We carried out 20 interviews with ex prisoners (14 males and 6 females). The interviews were qualitative and open ended and the questions were designed to give the participant the opportunity to talk about what they considered to be their main problems. The methodology was a qualitative one and consisted of:
_ Twenty face to face in-depth interviews
_ Four focus groups of prisoners and ex prisoners
_ A focus group of community groups
_ Informed interviews of groups
_ Documentary Analysis

The focus groups dealt with a number of issues that the participants themselves considered to be of importance to them. The themes were not set by the facilitator (in all cases the researcher) but by the participants. Nevertheless the four focus groups coincided on what were the main issues and generally gave the issues a similar importance.

The main themes identified by all groups were:
• Money
• Accommodation
• Drugs
• Family Problems
• Work/Training
• Health Issues (Doctors, Dentists, Medical Cards etc)
• Information
• Harassment