An Independent Evaluation of the SToMP (Supporting Transition of Military Personnel) Project

Executive summaryThe SToMP (Supporting Transition of Military Personnel) project was formed in 2016, with a large grant from the Covenant Fund. The project aims to improve access to appropriate services for ex - armed services personnel (ex-ASP) within the criminal justice system (CJS), with a particular focus on identification and collaborative working practices. This report was commissioned by the SToMP project to evaluate its impact after two years of being operational.The data for this evaluation were largely collected in tandem with a prior research project, also commissioned by SToMP, which examined the barriers to identification of ex-ASP within the CJS and access to services (Davies & Davies, 2019). Qualitative, quantitative and ethnographic data, from both primary and secondary sources, were collated across the CJS and third sector. Additional documents generated by the SToMP team, and data in relation to SToMP hosted multi-agency meetings, were also examined.The findings highlight the progress made by SToMP – particularly within the prison system – in improving identification and awareness of ex-ASP issues. Feedback from ex-ASP ‘champions’ within the probation services was also particularly positive regarding the support and assistance they had received from the project. More recently, SToMP’s work with the police has made some very progressive steps with collaboration across the four forces. Indeed, SToMP has made a consistent effort to enhance collaborative working across all the statutory agencies involved and the third sector; it has also commissioned and collaborated on several research projects. The key recommendations from this report mainly focus on a improvement to routine data collection and monitoring, in order to continue to evaluate the impact of SToMP across the Criminal Justice System

The Barriers to Disclosure and Access to Specialist Services for Ex-Armed Services Personnel in the Criminal Justice System in Wales

Executive SummaryThis study was designed to evaluate the barriers to identification and access to specialist services for ex-armed services personnel (ex-ASP) within the criminal justice system (CJS) in Wales. This evaluation was commissioned by IOM Cymru SToMP and independently conducted by researchers at the University of Swansea.The research was conducted between August – December 2018 across police, probation and prison services throughout Wales, as well as with relevant third sector organisations. Primary research included quantitative, qualitative and observational methods and secondary quantitative data was also used. Data included every police force, every prison and a geographically spread number of probation services across Wales. In terms of formal qualitative data, a total of 58 individuals were interviewed across these sectors. This included both staff and service users. Many others were spoken to informally through visits to institutions and attendance at meetings.The data highlighted specific issues within each sector, as well as broader ranging barriers across the criminal justice system. Operational factors were the key barrier to identification, particularly across police and probation services where, in the majority of services, service users were not directly asked if they had ever served in the armed forces. Greater availability of information, for both staff and service users, was also highlighted as a key operational issue. This was particularly shown to be the case for service users who may choose not to identify themselves. Other potentially disadvantaged groups in terms of identification and accessing specialist services were women; individuals convicted of sexual offences; individuals serving short custodial sentences or on remand and those serving community orders. Access to services was largely location dependent, both in terms of the help available and the support offered to access it. There also appeared to be a disparity between the provision offered by the third sector in prison, when compared to the experiences of individuals who had tried to access this help once back in the community. Overall, there was a clear need for greater collaborative working between the CJS and third sector, as well as for a substantial improvement in data recording and monitoring across the board

Exploring the Relationship Between Domestic Violence Perpetration and Suicidal Behavior in Male Prisoners

This study is the first to explore the relationship between domestic violence perpetration and suicidal behavior in prisoners in England and Wales. The nature of this relationship is unclear, however, understanding and reducing suicide in prisons is a critical issue for frontline staff and policy makers. Eight participants with a history of suicide attempts and domestic violence perpetration were interviewed. Five key themes were identified through thematic analysis; “Trauma, victimization and life struggles,” “Relationship ideals versus relationship reality”, “Explaining domestic violence”, “The impact of prison” and “Suicide as a coping strategy”. This study shows that the relationship between domestic violence and suicide risk in prisoners may be better understood through a pathway of experiences rather than individual risk factors. Further research is needed to test the replicability of this pathway in other samples

Rescuing Complementarity With Little Drama

The AMPS paradox challenges black hole complementarity by apparently constructing a way for an observer to bring information from the outside of the black hole into its interior if there is no drama at its horizon, making manifest a violation of monogamy of entanglement. We propose a new resolution to the paradox: this violation cannot be explicitly checked by an infalling observer in the finite proper time they have to live after crossing the horizon. Our resolution depends on a weak relaxation of the no-drama condition (we call it "little drama") which is the "complementarity dual" of scrambling of information on the stretched horizon. When translated to the description of the black hole interior, this implies that the fine-grained quantum information of infalling matter is rapidly diffused across the entire interior while classical observables and coarse-grained geometry remain unaffected. Under the assumption that information has diffused throughout the interior, we consider the difficulty of the information-theoretic task that an observer must perform after crossing the event horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole in order to verify a violation of monogamy of entanglement. We find that the time required to complete a necessary subroutine of this task, namely the decoding of Bell pairs from the interior and the late radiation, takes longer than the maximum amount of time that an observer can spend inside the black hole before hitting the singularity. Therefore, an infalling observer cannot observe monogamy violation before encountering the singularity.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures - v2: added references, small tweaks - v3: corrected typos to reflect final published versio

Using engagement in sustainable construction to improve mental health and social connection in disadvantaged and hard to reach groups: a new green care approach

BackgroundThe positive impact of the outdoors on physical and mental health is increasingly being evidenced. However the impact on vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals engaging in group based sustainable building construction has not been examined.AimsTo provide the first pragmatic examination of the impact of engaging in a brief (eight days over eight weeks) outdoor sustainable construction project on the mental health and social connectedness of hard to reach and disadvantaged groups. MethodIn study 1, 93 young people not in education, employment or training took part whilst study 2 comprised 55 adults who were asylum seekers, long term unemployed or men with longstanding depression. Self report data were collected at baseline and towards the end of the programme.Results Those with poor mental health and social connection at baseline showed statistically and clinically significant improvements in depression, anxiety, resilience and social connection by the end of the brief intervention.ConclusionsEngagement in a group based sustainable construction project can provide significant mental health and social benefits to a range of vulnerable and hard to reach groups with difficulties in these areas. Building on these findings could be important for health and social care policy for marginalised groups

Service evaluation of the South Wales police control room mental health triage model: outcomes achieved, lessons learned and next steps

Purpose – South Wales Police Mental Health (MH) Triage service was initiated to meet the WelshGovernment MH priority of early intervention to prevent MH crisis. Community Psychiatric Nurses, based in the control-room, provide advice to police and control room staff on themanagement ofMH-related incidents. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the first 12months of operation (January-December 2019).Design/methodology/approach – Service evaluation of the first 12 months of operation(January–December 2019). Data were analysed in relation to: MH incidents; repeat callers; Section (S) 136 use/assessment outcomes. Police, health staff and triage service users were interviewed andsurveyed to capture their opinions of the service.Findings – Policing areas with high engagement in triage saw reductions in S136 use and estimatedopportunity costs saving. Triage was considered a valuable service that promoted cross agencycollaborations. De-escalation in cases of mental distress was considered a strength. Access to follow-on services was identified as a challenge.Practical implications – Triage enables a multi-agency response in the management of MH-relatedincidents. Improving trust between services, with skilled health professionals supporting police decision making in real time.Originality/value – There is a gap in the research on the impact of police-related MH triage modelsbeyond the use of S136. This project evaluated the quality of the service, its design and the relationship between health, police and partner agencies during the triage process. Multi-agency assessment of follow-up is needed tomeasure the long-termimpact on services and users