After prison

Common circumstances surrounding the release of prisoners

People being held in custody  are released from both prions and courts. They can be released in greens with no belongings, money, ID, phone etc. There is usually nothing in place for them, accommodation might be lost and there are no arrangements for medication or other health services. When released prisoners are only offered the fare back to the place of arrest.

Many have unrealistic beliefs about accommodation. They might not be wanted at home or can’t return to previous accommodation. They may have been homeless when arrested.  They often find accessibility of accommodation more difficult than they expected. Temporary assistance from Dept of Housing is often not available as the ex-prisoner may  have accessed more than the limit in past 12 months. All Government, non-government and community agencies have equal opportunity policies. But do they practice them? Does a criminal record equal bad tenant? Public housing may only be offered subject to support being available.

They will find it difficult to exist on Centrelink benefit anyway without the additional expenses of having to start again. They will have an advanced Centrelink payment and will only receive half the normal amount on the next payment. They will need to have money for shelter, food, clothing, transport costs etc. Many people released from prison have a substantial amount of cumulative debt to agencies such as: State Debt Recovery Office, DoH, Centrelink,

They may have requirement to be accessing a number of different services. i.e. Parole, methadone clinic, health services, welfare services, programs or courses.

Ex-prisoners often need help with Living skills – shopping, budgeting, hygiene, managing a tenancy and handling leisure time

Many ex-prisoners don’t present well. Commonly, they have low functional literacy levels, low self esteem and poor social skills, gaol tats, mental health issues. Ex – prisoners often feel judged by the prison connection. They may have paranoia about people looking at them.

They may be (or feel) excluded from many community services, this can be due to a lack of the understanding of the criteria and processes, lack of trust of the “system”, their bad behaviour as well as services inability to respond appropriately to this client group.