Released Prisoners
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Posts
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Why have we got so many released prisoners left homeless in Wrexham? Does the Ministry of Justice not have a responsiblity to place them back in their home community?
What is the evidence about this. The Wrexham.com article states a number of ex prisoners it does not state how many are from other places other than Wrexham. Unfortunately there will be prisoners released from the area who do not have accommodation to go back to – family disowned them, Council house taken off them while serving a sentence etc. There should not be any homeless people in Wrexham as they have all been offered accommodation. There were a large number in Glyndwr for the first lockdown and hotels. Glyndwr has now stopped and they have been relocated.
The Council have just bought the Bed and Breakfast by the traffic lights on Chester Road and using some of their won housing stock and the remainder in hotels.
Anyone on the street at night is there through choice and not wanting to engage with the Council and other support services manly due to wanting to continue taking substances or behaviour issues in the accommodation provided.
Wrexham Council have had over £2m to buy accommodation and increase the service capacity.As for the specifics about men leaving prison it is the Ministry of Justice policy to repatriate back to their home community unless their may be reasons of safety (drug dealers chasing payments), previous domestic violence or significant risk of reoffending.
“As for the specifics about men leaving prison it is the Ministry of Justice policy to repatriate back to their home community unless their may be reasons of safety (drug dealers chasing payments), previous domestic violence or significant risk of reoffending”
That does seem to highlight that the ones left here are potentially the ones who will need the most support from our services, housing , health and social services. All services which are already under pressure.
I think you make some very decent points Jane and have highlighted how Wrexham council are doing their best to deal with such a problematic issue that we face in Wrexham and regularly come back to in the cold winter months when sleeping rough can be life threatening. I am guessing the policies mentioned are because the council are limited by the bounds of the law about who they can and cannot exempt for a room for the night.
I think the issue here is that there is the possible legal point of view that those suffering from addiction can suddenly make the decision to just quit taking drugs or to make the correct and logical decision that the rest of us make, which is warmth, shelter and food should come first before drugs.
The whole nature of addiction is that it’s an illness that can’t be treated by Dickensian rules where we begrudge them shelter if they continue to take drugs. The crime commissioner shares the view here that drug users shouldn’t be criminalised or penalised.
If these homeless, ex prisoners (wow talk about being at the bottom rung of life) had access to clean needles and state sanctioned drugs (goodbye money to drug dealer scum) then they’d get into accomodation and be fed then we could look at weaning them off drugs.
Let’s face it they’d have been given methadone or another substitute in prison and would have been able to cope better there. The support provided to them once they are out of prison is inadequate if their specific needs cannot be met due to outdated drug stigma and rules.
They cannot be expected to be given a stark choice of comforts of needing to dry out and get a bed or face the cold of the streets and a fix as they’ll take the comfort of drugs every time.
I appreciate that some people think drug users and especially prisoners (criminals) are beyond redemption and don’t care about them. But anyone who is concerned about homelessness in Wrexham, which seems to be most people, must accept that this toughest and least likeable group are part and parcel of the whole problem and must be treated with the unique set of requirements that they need.
Even if you don’t think they deserve the time, money or resources spent on them. Overall, if we can prevent them from committing crime to get money for drugs and eliminate the customer base for drug dealers then that makes the town centre and problem areas of the town safer for the rest of us.
Yes, addiction is an illness that has a powerful influence on thought processes; it usually takes a lot of time and effort to break. Besides, with some substances, especially alcohol, suddenly stopping is dangerous.
Sometimes, you’ll get senior people proclaiming that they’ve offered addicts ‘help,’ without mentioning that this ‘help’ has a lot of strings attached. People who are higher up maslow’s hierarchy of needs often don’t fully empathise with those at the bottom.
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