A new research project funded by the Dawes Trust and led by Dr Caroline Lanskey, an Associate Professor at the Institute of Criminology, in collaboration with the charity Prisoners Abroad, begins in October 2024. Called ‘Desistance from crime after imprisonment overseas’, it will study the experiences of British citizens returning to the UK following a prison sentence abroad.
There is no research at present on the desistance experiences of British citizens returning to the UK after a prison sentence overseas. This is a significant gap in our understanding of the facilitators and barriers to desistance these men and women may experience
By means of a survey of 150 former prisoners up to five years from release and 30 follow up interviews with a purposive sample of prisoners, the study will investigate the barriers and facilitators to desistance amongst this population including the impact of the support provided by Prisoners’ Abroad and other organisations.
The insights generated from the research will be used to inform new policies and to develop a resettlement ‘toolbox’ for supporting British prisoners returning home from abroad.