Service design project update: designing an alternative to custody for drug-using repeat offenders

Redesigning the criminal justice system has been all the rage this summer, with the government's programme of reforms and the August riots. Our project, looking at designing an alternative to short-term prison sentences for people with substance misuse problems is now reaching it most challenging and interesting phase. To read more about the background and earlier phases of the project check out this blog post.

So, we are about to conclude the 'Define' phase of the project. This has included a lot of meetings with service providers, desk research, ethnography and co-design. Here is a round up of what this has entailed:

Ethnography we have conducted 6 (out of 8) full-day ethnographies with users of class A drugs. Pairs of researchers were equipped with a small number of high-level questions and lot of techniques to build trust and uncover stories. These included mapping of personal journeys, income/spend, social network and neighbourhood mapping. The days were spent in hostels, drug treatment centres, cafes and homes of family and friends. As always with this type of research all preconceptions are shattered and you find the lovely people willing to open up their lives and reveal the most human experiences have led them to where they are. Our main insights were around the transitions people make and the the triggers or barriers to change that they encounter.

Co-design we ran a workshop with a mixed group of service providers (probation officers, policeman, district judge, drug workers), ex-users and carers. This was run as a quasi 'Fish bowl' session with stakeholders (including our clients, the leader of the host council and representatives from the MoJ and No.10) viewing the session using a one-way mirror and reflecting on the process. This the first of two session with this group and the results were three 'big ideas' for the service with largely overlapping components.

Data gathering one the most important, but most difficult tasks is getting hold of the data that will help you make the case for change. This includes current services, their cost and impact, as well as their governance and commissioning structures. On the face of it, these are all public services and there is a trail of data that should be easy to follow. The truth, which we are discovering through loads of meetings with managers is much more opaque and this is one challenge we are still chipping away at patiently.

With all of this data we now find outselves overwhelmed with options. This is the most difficult phase in the project, where we know that the answer is in the room but we just have to find it. So, over the next few weeks we will run a number of intensive sessions to look at this data from different directions, inviting different people to join us and using creative methods to converge on a solution.

At the same time we will begin our 'Transfer' phase, where we look at how this project will be implemented, who will provide funding, who will take the risk and what the business model might look like.