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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Jessica Murray Social affairs correspondent

Falling through the cracks: ex-prisoners who died within two weeks of release

A silhouette of a person's head behind vertical white bars, with one red bar among them
Guardian analysis has found that the number of people dying within a fortnight of release from prison in England and Wales is at the highest since records began in 2021. Illustration: Guardian Design / Anaïs Mims/Getty

In the weeks running up to his release from prison, Robert Barraclough began feeling anxious about becoming homeless. He told staff that he feared having to sleep in a tent in the cold, and began to self-harm.

He had been serving a 19-month sentence for assault and criminal damage at HMP Nottingham, and initially told prison officers he was looking forward to seeing his family and working at his friend’s scaffolding business on release.

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