Supporting prison leavers in North East Lincolnshire, UK: Evaluation of Project Phoenix and Project Athena

How are the Public involved?

The PHIRST PHRESH team collaborates with a Public Advisory Committee and engages external public involvement representatives to provide informed input. Given the challenges faced by prison leavers, the evaluation adopts a flexible approach, working closely with North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC), Wizer Community Interest Company (the programme provider) and other relevant agencies, programme recipients, and prison leavers unrelated to Projects Phoenix and Athena. To maintain consistency, individuals from criminal justice networks with more stable lives contribute throughout the project, while participatory approaches allow those directly affected to take an active and flexible role in recruitment, data collection, and analysis, ensuring the evaluation remains grounded in real experiences.

Lay summary of research

What is the evaluation about?

In England and Wales, about 80,000 people, including 4,000 women are held across 122 prisons. Around three-quarters of these individuals return to community yearly. Prison leavers have high risks of dying young, having undiagnosed mental health problems, engaging in violent crime, and using drugs and alcohol. As they face these multiple challenges, they find it difficult to engage with support services and fit back into society.

Project Phoenix (for male) and Project Athena (for female) provide personalised long-term support to prison leavers returning to North East Lincolnshire (NEL).  They aim to support prison leavers to lead stable, healthy and fulfilling lives in the community, reduce crime, and ensure continuity of care. The projects are funded by a Department of Health and Social Care grant awarded to NE Lincolnshire Council and are delivered in partnership with Wizer (organisation with lived experience recovery navigators) and others, such as housing, probation, police, substance use services. 

What will we do?

Our study has three aims:

1. To explore the impact of Project Phoenix and Project Athena on prison leavers and the partner agencies.
2. To understand the nature and level of engagement of prison leavers with the programmes and wider services.
3. To understand the factors helping or hindering the programmes and their delivery.

How we will do it

We will evaluate these programmes using various approaches and engaging actively with people with lived experience and key stakeholders (e.g., those who deliver the intervention, recovery navigators, collaborating agencies, commissioners).  

We will: 

1. Talk to prison leavers and stakeholders to explore their experiences and views of the programmes, and their impacts.
2. Provide prison leavers with cameras so that they can take photographs and share their stories using these photographs.
3. Talk to prison leavers about the number and quality of their social connections, including support from family, friends, service providers, and their community.
4. Use other inclusive approaches such as providing notebooks and postcards, using text messages etc. to capture the views of individuals who prefer not to participate in an interview or share photographs.
5. Collect data onhow much time programme providers spend on delivering the programmes and any related activities.  

Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE)  

We developed and shaped this study with input from multiple people with lived experience and other stakeholders who support the projects. An in-person workshop was held in NE Lincolnshire involving people with lived experience and multiple agency partners. In addition, several meetings were held with project partners and people with lived experience. Throughout the project, we will work closely with people with lived experience to make sure that our findings and guidance are relevant and will make a difference.  

What will we do with the results?

We will write a policy brief to help the local council to improve the programmes. We plan to share our findings and guidance with a wide range of other people, such as leaders from local authorities, health and social care, and voluntary sectors. We will present the findings to other researchers and people working in this area at conferences and meetings.