What does criminal exploitation linked to county lines look like within HMPPS?

Hosted by HMPPS Effective Practice and Service Improvement Group (EPSIG) cross cutting team and Dr Kate Gooch.

County Lines is not just ‘drug dealing’, it has a significant impact on safety, security and reducing re-offending. County Lines as a “business model” will often involve the exploitation of children and vulnerable adults (both male and female), their wider family members, as well as attempts to exploit HMPPS staff to transfer and/or store drugs, weapons and money. Individuals often use coercion, intimidation, modern slavery, violence and sexual exploitation to secure compliance and the recovery of money and transported illicit items.

The event introduces collaborative work done between Dr Kate Gooch (University of Bath) and Mick McNally (EPSIG - HMPPS). Focusing on the academic research aimed at establishing a prison-based approach and methodology to identifying and tackling prison-formed networks linked to the County Line business model being used to facilitate the illicit economy within the prison estate.

Topics include:

Understanding the business model and networking

Who are the victims?

Organised crime groups versus gangs

What can be done.

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