New research highlights benefits of mentoring based throughcare to support Scotland’s male prison population.
A new discussion paper from the Fraser of Allander Institute, Mapping the potential: An illustrative model for estimating the cost savings supported by mentoring-based throughcare programmes, explores the benefits of mentoring services like New Routes, which supported thousands of short-term male prisoners across Scotland between 2013 and 2024.
While not a full economic evaluation, the report uses stakeholder insights and publicly available data to estimate the costs associated with negative societal outcomes—such as homelessness and substance misuse—that may worsen for individuals leaving prison without support. These estimates highlight the potential preventative savings mentoring could help to support.
Key findings include:
- Mentoring matters: Interviews with justice sector stakeholders identified four critical benefits of mentoring-based throughcare:
- Building trust between mentors and individuals.
- Meeting individuals at the prison gate to ensure continuity of support.
- Connecting people to essential services quickly.
- Faster resolution of issues through joined-up working.
- Illustrative cost estimates:
- Homelessness: Potential costs of rough sleeping could range from £1.3 million to £18.9 million for high-risk individuals without support.
- Substance misuse: Costs to health and criminal justice systems could reach £17.4 million for those with severe needs.
Authors
Ben is an Economist Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute working across a number of projects areas. He has a Masters in Economics from the University of Edinburgh, and a degree in Economics from the University of Strathclyde.
His expertise lies in various economic modelling approaches, social care, and evaluating social impact for organisations across the private, public and third sector, particularly where evaluation requires intuitive approaches.