Creating the Conditions for Change: Independent Approved Premises

Creating the Conditions for Change: Independent Approved Premises

For 15 years, I worked within the prison service, supporting people at every stage of their sentence, their rehabilitation, and their journey toward change. In that time, one truth became impossible to ignore:

Prisons can stabilise, but it rarely repairs.

They manage risk. They contain. They punish. But they rarely provide the space, resources, or continuity required to support true desistance, the gradual, deeply personal process of moving away from crime and towards a safer, healthier, more stable life.

Working at Social Interest Group, I became even more certain that meaningful change doesn’t happen at the prison gate. It happens in the community. And for those at the highest risk of reoffending, Independent Approved Premises (IAPs) are often the deciding factor between relapse and recovery, between risk and safety, between a return to custody and a return to life. They sit at the critical crossroads between custody and community, and when done well, they can keep someone out of prison, out of hospital and off the streets.

People enter prison for countless reasons, but the underlying themes are familiar: trauma, unstable housing, mental health challenges, substance use, poverty, exploitation, disconnected or broken relationships, lack of opportunity or direction and limited education or employment experience.

Prisons hold people. But they cannot undo years of instability or adversity. There are pockets of excellent work, driven by dedicated staff, helpful programmes and motivated individuals, but capacity is stretched, and demand is rising.

The complexity of people’s needs often exceeds the interventions available. This creates a cycle where too many people leave prison having served time without ever receiving what they truly needed. We release people and implicitly expect them to “stay out of trouble,” even when the foundations for stability simply aren’t there.

For those at the highest risk of serious harm, the absence of structured support doesn’t just limit their chances; it increases risk for everyone.

Approved Premises are often viewed primarily through the lens of public protection, and that function is vital. But the very best APs do much more than monitoring risk.

They focus on people.
They focus on potential.
They focus on desistance.
They enable.

And crucially, they offer something many residents have not experienced for years, sometimes decades:

• Safety
• Structure
• Belief
• Connection
• Hope

For someone leaving custody after a long sentence, a licence recall, or a history of complex offending, this isn’t an optional extra.
It is a lifeline.

Why Independence Matters

Independent Approved Premises bring something uniquely powerful to the justice system that statutory services alone cannot offer: the ability to innovate in shaping environments, adapt, and respond holistically across health, housing, mental health, and social care.

Independence means we can design services that genuinely strengthen desistance. We can push boundaries, test new approaches and embed practices that are relational and human, not just procedural, genuinely enhancing public protection.

This isn’t about being “soft.” This is about being effective. When people feel heard, supported, and understood, they are far less likely to harm themselves or others, or to return to offending.

This is why I feel so passionately about our growing IAP portfolio. Our flagship Penrose Drive IAP has already shown what high-quality, relational, psychologically informed practice can achieve. And now, with the opening of Havering IAP and Bermondsey IAP, we have the opportunity to push boundaries even further and make a real impact.

We know the risks for those leaving custody:

• People return to prison when structure, support and stability are missing.
• People end up in hospital when mental health needs are unmet.
• People become homeless when housing pathways break down.

Our IAP services sit uniquely at the intersection of all three, creating coordinated, person-centred pathways that prevent crisis and enable change.

And this is just the beginning.

If you’d like to learn more about our IAPs or our criminal justice services, we would love to hear from you.