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

18 Women offenders: after the Corston Reportmore respectful places; a better focus on promoting purposeful activity and resettlement;the end of routine strip searching of women; better reception and first night arrangements;better physical health care (although with some exceptions); and better treatment andmanagement of women with substance use problems which has “undoubtedly contributedto the drop in self-inflicted deaths.” 72 The Acting HM Chief Inspector of Probation foundthat the “strong lead given by the MoJ and NOMS” had been “successful in promotingconsiderable activity” at a regional and local level. For example, Probation Trusts hadworked well with NOMS and the MoJ as well as partners and other agencies to develop a“sound strategic framework” for working with women offenders. However, measures toassess the progress made on implementing this framework were generallyunderdeveloped. 73 Probation Chiefs’ Association found that the National ServiceFramework coupled with updated guidance issued in March 2012, had helped strengthenpartnership activity in probation trusts in: developing specific service provision for women;developing a women-centred approach; and promoting a greater understanding of theneeds of women offenders. 74 Lancashire Probation Trust described the strategic approachthat had been taken to developing provision in the county, which focused on reducing theuse of custody and remand, and improving a range of outcomes, including reducingreoffending, as well as health and social outcomes. 7538. Nevertheless, there was clearly more to be done. A joint inspection of the use ofalternatives to custody by women offenders by HM Inspectorate of Probation, HM CrownProsecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Prisons in 2011 concluded thatdespite efforts made to improve the use of gender-specific interventions, some offendermanagers working with women offenders demonstrated a lack of empathy towards themand insufficient knowledge to work with them effectively. 76 We also encounterednumerous examples where it appeared that the Ministry of Justice and NOMS had notgiven sufficient thought to gender differences. For example, Bedfordshire Probation Trustexplained that service specifications fail to take account of the additional support, liaisonand crisis management that women offenders require during periods of communitysupervision. Similarly, while the Trust had received gender awareness training for staff, thishad tended to focus on female workers supervising male offenders. 77 HMP Eastwood Parkfelt that that various recent initiatives including the benchmarking programme,development of prison industries and integrated offenders management schemes have notbeen approached in a gendered way. 78 Nicola Padfield of the University of Cambridgeobserved that women remain “remarkably invisible’ in some Ministry of Justice statistics,for example, the Parole Board publishes statistics by ethnicity, and not by gender. 79 TheLucy Faithfull Foundation had seen limited impact of the gender equality duty on72 Ev 6673 Ev 8074 Ev 120. See A Distinct Approach75 Ev w10176 Ev 8077 Ev w1678 Ev w94. See also Q 227 [Mr Hardwick]79 Ev w36