Criminal Justice Team

The criminal justice team

The harmful effect of drink and drug misuse can go beyond just damaging the health of those taking them - it can also lie at the root of some petty crime, as a minority of users turn to crime to fund their addiction or commit offences while under the influence.

The legal system recognises that, as well as being sentenced for their crimes, offenders should be helped towards abstinence and independent living. This helps them to avoid crime, so is a cost-effective resource.  As most offenders are using class-A drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine they also have health problems that improve when they are abstinent.

DHI in Bath have a Criminal Justice team which works with offenders in Bath and North East Somerset who are sentenced to receive treatment in the community as part of their punishment as an alternative to prison. These are called Drug Rehabilitation Requirement orders or Alcohol Treatment Requirement orders.  

These are six-month orders, and the offender has to come to DHI at least four times a week for various activities such as group meetings, one-to-one session with staff and testing to make sure they haven’t taken alcohol or drugs. If they fail to attend they are usually returned to court and given a prison sentence, but for many this is the first step on the road to recovery and a return to independent living.

DHI’s Criminal Justice team also works in partnership with the police on several scheme that drug users who offend take part in voluntarily, to help them get back into independent living. It takes part in a Home Office Drug Intervention Programme initiative to work with offenders and help them get housing, give them advice and support to help them stop relapsing.

In 2011 the team launched the Freedom Programme where two DHI staff go to Eastwood Park women’s prison in Gloucestershire where they offer a 12-week programme that help the women to deal with domestic abuse, as a way of becoming more independent upon their release and so more likely to avoid crime.

Our Health Trainers also work offenders in the community or upon their release from HMP Bristol or Eastwood Park, to help them access local health services.

DHI can provide all the support that clients need, and its team operates from its Beehive centre in Bath. In total the team help several hundred offenders each year.

See Carol's story for a personal account of the team's work.