Drug recovery wing pilot study

The drug recovery wing (DRW) was a potentially innovative approach to treatment for prisoners who misuse drugs (or alcohol) which focused on abstinence, freedom from drugs of dependence, provision of services and advice in a central location, formal peer support, and connecting offenders with community treatment services on release. The evolving approach – which involved provision of dedicated prison wing accommodation – provided a facility that aimed to: be free from illicit drugs; promote recovery-focused interventions and support for offenders who misuse drugs; and be entered on a voluntary basis by offenders who have the goal to be drug free. The DRWs hoped to place a strong emphasis on connecting offenders with a wide range of community services to help them to live drug-free lives on release. 
 
An initial tranche of DRW pilot schemes was launched in June 2011 in five prisons (Bristol, Brixton, High Down, Holme House, and Manchester)A second tranche of up to six pilot DRWs was launched in April 2012. The pilot sites were given the flexibility to design DRW models appropriate to their context and offender population. 
 
The Department of Health and Social Care planned to commission an evaluation team to investigate the success of the DRW pilots. The evaluation of the DRW pilots was to assess whether, how (i.e. the contribution of the different elements in the DRW and their combination) and to what extent the DRW approach could successfully initiate and support the sustained recovery of offenders from drug dependence, lead to their successful re-integration into their communities and reduce re-offending. The DRW pilots would also be examined for their cost-effectiveness and their impacts on the wider system of drug treatment for offenders. 

The Department for Health and Social Care commissioned PIRU to undertake some early scoping and feasibility work on approaches to evaluation, and potential outcome measures, which could be used to inform the planned evaluation.

PIRU's scoping and feasibility work involved visits to ten of the DRW pilot sites, interviews with key informants from these sites and a review of the draft models of recovery prepared by each pilot. PIRU wrote two notes of advice for the Department of Health and Social Care providing descriptions of how the DRW pilots have been operationalised at the local level and the implications of local variations for the design of the planned evaluation. 

The scoping research identified that there were significant differences between the DRW pilots in how they functioned and which sorts of prisoners they served. It also showed that it would be challenging to undertake a counter-factual evaluation while suggesting possible ways that this might be accomplished.