Prison and probation when you're a care leaver

We can work with you in a supportive, non-judgemental way to give you the best chance to avoid offending. We’ll do everything we can to help you change direction.

We can support you if you:

• have a history of or current offending behaviour
• are at risk of falling into offending behaviour
• are at risk of criminal exploitation

It's important for you to know that if you decide to share information with us about a serious crime, we must ask you to declare it to the police yourself. If you do not, we must legally tell them ourselves.

If you need to find a lawyer, you can search on the law society website.

If you want to speak to the police and it's not an emergency, you can phone them on 101. 

If you are going to enter custody, then your personal advisor will help you prepare for this. They will work with you to check that you have everything that you are able to take with you. This will include all the contact details of key people that you may need. Your personal advisor can also support you by attending court hearings.

Your personal advisor will aim to visit you within one week of entering custody. They will discuss how you stay in touch with friends and family that are important to you. You will still be offered a pathway plan and it will be regularly reviewed. They will make sure that your care leaver status is known and that you are supported as a care leaver. Where there are specific faith and cultural needs your personal advisor will work with the prison to make sure that these are being met.

If you are under 21, then following this initial visit your personal advisor will visit you at least every eight weeks. They can visit more if you would like this.

If you are over 21, we will stay in touch and can visit you whilst you are in custody if you want us to. 

You will receive an allowance via your personal advisor of £40 a month to help with essential items and phone calls.

We know that employment, education and training can help prevent a return to custody. We will work with you and the prison to help you with education or learning a trade, and discuss what you could do when you leave custody.

What previous care leavers have said

"It was nice that my leaving care PA visited me every eight weeks and didn’t forget about me. It was something to look forward to."

"It was nice to see my leaving care PA and for her to buy me somethings from the canteen for my birthday."

Around three months before your release from custody, we will meet with you to talk about a transition plan to help you exit custody successfully.

We will arrange transition meetings which will include relevant people who will support your planning:

• housing colleagues - to make sure you have a place to live
• your personal advisor - to build your pathway plan
• probation
• the prison

We will discuss the first day when you leave custody so that you know where you are going and who will be meeting and supporting you. 

On the day you leave custody, your personal advisor will meet you at the prison. They will support you to get to any initial appointment that you need to attend and then make sure you get to your accommodation.

We will support you with £70 a week as a transitional payment for up to six weeks when you first leave custody. If you are paid from work or receive Universal Credit within the first six weeks your transitional payment will stop. We will also help you to access any other financial support you need before you leave custody.

When you leave custody, you could be put on probation. This might be because:

• you’re serving a community sentence
• you have been released from prison on licence or on parole

While on probation, you may have to:

• do unpaid work
• complete an education or training course
• get treatment for addictions like drugs or alcohol
• have regular meetings with an offender manager