Community Release

The delayed release finding was unexpected and may still have benefits if additional time supports gradual reintegration. In the restricted release model, PERS users had a mean time to release of 454 days compared with 422 days among non-PERS users. The mean time spent in open prison before release was 375 days across the full study period. PERS users were less likely to be released to the community during the analysed period than matched non-PERS users. The study hypothesized that PERS users would be released into the community sooner than comparable non-users, but the findings contradicted this hypothesis. Across the full study period, 162 people were released into the community.