individuals who are vulnerable and who may be difficult to manage. Focused counselling is also offered on specific issues
Back to top
Housing services for ex-prisoners
The City Council has seconded a team of housing caseworkers to HMP Barlinnie. The team has been operational since 1st January 2001 and also covers referrals from five other prisons.
Key elements for the team:
- To provide a housing casework service to all prisoners who will be roofless on release back to Glasgow from the following six prisons, (including the high risk cases): Barlinnie, Low Moss, Glenochil, Polmont, Cornton Vale / Greenock (women)
- To assess housing and support needs and access suitable accommodation for date of release
- To help break the cycle of homelessness and offending behaviour
- To reduce the number of single people presenting as homeless
- To provide advice and assistance to Glasgow cases and also roofless cases from other local authorities
- To divert clients away from hostels and the Hamish Allan Centre, and into more appropriate accommodation
- To involve whatever statutory or voluntary agencies as necessary
- To work closely with Social Work, Scottish Prison Service and Police as required
Back to top
Clyde Place diversion team
There is also a casework team based in Clyde Place Assessment Centre that deals with referrals from all other Scottish prisons, plus high risk cases in private and voluntary sector hostels.
Contact details
For contact information see useful links
For information on how to comment or complain on the service you receive see Your Views
Our commitment to you
Back to top