Nathan has a police tag on both legs – one to stop him drinking alcohol, and the other has a GPS tracker to stop him entering Thetford. He was released from prison two months ago and is living in St Martins hostel Bishopbridge House. Yet Nathan considers himself lucky. Thanks to support from St Martins and from probation services, he has stopped drinking, and has gold banded status with his local authority, meaning that he has a priority need for housing.
Nathan was released from prison in July – two months early. He wasn’t able to return to his home due to the location conditions placed on him by the police. In any case, Nathan wants a clean break from his previous life. He said, “My offending is all related to alcohol. I’ve not had a drink for six months and don’t want to start again. The tag comes off at the beginning of November. I don’t really want to drink anyway cos that’s where all my problems are.”
Nathan said, “I was homeless but I didn’t have to sleep rough. Probation got me into the Hub. I think I got luckily, really, at the right time and the right place. I stayed in the Hub for three days and then a room came up here. It was supposed to be for someone else but he wasn’t ready to go in. I was ready, I was told be there at 3 o’clock.”
The Hub is St Martins’ ‘Somewhere Safe to Stay Hub’ on Recorder Road, which provides emergency assessment accommodation for people who would otherwise be sleeping rough. Early prison release is a concern – data shows 8,355 people in England and Wales – or 12% of prison leavers – were released from custody straight into rough sleeping last year, an increase of 2,310 from the previous year. The impact of the government’s early release scheme is yet to be reflected in the statistics. Nathan said, “There’s people [released directly from prison] on the streets in Norwich now.”
Nathan is hopeful he won’t have to wait too long before Breckland Council have a one bedroom flat for him. Until then he is content at Bishopbridge House and has bought a TV and cheap X Box for his room. He said, “I like it here. I keep my room clean – they love it! I don’t mind it here really. I just keep myself to myself. My support worker’s lovely. She helps me fill out forms and helps when I need it. They’ve helped me with a lot of things to be honest.”
Nathan has built a good rapport with the team and residents at Bishopbridge House. His advice is to ‘Treat them the way you want to be treated.”
Nathan has a close family and regularly sees his mum, dad, and his daughter. Within a couple of months his electronic tags will be off and he is looking forward to getting back into work and having a place of his own. Source: ministry of justice: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-accommodation-outcomes-update-to-march-2024
‘Nathan’ wants a clean break from his old life so asked that his name be changed and didn’t want to be photographed – stock image above