Context: Social care need in prisons is increasing in many countries. However, the delivery of social care in prisons has been (at best) inconsistent and there has been no previous review to inform provision for people on release.
Objective: To identify and synthesise what is known about the social care needs of people on release from prison and how best to meet these.
Method: A scoping review encompassing systematic searches of 26 electronic databases (January 2010-July 2021) included a wide range of literature. No exclusions were made on the basis of study design, method or quality. Findings were organised according to their contribution to the research questions.
Findings: Forty-six documents met the review criteria of which 27 were from the UK. Just two focused specifically on the topic of interest and most of the extracted material was descriptive in nature. Almost no information was found on the number of people released from prison in need of social care. However, the challenges of providing care for this group appeared well understood. Although there were many examples of good practice and widespread consensus about its enablers, outcome information was lacking.
Limitations: In keeping with the nature of the review, the quality of the literature was not formally assessed.
Implications: The review identified several promising initiatives ranging from prison buddy schemes to pre-release training in everyday living skills and personalised pathway documents.
Conclusions: Policy makers and researchers must now shift their attention to the effectiveness of particular interventions in improving social care outcomes.

Keywords: release, transitions, offenders, prisons, community, social care, social work practice

Acknowledgements: This article presents independent research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Social Care Research. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR School for Social Care Research or the Department of Health and Social Care, NIHR or NHS.