Middlesbrough custody suite staff trying to get offenders 'out of the cycle'
We've been speaking to the liaison and diversion team
We are hearing how staff at the custody suite in Middlesbrough are trying to get offenders 'out of the cycle'.
The liaison and diversion team say they want to help people to get them away from the criminal justice system.
Lisa Daniels is from there and says many of those brought into custody are at 'breaking point': "It's all to do with the Bradley Report basically why we first came down here to sort of divert people from the criminal justice system, if there were concerns about their mental health or vulnerabilities that were causing them to come back into the system and to see how we can divert that, or if obviously mental health concerns they can end up in hospital, inform the law and sections and stuff.
"Just engaging isn't it? It's maintaining that trust when they don't know where to go they can have negative experiences. Its just trying to get that into them that people are out there to support them and what's there. Some people say no when we go and see them, others then change their minds. It's difficult when you see them in custody because it's at a difficult time for them. You've just got someone appearing at the cell so it's just working with them.
"It's about safeguarding if you've got your mental health, your risks, your drug and alcohol, you've got social circumstances, homelessness is a massive thing now. It's about diverting people to what's available out there because a lot of people will be quite regularly known, other will have never touched these services and wouldn't even know where to start getting that support.
"They get to sort of breaking point when they get to this sort of crisis with some things and it's just trying to offer that support to get out of the cycle really, or even worse case scenario we support in the prisons, work with them short term to get them into the right servies whether it's drug and alcohol, housing, employment or voluntary work."