Early Days in Custody Roll-Out: Self-harm and Suicide Prevention

The Early Days in Custody (EDiC) project is a prison-based crisis intervention delivered by NEPACS providing targeted support to prisoners and family members during the critical first two weeks of custody. The aim is to prevent (or soften) the shock of entering custody, and to avoid an escalation of negative emotions into further problems including self-harm and suicide. Following the success of the pilot of the Big Lottery Community funded delivery of the EDiC project in HMP Durham and HMP Low Newton between 2020-2023 by NEPACS (see Straub and O’Brien, 2023), further funding was secured from the Department of Health & Social Care’s Suicide Prevention Fund1 to implement EDiC in seven prisons in the Northeast of England (HMPs Deerbolt, Durham, Frankland, Holme House, Kirklevington Grange, Low Newton and Northumberland) for a further year. EDiC commenced in all prisons except HMP Deerbolt (due to recruitment issues) in April 2024 and ended in March 2025. Durham University were invited to evaluate the second iteration of the EDiC project in September 2024. This evaluation analyses data collected during the final five months of EDiC delivery, i.e. between November 1st, 2024, and March 31st, 2025. It draws on NEPACS´ quantitative impact data and researchers´ qualitative data, i.e. interviews with prisoners and family members, NEPACS family support workers and senior HMPPS staff involved in EDiC. This report provides findings and key recommendations for future delivery of the EDiC project.