UK: The Patel Report - Reducing Drug Related Crime and Rehabilitating Offenders

12th December 2011

In this report, entitled 'Reducing Drug Related Crime and Rehabilitating Offenders', the review group focused on drug treatment and interventions for people in prison, people moving between prison's and the continuity of care for people on release from prison. The Review Group also noted the impact that mental health problem's and alcohol issues in prison's can have on successful drug treatment programmes. 

The Review Group recognises the need for reform, particularly with regard to continuity of drug treatment both within and between prison's, and makes several significant recommendations in this regard, highlighting the potential for the more effective use of resources and the advantages of improving the quality of drug treatment and intervention services in prison.

Recommendations made in the Patel Report:

1. Develop a unified, cross-government drug treatment and intervention strategy for people in prison's, people moving between prison's and for those released into the community. 
2. Focus on reducing re-offending outcomes and better health outcomes through a national health and criminal justice outcomes model. 
3. Develop a stream-lined, autonomous and accountable commissioning system that is coherent, cost effective and enables more effective decision making. 
4. Update the national drug treatment and interventions framework to cover both the community and prison's. 
5. Promote the achievement of abstinence by identifying 'Recovery Champions' in the community and prison's, who understand the problem of dependency and have the resources to help make recovery a more realistic option. 
6. Ensure drug treatment and intervention strategies in prison's and the community are not developed in isolation but instead linked to other relevant initiatives and strategies. 

Read more: 

• Read the full Patel Report here.