Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
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Justice Committee: Evidence Ev 15Tuesday 15 January 2013Members present:Sir Alan Beith (in <strong>the</strong> Chair)Steve BrineRehman ChishtiJeremy CorbynNick de BoisMr Elfyn LlwydAndy McDonald________________Examination of WitnessesWitnesses: Peter Kilgarriff, Chair, <strong>Corston</strong> Independent Funders Coalition, Jackie Russell, Director, <strong>Women</strong>’sBreakout, Sharon Spurling, Deputy CEO, Escape Family Support, Support for <strong>Women</strong> Around Northumberland(SWAN) project, and Joy Doal, CEO, <strong>the</strong> Anawim project, gave evidence.Q74 Chair: Welcome. We are very grateful to <strong>the</strong>four of you for coming to help us with our work onwomen <strong>offenders</strong>. We welcome Peter Kilgarriff from<strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> Independent Funders Coalition, JackieRussell from <strong>Women</strong>’s Breakout, Sharon Spurlingfrom Support for <strong>Women</strong> Around Northumberland—which in my view is a particularly good thing to do—and Joy Doal, <strong>the</strong> name of whose organisation is solong that I cannot remember what <strong>the</strong> acronym standsfor.Joy Doal: It is not an acronym; it is an old Hebrewword.Q75 Chair: The fact that it is printed in capital lettersin my notes made me think it must be an acronym.What does it mean?Joy Doal: It means <strong>the</strong> poor and <strong>the</strong> oppressed—literally, <strong>the</strong> little ones or <strong>the</strong> forgotten ones.Q76 Chair: Is yours a church-based organisation?Joy Doal: Yes, Catholic-based.Q77 Chair: In <strong>the</strong> course of today’s session we planto focus on <strong>the</strong> adequacy of community provision,including women’s community centres for women in<strong>the</strong> criminal justice system and on <strong>the</strong> edge of it. Itmight be helpful to give you <strong>the</strong> opportunity to providean overall assessment of <strong>the</strong> progress on implementing<strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> recommendations. I am sure all of youhave views on that—perhaps quite strong ones—and aquick word from you on that would be a useful startingpoint. Who volunteers to start?Peter Kilgarriff: I will throw in my pennyworth. Tomy mind, <strong>the</strong>re is no doubt that <strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> reviewheightened awareness of <strong>the</strong> whole issue about womenin <strong>the</strong> criminal justice system. It underlined <strong>the</strong>differences between women and men in <strong>the</strong> criminaljustice system and pointed to some answers. It alsoled eventually to some money coming forth from <strong>the</strong>Treasury—via Maria Eagle, as you know—whichenabled some flesh to be put on <strong>the</strong> bones in terms of<strong>the</strong> creation of women’s centres. Joy and my colleagueswill know more about this, but initially <strong>the</strong>y werethought of as one-stop shops that would help with <strong>the</strong>complex issues that women face, of which offending,in our minds, is more of a symptom than an outcome.It raised <strong>the</strong> understanding of <strong>the</strong>se problems and ledto <strong>the</strong> creation of a network of centres. It led to <strong>the</strong>creation of <strong>the</strong> infrastructure body, which Jackie headsup, and <strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> Independent Funders Coalition,which joined with <strong>the</strong> Ministry of Justice to help fund<strong>the</strong> centres for <strong>the</strong> first two or three years. There werealso o<strong>the</strong>r practical things to do with <strong>the</strong> prison regimes,on which it cast a light, and which were changed.There were some achievements, but those have nowstalled. We have lost our champions in Government;we have lost people who are really interested in thisissue. It has fallen down <strong>the</strong> priority list, and <strong>the</strong>centres are under great threat in terms of <strong>the</strong>ir financialviability. We are talking to NOMS about this. One of<strong>the</strong> roles of CIFC is to try to keep open <strong>the</strong> channelswith Government officials and Ministers. We aretalking, but at <strong>the</strong> moment we are getting slightly moreand more depressed.Jackie Russell: At <strong>the</strong> time when <strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> report waspublished we saw some quick wins, and undoubtedly<strong>the</strong>re has been some progress. Assessment of progressis: yes, <strong>the</strong>re has been a little bit. As Peter said, <strong>the</strong>leaders and shakers around that agenda have changed.As <strong>the</strong>y have changed, <strong>the</strong> agenda has not been pickedup again. We saw some quick wins with stuff that wasshort, easier to do, and located in <strong>the</strong> criminal justicesystem. But what we have not seen is sustainabilityof change, or any real engagement of <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r majorplayers around women <strong>offenders</strong>’ lives that <strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong>report explained so well. Peter is quite right. It feelsas if <strong>the</strong> process has stalled. There was some earlyprogress but it has not been driven home.Joy Doal: Having <strong>the</strong> women’s strategy team in placewas a huge plus, and its loss has been noticeable. Thefact that that brought toge<strong>the</strong>r people from Health ando<strong>the</strong>r Departments to try to break down some of thatsilo thinking was good. That seems to be lost now, withthat team going, which is a shame. What is also beinglost is what came out of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> review: <strong>the</strong> moneyto set up one-stop shops. That enabled us to work withwomen who were at risk of falling into <strong>the</strong> criminaljustice system. You could do some early preventativework with those women who had multiple and complexissues but had not yet been caught for an offence, soyou could divert <strong>the</strong>m much more cheaply, and alsohelp <strong>the</strong>m move on in <strong>the</strong>ir lives without having gota criminal record. It is a lot easier to get somebodyinto employment who has not got a criminal record.At <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r end of <strong>the</strong> spectrum, women on <strong>the</strong> cuspof custody, who were getting five days or seven daysin prison, could be diverted into <strong>the</strong> women’s centresfor community sentences. Both of those ends of <strong>the</strong>