It is not necessary to report back, but it would be helpful to have facilitators from the training team move around the groups during the discussions to ensure the topics are adequately covered. Points to be highlighted/suggested areas for discussion: 39. – The important immediate issues would include: somewhere to live or to stay; a job or a source of income; making contact with family; 39. – Serving a sentence of more than two years is likely to mean loss of job and home and probably reduced contact with family; a pre-release programme would need to cover re-establishing these key areas in one’s life; 39. – Such a period in prison is likely to have involved exposure to substance abuse, so this issue will also need to be dealt with before release; 39. – Health care, substance abuse (narcotics and alcohol), training and employment, and family support agencies which exist in the community can be asked to come into the prison as part of the pre-release programme; 39. – An advantage of community involvement, before a prisoner is released, is likely to be that some of the groundwork will be covered. At its best, some practical preparation will be achieved, e.g. housing and employment plans. At the very least, it will prepare people for the return and avoid sudden confrontation; 39. – A possible disadvantage of such involvement might be the reminder to the community of the damage or pain caused by the offence. It might be preferred, by some, to return quietly to the community in the hope that memories will not be revived; 39. – If return to the community is not possible, the released prisoner will need help in finding a new area in which to settle, assistance in finding a means of selfsupport and introduction to community help agencies. In many communities, there are agencies specifically for ex-prisoners. CASE STUDIES Methodology: A round-table discussion is recommended, involving members of the training team and volunteer trainees discussing all the relevant issues in the two case studies provided. The trainees should be replaced for the second study. Points to be highlighted/suggested areas for discussion: CASE STUDY 1 39. – Pre-release training should start as soon as the sentence starts; this is particularly important for short-sentence prisoners; 39. – It is frequently the short-term prisoners who return time and again with the pattern of no pre-release training being repeated on each occasion for the same reason; 109