Leaving prison does not necessarily mean leaving behind the circumstances that contributed to a person’s offending. Without stable housing, treatment and practical support, people may return to the same pressures that shaped their lives before custody.
That concern is reflected in the experience of Michael Bogle, who is 38 and has 100 convictions. Bogle told the Guardian that he began shoplifting after becoming homeless and needing food. He also said that, after leaving prison, there was a risk he would shoplift again.
The gap between release and stability
Pavan Dhaliwal of Revolving Doors said that a prison place without stable housing, treatment and support on release can send people back through the same “revolving door”. The organisation works on systems change with people who have repeated contact with the criminal justice system, often for relatively low-level offences alongside homelessness, addiction, poor mental health, poverty and trauma.
These overlapping difficulties matter because release is not a single event that solves a person’s problems. A person may leave custody needing somewhere safe to live, help with addiction or mental health, and support to manage everyday life. If those needs remain unaddressed, the risks described by Bogle and Dhaliwal can persist.
Looking further back
A second letter writer, who works at the end of the line in a men’s open prison, argued that society should look more closely at how children are cared for. The writer expressed the view that neglect, abuse, trauma and witnessing violence in the home can form part of the pathway into criminal behaviour.
The writer also said that many of the prisoners they work with entered the care system early, left care without the support they needed and later ended up in prison. For some, the writer said, prison is the only life they know.
These are the writer’s personal observations rather than a general finding established by the information available here. They nevertheless raise a wider question: whether preventing future offending should begin well before a person reaches prison, including with better care and support for children and young people.
What a more useful response could include
- Stable housing: reducing the immediate insecurity that can follow release.
- Continuity of treatment: ensuring that support for addiction and poor mental health does not disappear when custody ends.
- Practical help: making the transition out of prison manageable rather than leaving people to face the same problems alone.
- Earlier support: paying attention to neglect, abuse, trauma and gaps in care before problems become entrenched.
The second letter writer recommended Justice on Trial by Chris Daw KC, saying it proposes radical solutions aimed at preventing people from going to prison and reducing the number of victims of crime.
The central message from these accounts is not that accountability should disappear. It is that punishment alone may not address homelessness, addiction, poor mental health, poverty, trauma or a lack of care. Support before and after release may be essential to breaking the cycle described as the “revolving door”.
AI tools were used to assist with the preparation of this article.
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