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

Justice Committee: Evidence Ev 99on female offenders show that women have consistently accounted for 5% of the prison population since 2007.On 30 June 2012, the prison population was 86,048, of which 4,123 were women. Of these:— 633 women were remanded in prison (15%), the lowest number over the last decade;— 3,477 women (84%) were under sentence; and— 13 women in prison were non-criminal prisoners (less than 1%).21. There are currently 13 women’s prisons in England. As part of the thematic audit of women’s prisons,each establishment is audited against the requirements in Prison Service Order 4800 Women Prisoners and theaccompanying gender specific standards. NOMS data from July 2012 shows that, whilst female prisoners wereheld further from home than male prisoners (54 miles on average, compared with 51 miles for male prisoners)the difference was not as large as might be expected in view of the fewer number of prisons accommodatingwomen. 3322. HMP Morton Hall was re-roled in 2011 to an Immigration Removal Centre, meeting our commitmentto reduce the number of places in the female estate by 400. Plans for the women’s prison estate will beconsidered as part of a wider strategy looking at the future development of the overall prison estate and willreflect the current and projected prison population making best use of specialist services.23. NOMS has set out its commitment with a specific Commissioning Intention, to ensure that appropriateprovision is in place to enable female offenders to complete their sentences and address their offendingbehaviour. This has led to the development and inclusion of targeted outputs and outcomes reflecting thespecific needs of female offenders.24. NOMS is also undertaking a programme of work to segment the female offender population.Segmentation involves separating out groups within the offender population in a way which enables providersand commissioners to understand risk and needs, and commission services accordingly. Segmenting the femaleoffending population will enable NOMS to identify priority groups for investment and disinvestment accordingto their offending behaviour/needs.The volume, range, quality, and sustainability of community provision for female offenders, includingapproved premises25. The most recent annual statistics on the volume and range of community provision show that:— In 2011, 24,613 women and 209,915 men were supervised by the Probation Service (thuswomen represented 10% of Probation caseload). Of these, 53% of women and 34% of menwere serving Community Orders; 25% of women and 17% of men were serving SuspendedSentence Orders; and 23% of women and 50% of men were under pre- or post-releasesupervision.— In 2011, a higher proportion of women than men served Community Orders of one or year orless (82% of women and 72% of men). Women also served shorter Suspended Sentence Ordersthan men: 41% of women and 37% of men served Suspended Sentence Orders of one yearor less.26. NOMS has provided £3.78 million via Probation Trusts to support 31 Women’s Community Services in2012–13. This is in addition to Probation Trusts’ basic settlements, and has been given with a contractualexpectation of enhanced services to female offenders. This funding has now been embedded in the NOMScommunity budget baseline to support the provision of appropriate services for women going forward into2013–1427. From April 2013, this approach of locally devolved commissioning will ensure provision is integratedinto local services. NOMS Commissioning Intentions outlines the opportunities for Women’s CommunityServices to enhance the community based sentences and Probation Trusts are expected to demonstrate howthey will ensure the appropriate provision of women’s services locally in their responses.28. Six probation trust areas have approved premises for female offenders. These provide closed andenhanced supervised accommodation for high and very high risk offenders. By March 2013, NOMS willexplore opportunities to maximise the use of existing approved premises for women.29. Bail Accommodation and Support Service (BASS) provides gender specific independent livingaccommodation and support in every region of England and Wales as an alternative to custody. BASS currentlyprovides 80 beds plus the facility of support in their own home. We are currently discussing the possibleextension of the BASS contract with the provider with a view to protecting this provision for women withinthe context of delivering savings overall.30. The Government published two consultations earlier this year on community sentences and probationservices. The Government response on community sentencing was published on 23 October and we will shortlypublish a paper setting out proposals for the Rehabilitation Revolution, delivering a Rehabilitation Revolutionin how we tackle reoffending.33 NOMS (2012) Unpublished Management Information