Housing a big problem for convicts

MORE than 60% of convicts leaving prison cite housing as their major difficulty, according to research published yesterday.

The other main problems related to drugs and alcohol, adjusting to life on the outside and gaining employment.

The report, Crime and Homelessness, carried out by housing charity Focus Ireland and prisoner support group PACE, found that just under half of homeless people surveyed said their homelessness led to crime and in turn imprisonment.

Most of the crimes were not of a violent nature, but tended to involve shoplifting, larceny, begging or squatting.

This group were, on average, homeless since they were just 15, and went onto spend over three years in jail.

They differed from a second group those who became homeless after serving a prison sentence.

On average, they were 24 when they first became homeless, after spending more than seven years in jail for more serious offences, including murder and armed robbery.

The report concluded that prison terms for relatively minor offences including vagrancy and larceny destabilised family and spousal relationships, and led to a loss of accommodation and employment.

"The survivalist nature of these crimes indicates that the criminal behaviour is not always predatory but based on subsistence and need," the report stated.

"This suggests that custodial sentences might not always be appropriate for such offenders," it added.

The report also recommended that:

more services be made available in prisons, including addiction, family reconciliation and training programmes;

greater links between prison drug programmes and community projects;

pre-release advice, information and support and;

a range of accommodation for prisoners on release.