Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...

Ev 52 Justice Committee: EvidenceTuesday 26 March 2013Members present:Sir Alan Beith (Chair)Steve BrineJeremy CorbynMr Elfyn LlwydSeema MalhotraAndy McDonaldGraham Stringer________________Examination of WitnessesWitnesses: Helen Grant MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Ian Porée, RehabilitationProgramme Director, Ministry of Justice, and Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer, National OffenderManagement Service, gave evidence.Chair: I welcome the Minister and Mr Spurr back tothe Committee and welcome Mr Porée. We have bonesto pick with your officials about how the Committeeshould be kept informed of things that are happening,but we do not propose to spend this meeting talkingabout them, because we are more interested in thedirection of travel in the document that was producedon Friday. Although brief, it has a direction of travelthat most of us very much welcome. I ask Mr Corbynto open up.Q250 Jeremy Corbyn: Thank you very much forcoming. You will be pleased to know that yesterdaythe Committee had a very good visit to HMP Styaland Adelaide House. We understand that you will bevisiting Adelaide House in the near future.Helen Grant: In May—and Styal as well.Q251 Jeremy Corbyn: Excellent. I hope you will beas impressed as we were with some of the work thathas been done.Helen Grant: I am looking forward to it.Q252 Jeremy Corbyn: The Secretary of Statehas twice told the Committee that he has separatedministerial responsibility for men and women inprisons. Has this happened? How is it working in theDepartment at the moment?Helen Grant: Yes, it certainly has happened. It reflectsthe fact that he sees clearly that women have specificneeds and certain issues that have to be recognised. Hedecided to put me in charge of women in the criminaljustice system. My colleague Minister, Jeremy Wright,is responsible for men in the criminal justice system, sothere is definite separation.Q253 Jeremy Corbyn: In your view, what are thespecific needs of women in prison?Helen Grant: I think that women offenders are a highlyvulnerable group. They commit crime—not always, asI was quoted in one of the papers, but often—becausethey are highly vulnerable and because of earlierfailures to protect and support them. They often havedifferent needs from men. They are more likely thanmen to be victims of domestic violence and sexualabuse. They are more likely to self-harm and to havemental health problems, and they are more likely to beprimary carers at the time and date of sentencing. Weare therefore dealing with a different situation. If we aregoing to be really serious about reducing reoffending,we have to address some of the root causes that leadwomen to offend. We have to deal with those causes,whether they are drugs, alcohol or domestic violence.Q254 Jeremy Corbyn: In the light of your firstfew months as the Minister, what do you think thesystem does and does not do well in respect of womenprisoners and potential prisoners?Helen Grant: In the last few months, I have had theopportunity to visit a number of prisons. I have beento Holloway and Eastwood Park in Gloucester. Priorto becoming a Minister, I went to East Sutton Park,which is fairly near my constituency. I have been to theElizabeth Fry approved centre, and I have been ableto visit the ISIS women’s centre in Gloucester, AlanaHouse in Reading and the Minerva women’s centre inLondon. To be perfectly honest with you, I have seensome very good practice both in prisons and in thewomen’s community facilities that I have been able tovisit.To give you an example, when I visited Holloway, Iwas able to see women being prepared and made readyfor work, in terms of clothes and producing CVs,which is absolutely key. They are then linked into anorganisation through the gate called Working Chance,which I have also been able to visit, so that, on release,a woman has a much better chance of finding a job. Ofcourse, when a woman finds a job, it gives structureto her life and puts some money in her pocket. Asthey say, there is also pride in her progress, whichis absolutely key in reducing reoffending. That is anexample of very good practice that I was able to seein prison.With regard to the women’s community facilities,which I like very much, I saw some fantasticpartnership working when I went to the ISIS women’scentre in Gloucester. I was able to sit in on partof a drug rehabilitation session where the womenwere challenged to change their life, which is whatthese facilities can really do. Many still see them asslightly easier options, but they are not—they reallydo challenge women to address the issues that causedthem to offend in the first place. That was very goodpractice that I saw there. I also saw women being helpedto break the cycle of domestic violence. As I am sureyou know, many women in prison have been victimsof domestic violence. Speaking as someone who wasa domestic violence family lawyer for 23 years priorto becoming a politician, I know absolutely whatdomestic violence can do to a woman. It absolutely