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 101THE GOVERNMENT’S CURRENT WORKPLAN FOR FEMALE OFFENDERSAnnex AThe Government is fully committed to addressing women’s offending and reoffending. In its Response to<strong>the</strong> Breaking <strong>the</strong> Cycle Green Paper, <strong>the</strong> Government gave a commitment that, in seeking to reduce reoffending,it would take into account <strong>the</strong> different profile of women’s offending. We will not successfully reduce women’soffending unless we address <strong>the</strong> factors which lead <strong>the</strong>m to offend, including mental health, substance misuse,accommodation and employment needs. Where <strong>the</strong>se factors are different to those for men, <strong>the</strong>n a differentresponse is called for. This is not about preferential treatment but about achieving equal outcomes for female<strong>offenders</strong>.Key elements of <strong>the</strong> current cross-Government workplan for female <strong>offenders</strong> include:Mental Health— Lord Bradley’s 2009 report on people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in <strong>the</strong>criminal justice system proposed that all police custody suites and courts should have access toliaison and diversion services for <strong>offenders</strong> with mental health issues and o<strong>the</strong>r vulnerabilities. TheGovernment agrees and <strong>the</strong> Department of Health is investing in alternative approaches andcommitted just under £20 million in 2012–13 to support and test pathfinder service models. TheDepartment of Health has recently appointed <strong>the</strong> Offender Health Collaborative (a consortia led byNacro, a crime reduction charity) and <strong>the</strong> Offender Health Research Network (a ManchesterUniversity Collaborative) to support this work. A longer term evaluation, including longer termimpacts on health outcomes and reoffending rates will be commissioned later this year. Subject toapproval of a business case due to be considered in March 2013, <strong>the</strong> Department of Health will rollout National Health Service-funded liaison and diversion services for <strong>offenders</strong> in police custodyand at courts irrespective of age, gender or of needs and vulnerabilities. Liaison and diversionservices will ensure <strong>offenders</strong> are identified and assessed early and that <strong>the</strong>y receive treatment in <strong>the</strong>most appropriate setting. Information from assessments will also inform decision making along <strong>the</strong>different stages of <strong>the</strong> criminal justice pathway. <strong>Women</strong> are not a designated group being separatelyconsidered as part of <strong>the</strong> liaison and diversion business case development work however, leadoffender health commissioners, in collaboration with o<strong>the</strong>r relevant commissioners, will have <strong>the</strong>ability to determine local levels and configurations of service. Therefore, local commissioners willbe able to develop specific services for female <strong>offenders</strong> as part of <strong>the</strong>ir local population needsassessments.— The National Offender Management Service and Department of Health have recently commencedimplementation of <strong>the</strong> female offender personality disorder strategy. Its aims are reductions inreoffending, improvements in psychological health, and workforce development. The strategy willdevelop a pathway of services in custody and <strong>the</strong> community for female <strong>offenders</strong> with personalitydisorder, commencing in East and West Midlands and East of England, and subsequently nationally.The strategy is based on <strong>the</strong> key principle that female <strong>offenders</strong> with personality disorder are ashared responsibility between <strong>the</strong> National Offender Management Service and <strong>the</strong> National HealthService, as well as o<strong>the</strong>rs. It <strong>the</strong>refore requires joint operations, planning and delivery, but assumesthat treatment services will be located mainly in <strong>the</strong> criminal justice system. Interventions must bepsychologically informed, gender-specific and based on <strong>the</strong> best available evidence, focussing onrelationships and <strong>the</strong> social context in which people live. The strategy will increase availability ofand access to specialised personality disorder treatment services, as well as provide gender-specificpersonality disorder staff training.Substance Misuse— The National Offender Management Service and <strong>the</strong> Department of Health are piloting DrugRecovery Wings for drug and alcohol-dependent prisoners at three women’s prisons—HMPs NewHall, Askham Grange and Styal. The focus of <strong>the</strong>se pilots is on promoting abstinence, becomingdrug-free and connecting <strong>offenders</strong> with community drug recovery services to help reducereoffending on release. The drug recovery wings will hold prisoners with less than twelve monthsleft to serve on <strong>the</strong>ir sentence, irrespective of sentence length. This will allow for more intensivetreatment interventions to be completed and more time to plan access to community health serviceswhen <strong>offenders</strong> are released on licence. In addition to drug and alcohol misuse treatment, work with<strong>offenders</strong> will include addressing criminal attitudes, lifestyle and thinking, education, training andemployment support, and meeting housing needs. Interventions for women will also address o<strong>the</strong>rneeds such as wider health issues and childcare and <strong>the</strong> influence of drug-misusing partners. Thepilots commenced April 2012 and will run for 18 months. York University will undertake anindependent evaluation. It has started an initial scoping and feasibility phase, expected to report insummer 2013, which will help inform <strong>the</strong> detailed evaluation approach.