Prisoner Debt Study HMPPS

Carry out ethnographic research in a small sample of prisons to understand the nature of debt in prisons and its impact on prisoners, including on prisoner safety, and to identify pinch-points and emerging threats. Methods will include qualitative interviews, observation, use of internal data and management information and structured surveys in these and additional prisons. These sources will be integrated with findings from in-house intelligence and analysis. The research will be oriented towards potential solutions across HMPPS and prison processes and the illicit economy.

Delivery of an interim and final report based on the analysis of the national data and empirical research. These will include learning that MoJ and HMPPS can use in the design of solutions.

The supplier will work with MoJ/HMPPS to distil the research aims into prioritised research questions in the early stages of the project. The supplier will work together with in-house analysts to address wider research questions related to mapping the scale and spread of debt across the estate and quantifying the harm that is stemming from debt, and the supplier will integrate the resultant findings into the research and reports.