What Does ACOOP Aim To Achieve?
ACOOP aims to meet the health and social care needs of older offenders in order to promote rehabilitation and reduce reoffending, and seeks to influence policy and practice to support this.
Vision
ACOOPs vision is to establish a specialist agency in the south west region offering information, advocacy and practical support to older people within the criminal justice system and to those supporting and working with them. The emphasis will be on social care and promotion of health and wellbeing; the project will not offer legal advice although it will seek to form partnerships to be able to signpost people appropriately.
The project offers a dedicated service which has substantial knowledge and understanding of problems which affect older people in general, but are often exacerbated by custodial and other judicial sentences. By providing accessible support, the project aims to:
• Promote community safety
• Help protect the public
• Reduce re-offending
• Lessen isolation
• Promote health and well being
• Improve awareness amongst support staff
• Encourage socialisation
• Engage community support
Its main role is to draw attention to the particular needs that occur when people are growing old within the criminal justice system.
Services include:
• Information and advice
• Promotion of healthy lifestyles
• Advocacy
• Befriending
• Support on release from prison
• One to one visiting
• Signposting to other services e.g. dedicated support services, health advice
There are specific groups of users the services are targeted at:
• Direct support to older people in prison in the region, particularly the elderly frail in prison
• their families, carers and supporters
• staff working in the criminal justice system with older offenders
and in due course, after gathering baseline and research evidence on need:
• Working with reducing re-offending programmes, supporting older people on release from prison who settle in the south west region;
• Support for older people who have received non-custodial sentences.