Alternatives - Out of the shadow

Here you can find a short video, based on interviews to experts on prison serving and alternatives to detention, produced with the contribution of all project partners. The main goal of this product is to convey the different impact on the offender of serving a sentence in or outside prison, and the likely different outcomes in terms of social resettlement and prevention of new offences.

Here you can watch a longer version of the video

A handbook of good practice

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Catherine Heard

1. This handbook reflects the key findings from a two year comparative project funded by the European Commission, examining alternatives to imprisonment in Europe. The project analysed statistical and qualitative evidence on prisoner populations and the use of alternatives to imprisonment across eight European Union (EU) states: Italy, France, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the three separate jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. The data analysed covered the period 2000 to 2014.
2. The project has, in line with other recent research, evidenced the overall growth of prison populations across Europe. The reasons for these high prisoner numbers are complex and vary between countries, but an overarching theme is the criminalisation of social problems such as mental ill-health, substance dependency, low educational attainment and poverty...read more