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

Ev 78Justice Committee: EvidenceThe Women’s Aid pilot in prison “the power to change”, we welcome as a women specific programmehowever we are concerned that we were unable to source evidence on how this programme has beendisseminated to all staff in women’s prisons, how many programmes have been run and finally have male andfemale staff been trained to deliver the programme. We have particular concern regarding male staff deliveringthe programme which we consider to be wholly inappropriate for women who have been dominated, abusedand controlled by men. The women we work with tell us that they are not willing to attend these programmesif they are facilitated by male staff.3.4 Troubled familiesThe Government has made much of its “Troubled Families” initiative and the Prisons Minister stated thatthe Ministry “We will recognise where outcomes—crime and antisocial behaviour, education, worklessness—are linked and […] will join up work.” Connecting these areas of work has the potential to positively impacton women in contact with the criminal justice system but only if the connections are made and the workundertaken to address “troubled families” positively addresses the root causes of women’s offending behaviour.There is no evidence that when the troubled families were identified that detail ascertaining the femalecriminality within the family was obtained.There is no evidence that the Department for Communities and Local Governments Troubled Families’ teamagenda is integrated with the MOJ Women’s lead or the NOM’s Women and equalities team.Information requested from the MOJ under FOI.— How many meetings have taken place between the MOJ’s women’s lead or the NOMS Womenand Equalities Team and the Department for Communities and Local Government’s TroubledFamilies Team to ensure these agendas are integrated?— FOI unavailable due to cost, referral to Department for Communities and local GovernmentsTroubled Families Team3.5 EmploymentThe Minister stated that they would ensure that women leaving prison who claim Jobseekers’ Allowancewill also have access to the Work Programme on release. Again this is neither a criminal justice focussed, norwomen specific commitment. No comment was made as to how this would be delivered in a gendered waytaking into account the different work histories and educational backgrounds of women in the criminal justicesystem compared to men. This commitment alone does nothing to support women who are not work ready togain the confidence and skills to enter the work force. Information sought from MOJ under FOI included:— How many women leaving prison have claimed JSA since the Work Programme began?— How many women leaving prison have accessed the Work Programme since it began?— How many of these women are now in work?FOI unavailable due to cost referral to Department of Work and Pensions3.6 Women’s Community ServicesThe Minister stated—In 2012–13 NOMS will continue to fund the vast majority of these communityservices—some 30 services in total. This new commitment will amount to an additional £3.5 million to existingProbation Trust budgets and will form part of their future baseline funding. Please see section 6 for furtherdetails on Women Community Services.4. Gender Equality DutyWithin the Criminal Justice System there is evidence of some compliance with the gender equality duty.Substantive equality needs to be understood and applied in the provision of services for women offenders, andspecify the need for a different approach to gender specific services to achieve equal outcomes. We can findno evidence, that this nuanced understanding of gender specific services as sometimes found within theCriminal Justice System has translated to mainstream service commissioners. We are concerned that wheregood practice in commissioning is to be found, this is lead by personalities championing the need for genderspecific services, rather than any impetus by the gender equality duty. Without this broader understanding thegender equality duty does not effectively commission appropriate services that can address the root cause offemale offending.5. Women’s Custodial Estate and Prison Regimes5.1 The women’s custodial estate as it is exists is not suitable for women with multiple and complex needs.It is not a deterrent, it struggles to be a place of rehabilitation, the re-offending rates evidence it does not work.51% of women leaving prison are reconvicted within one year—for those serving sentences of less than 12months this increases to 62%. For those women who have served more than 10 previous custodial sentencesthe re-offending rate rises to 88%. i