Exclusive: Public Back Rehabilitation Over Prison For Drink And Drug Addicts

Voters back sending alcohol and drug addicts to rehabilitation centres rather than prison if they commit crimes, a poll has found.

Nearly half of British adults (47%) said they were in favour of enrolling offenders on programmes aimed at helping them to kick their habit rather than of putting them behind bars. 

Only one in five (20%) of the public were opposed to the idea, according to the Opinium poll for the addiction charity Forward Trust.

When broken down by party, 56% of Labour, 61% of Liberal Democrat and 68% of Green supporters said they were likely to rehab over prison.

The findings come as the Labour Party conference in Liverpool is underway, and just days before the government is expected to release up to 700 inmates early to ease prison overcrowding.

A further 2,550 prisoners are set to be released before the end of 2026.

However, the Forward Trust said this approach is a sticking plaster and called for the Labour Party to “think creatively” about alternatives, like rehabilitation programmes.

Forward Trust chief executive Mike Trace, told HuffPost UK: “Government should see these results as a green light to launch bold, courageous, and creative rehabilitation initiatives.

“It’s obvious that cramming together lots of people with histories of trauma, neglect, poverty, and addiction in understaffed and rundown conditions is not going to lead to good outcomes – either for offenders or the public.

“Change is long overdue. The way out is to create a system that genuinely rehabilitates, rather than simply punishes.

“Rehabilitation gives people a second chance. It lets them leave behind the life that led to crime and build something good. The earlier we can offer that opportunity to earn release from prison through sustained progress towards addiction recovery, the better.”

The Opinium poll also suggests the public would be keen to reform other areas of the prison system, too.

More than two-thirds (69%) said the sector is performing poorly on reducing reoffending and more than half (53%) said it is doing badly on offender rehabilitation.

A further 61% said the system is not adequately protecting the public from crime and the same number say the system was performing poorly when it comes to “delivering justice”.

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