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63 Prob. J. 3 (2016)

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Editorial                                               The J l o f Ca 1y aonnh C c she

                                                                   Probation Journal
                                                                2016, Vol. 631) 3-8
     e   res     ttlement© The e Author(s) 2016
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                                                      DOI: 10.1177/0264550516634944
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                                                                     OSAGE



Resettlement policies in England and  Wales  have  been  characterized by  two
contrasting trends (Moore, 201  1: 129). On  the one hand,  there has been  an
expansion  of post-release supervision in the forms of enhanced monitoring and
surveillance for those on statutory licences whilst conversely post-release support
for adult short-sentenced prisoners has  been  minimalist, non-mandatory  with
acknowledged   deficiencies in service provision. This has been despite the fact
that this latter population of released prisoners are not only more likely to be
drawn  from the most marginalized and disadvantaged  sections of the community
(SEU, 2002)   but also have higher rates of reoffending recorded against them
following their release from  custody. The  report Making   Punishments  Work
(Halliday, 2001)  advocated  a  renewed  provision of resettlement services for
short-term prisoners; however, according to Lewis et al. (2007: 35) it narrowed
'traditional notions of resettlement as the provision of welfare-focused assistance
with the idea of resettlement as help with the problems that are related to risk of
offending (criminogenic needs)'. Legislative attempts in England and Wales  to
replace existing short-term prison sentences with a new sentence of 'custody plus'
involving a short period in custody followed by a much longer period of statutory
supervision in the community failed to come to fruition due to resource constraints.
One  of the more positive aspects of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2015 is that it
seeks to extend support to all categories of released prisoners and indeed this
aspiration was  officially presented as being  the main  rationale for the far-
reaching  organizational reforms of probation services in England and  Wales.
Under  the new arrangements  all released prisoners will be subject to supervision
regardless of the length of sentence.
   In addition to these new arrangements for universal resettlement support and to
facilitate improved resettlement outcomes a significant part of the prison estate will
be designated as 'Resettlement Prisons' to enable better through the gate provision.
Prisoners serving 12 months or under will serve all of their time in a designated
resettlement prison and receive a tailored package of supervision and support on
their release. The majority of prisoners serving longer sentences would be moved to
a resettlement prison at least three months before the end of their time in custody.
The potentially detrimental impact of locating individuals considerable distances
from their local support networks are well documented and so attempts to redress
this are to be welcomed. However,  the ability of the prison service to retain the

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