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

Justice Committee: Evidence Ev 115by a statement of what they are trying to achieve for women with vulnerabilities who are caught upin the criminal justice system?1.3 Ministers have responded stating that a strategic document on the priorities for women will be published“in due course” (Hansard, HL Deb, 20 March 2012, c764 and HC Deb, 3 July 2012, c742). The Ministry ofJustice business plan 2012–15 states that high level strategic objectives for reducing female offending will bepublished in December 2012.1.4 The priorities of the Ministry of Justice and the National Offender Management Service are focused onthose who have offended, the majority of whom are male. Without strategic leadership within the Ministry ofJustice there could be a reversal in the positive changes implemented since the publication of the CorstonReport and women’s needs will slip off the agenda once again.1.5 The Ministry of Justice, the Department of Health, the Department for Education and the Departmentfor Communities and Local Government need to work collaboratively to ensure that services are in place tosupport vulnerable women and girls living in poverty, with mental health problems, facing physical and sexualabuse or addicted to drugs or alcohol. A strategy which focuses on women who have offended will not tacklethe needs of vulnerable women and girls in the community at risk of ending up in the penal system.1.6 When it is published, the Ministry of Justice strategy for women should include targets for the reductionof custodial sentences for women and a planned closure for all women’s prisons within the next five years. Ithas been five years since the publication of the Corston report yet in that time only one women’s prison,Morton Hall, has been re-rolled as an immigration removal centre and no women’s prisons have closed. AMinistry of Justice target for the reduction of the number of women in custody by 400 by March 2012 wasnot met.2. The nature and effectiveness of Ministry of Justice governance structures for women’s offending2.1 Women account for less than 5% of the prison population and ten% of the probation caseload (Ministryof Justice, 2012).2.2 Changes introduced following the publication of the Corston report, such as the establishment of awomen’s criminal justice policy unit and an inter-ministerial group for women did help to ensure that women’sneeds were recognised and given a higher priority in a department which caters for the needs of men. Theinvestment in services for women in the community such as one-stop-shop women’s centres and earlyintervention projects ensured that greater numbers of vulnerable women could be supported in theircommunities and given the specialist help needed to turn their lives around.2.3 Despite these changes to the governance structure, there has been no discernable impact on the numbersof women in prison.2.4 There are proposals to devolve funding for women to the National Offender Management Service atregional level. This will mean that resources will be directed at women in contact with the Probation Service,not at vulnerable women at risk of entering the penal system. Baroness Corston stated in the House of Lords(HL Deb, 20 March 2012):These women will again be lost, as will a real opportunity to tackle their vulnerabilities before theyend up experiencing custody and the consequent damage which that entails to themselves, theirfamilies and, particularly, their children.2.5 Changes to structures and processes will not necessarily ensure that vulnerable women are kept out ofthe penal system. The closure of women’s prisons, changes to the Code for Crown Prosecutors and tosentencing policy and practice to ensure more vulnerable women are diverted from the penal system wouldmake a real difference.3. The suitability of the women’s custodial estate and prison regimes3.1 There are 13 prisons for women in England. Between July 2010 and June 2011, there were 10,173receptions of women into prison. The number of women in prison has increased by 24% from 3,355 in 2000to 4,167 in 2012.3.2 Prisons are not and never will be suitable places for the vulnerable women who are placed there. Overhalf the women in prison report having suffered domestic violence, one in three has experienced sexual abuseand 37% of women sent to prison say they have attempted suicide at some time in their life.The Corston Report found:— Mental health problems were far more prevalent among women in prison than in the maleprison population or in the general population.— Outside prison men were more likely to commit suicide than women but the position wasreversed inside prison.— Self-harm in prison was a huge problem and more prevalent in the women’s estate.