Published on 5th February 2026
Drug and alcohol harm in the criminal justice system often starts well before prison. It can be exacerbated through short sentences that disrupt lives and treatment plans; long gaps between arrest and support; and a system which could focus more on prevention.
With the escalating crises within the sector – from delays in cases getting to court, to severe overcrowding – we knew that we had to step up and figure out where small changes could make big difference.
Here are three things we’ve done that have helped us reach more people, sooner.
Releasing the pressure
This is a critical moment for the criminal justice system. Collectively, we must do all that we can to prevent people from falling into the system, and to reduce the risk of further re-offending for those already in it.
It is our responsibility to make people aware of the alternatives to custody.
We’re partnering with police forces, probation teams, commissioners and reducing reoffending boards to make pathways into drug and alcohol support clearer and faster. We’ve focused on building the right relationships and making our offer more visible and accessible – whether that’s treatment for substance use, or community orders. This enables us to work together to integrate treatment into rehabilitation plans and provide closer supervision.
Through this collaborative work, out-of-court disposals have become a practical route into structured support.
People committing acquisitive offences can be reached at a critical moment in their lives and have the chance to stabilise their drug and alcohol use.
Change has happened faster than we expected. As more people are connected into treatment, they receive appropriate rehabilitation for their substance use. Engagement occurs earlier, people have space to reflect on their behaviours, and reoffending rates fall – providing much-needed relief for courts and the probation system. By adopting the right approach at the right stage, we ensure people get the support they need.
Victims, too, are responding positively to restorative interventions. When compared with the alternative of receiving a court fine, they agree that a drug rehabilitation programme would be much more effective at reducing reoffending, and want to see more crimes resolved in this way.
Much of this work has been made possible by the increased investment that formed part of the 10-year drug strategy. We’ve been able to recruit more staff to deliver community orders, improve the quality of our offer and have a greater focus on criminal justice within our services.
This specialist approach means community orders are more robust and focused, we have a greater level of interventions, and can spend more time with the people reaching our services through this pathway.
The more we can enable this approach to community orders, the faster we can stop the revolving door of short prison sentences.
Design for how people think
Problems are different inside a prison. Something staring us in the face was the fact that a disproportionately high number of people inside are neurodivergent or have learning difficulties.
We knew much less about neurodiversity when prisons were designed, and the result is a clash of realities. The outcome is predictable: tension builds, people struggle, disengage or react, and can be dismissed as "hard to engage."
The good news is that we knew we could respond.
With learnings from a range of user research, lived experience and expert knowledge, we created a neurodiversity staff toolkit.
Crucially, this was backed up with an organisation-wide commitment to ensure our staff are competent and confident in supporting people who are neurodivergent, through mandatory e-learning for all colleagues, and more tailored training for frontline staff.
Within the prisons, things changed quickly. Sessions stopped being so rigid. We broke things down into smaller parts, used clearer language, and explained things as many times as we needed to. Staff got better at noticing when someone was overwhelmed or processing things differently and changed how they worked in the moment, rather than pushing on regardless.
Where the toolkit has been used, participation has gone up sharply. It turns out a lot of people weren’t hard to engage at all – we just needed to make ourselves easier to engage with.
A foot in the cell door
Many people don’t want to come for treatment for their drug use. Younger men may not be keen on the idea of groupwork. People who’ve spent years going in and out of custody often assume there’s nothing new on offer.
So we had to get creative, while working with limited space, resources and risk. We asked ourselves what might actually spark people’s interest, or at least make them stop and take notice.
We got some virtual reality headsets and set them up with calming environments. Men could (virtually) step out of the prison and sit on a beach, walk through a forest, or look out over open water.
When that worked, we got excited and used diffusers to add sensory details – the smell of woodland, sea air – to make it feel more real. Then we built around it: breathwork, yoga and, in some places, ice baths.
Not only have the men reported improved mental health and wellbeing, but social prescribing has completely transformed their outlook on what drug and alcohol services can offer. The interventions have transported their minds to a new place. This has created a climate of trust, where conversations can start to occur more naturally, and more meaningfully.
We’ve seen a lot more people choose to engage, often because someone else told them it wasn’t what they expected. Once that door is open, the rest of the work has a chance to happen.
Small fixes make a big difference
Grand reform may (or may not) come. In the meantime, there is plenty that can be done inside existing structures.
Our Criminal Justice team is paying attention to things we can fix quickly and change fast. It’s no big secret: our greatest successes have come from building and strengthening relationships so that we can really make the most of the options that already exist, but are misunderstood, or underused.
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