Title: Drug Recovery Wing (DRW) Pilots Evaluation
Funder: Department of Health (England)

Abstract: Background Following the UK Drug Strategy and the Patel report, there is a commitment to ensure that prisoners have access to high quality recovery-focussed drug and alcohol treatment services and that the link between prison and community is better managed. Research has shown that 50% of male prisoners and 65% of female prisoners have a drug problem (Singleton et al., 1997). According to Stewart (2009) who surveyed 1457 recently received prisoners across 49 prions in England 28% had used heroin in the last four weeks and 25% had used crack cocaine. It is known that in some cases prisoners are initiating injecting within prison (Boys, 2002) and that on release prisoners are at a heightened risk of death (Farrell and Marsden, 2007). Whilst prison offers an important opportunity for drug and alcohol treatment it is recognised that there are multiple challenges associated with the development of drug and alcohol services within prisons (McIntosh and Saville, 2006). Aims This research will answer five broad questions: 1) What components contribute to the therapeutic benefits of the DRW programme at each prison? 2) What is the impact of the DRW on prisoners and on the wider prison? 3) Are the benefits associated with DRW participation sustained beyond release into the community? 4) What factors dilute/enhance the impact of the DRW? 5) What is the cost and cost-effectiveness of DRW provision? Research Plan We will undertake a rapid assessment of all 11 pilot DRWs. Following this rapid assessment phase, we will identify five prisons for detailed, intensive process evaluation. This second element will involve assessing the quality of prison life within the DRW, undertaking semis structured interviews with prisoners and staff across the five DRW’s as well as PCT staff service commissioners. We will undertake a structured assessment (with measures) of the relative impact of the DRW programmes quantifying the drug use and recovery progress of DRW participants prior to release and six months post-release. We will carry out a detailed economic analysis of each of the five recovery wing programme, calculating economic cost-benefits of the programme on an individual basis and comparing results across the five DRWs. Research Team Charlie Lloyd is a senior lecturer in the Department of Health Science, University of York. Steve Parrot is one of the UK's leading addictions economists. Together, Lloyd and Parrott lead The Addiction Research Group at the University of York, which is internationally recognised as one of the world's leading research centres in calculating the cost of drug use to individuals and society, and the cost savings of effective drug treatment services. Professor Neil McKeganey is the Director of the Centre for Drug Misuse Research (and independent research group)and has undertaken research on drug users in prison and recovery. Christopher Russell’s expertise is in the development and evaluation of health behaviour change interventions. Dr Uday Mukherji has extensive experience in the development and delivery of substance misuse treatment within UK prisons. Professor Alison Liebling is Director of the Prisons Research Centre at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. She has undertaken a wide range of ground-breaking research in prisons including work on prisoner and prison officer relationships, prisoner vulnerability and suicide. Impact This research will yield knowledge about the relative efficacy of five different types of DRW for prisoners’ short- and long-term recovery from drug misuse, and the components which contribute to the success of each DRW. In turn, our findings will guide the development and refinement of existing and novel DRW programmes for maximal effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH