Switchback’s Written Evidence to the Independent Sentencing Review 2024 to 2025: Call for Evidence.
Experts by Experience Insight:
“I told them I was having issues where I live and they didn’t want to deal with me. They don’t want to have to house me. I live in Southwark* but I was placed with Sutton Probation. I didn’t understand why. When I came out, I got switched back to Southwark. They did a home visit saw that I was having problems living with my mum. I asked them for help to find my own place to live and said I was struggling. Next appointment they told me, ‘You’ll be going back to Sutton. We can’t help you. They just sent me back to Sutton. Sutton can’t house me ‘cause I’m not from there (no local connection). Everyone’s just passing the buck. Now I’m struggling, but when it came to recalling me then they all said ‘Oh it was out of our hands’.
In our written evidence submission we have concentrated on Theme 6: Progression of custodial sentences
Switchback welcomed the move to set up an independent sentencing review as we believe that the time is right to assess our approach to sentencing. As a charity we advocate for radically reducing the use of prison and consider alternative approaches to addressing crime. We focused our response on prison release and resettlement, the areas where we can confidently contribute the most relevant evidence and expertise.
Switchback has a standardised method for putting together our evidence submissions that we’re proud of. We are first and foremost a delivery-focused organisation, so our evidence is rooted in our day-to-day work. Our Influencing Team holds monthly meetings with our Experts by Experience Board, a group of current and former Switchback Trainees, who work alongside us to use their individual experiences of the criminal justice system, including resettlement after leaving prison, to influence positive change to the justice system.
We also work closely with our highly skilled professional caseworkers, Switchback Mentors, who have a strong and broad understanding of the challenges and issues affecting people leaving prison. This means evidence is driven by the insight and factual experience of those who are on the frontline and importantly, includes rich qualitative detail – platforming the voices of those with lived experience throughout our work and guiding our suggestions.
Key themes
Switchback’s evidence, and wider research, illustrate that supportive relationships are key to enabling prison leavers to build stable lives away from crime. Therefore we should reform probation to make it support rehabilitation and reduce risk of offending, and we advocate for relational one-to-one support for people on release.
In order to thrive, people first need the basic essentials. Switchback Trainees tell us that people first need the bare essentials just to survive: access to housing, technology and finance.
A sharp rise in the use of recall can be linked to ineffective resettlement, we put forward recommendations that will support less people to breach their license, resulting in a lower prison population.
Switchback recommends that The Government should introduce a National Resettlement Framework for people leaving prison.
Switchback Switchback Sentencing Review
