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

Ev 116Justice Committee: Evidence— Because of the small number of women’s prisons and their geographical location, women tendedto be located further from their homes than male prisoners, to the detriment of maintainingfamily ties, receiving visits and resettlement back into the community.— Prison was disproportionably harsher for women because prisons and the practices within themhad for the most part been designed for men.— Levels of security in prison were put in place to stop men escaping.3.3 Changes to prison policy and practices such as the ending of automatic strip searching of women onreception are welcome. However, tinkering with the prison estate or the prison regime will not address thefundamental problems that make prison disproportionately damaging to women.3.4 It has been five years since the Corston report highlighted the damaging effects of women’s prison andcalled for women’s prisons to be replaced with “suitable, geographically dispersed, small multi-functionalcustodial units. The report went on to say:The existing system of women’s prisons should be dismantled and replaced by smaller secure unitsfor the minority of women from whom the public requires protection.3.5 There is cross-party support for reducing the number of women in prison as a priority. In response to aparliamentary question from Tom Brake MP (Hansard, HC Deb, 10 November 2011, c442), Crispin Blunt MPreplied that his aspiration for the number of women in prison at the end of the next parliament was zero.3.6 However, there has been a distinct lack of progress in taking women out of the prison estate. Untilwomen’s prisons are closed down, the courts will continue to utilise them. I reiterate Baroness Corston’srecommendation that all women’s prisons should be closed.4. The volume, range, quality and sustainability of community provision for women, including approvedpremises4.1 The Howard League for Penal Reform welcomes the investment that has been made to the provision ofone-stop-shop services for vulnerable women at risk of custody. Women’s centres have been able to providesupport for women in their communities, thus diverting them from custody. The annual Howard LeagueCommunity Programmes Awards have recognised the good practice at Eden House women’s centre in Bristoland Adelaide House women’s centre in Liverpool.4.2 Despite the investment in community provision, the Howard League for Penal Reform is concerned thatfar too many women are still being sentenced to custody by the courts when a community sentence would bemore effective in reducing crime and less damaging. The majority of women who are sentenced to custody donot need to be there.— In 2011 just 849 women were given an immediate custodial sentence for the offence of violenceagainst the person compared with 13,585 men. The vast majority of women sentenced tocustody have not committed a violent offence and do not require a custodial sentence.— Women who have been convicted of a violent offence do not necessarily require a custodialsentence. The individual circumstances behind the offence should be taken into consideration.Prison should only be used for those convicted of a serious violent offence and who are acontinuing danger to the public.— In 2011 60% of women were sentenced to custody for six months or less.— 60% of women who are remanded into custody do not go on to receive a custodial sentence.Although these women spend a relatively short time in custody this can be very disruptive anddamaging for their children, particularly in cases where the woman is a single mother.4.3 Magistrates are sometimes unaware of local community provision for women and are not utilising thefull range of options available to sentencers. The Howard League for Penal Reform has organised open daysfor Community Programme Award winners and local magistrates who attended said that they did not knowabout the range of provision at women’s centres even though it was on their own doorstep.4.4 In an inspection on the use of alternatives to custody for women, HMI Probation, HMCPSI and HMIPrisons (2011) found that provision for women varied considerably and offender managers lackedunderstanding about the range of resources available and lacked awareness and underpinning knowledge of theneeds of women.4.5 Women’s centres are able to tackle the multiple and complex issues which trigger offending. Researchhas shown that women’s centres have a significant impact on re-offending rates; the reoffending rate of womenusing Together Women project centres is just seven per cent.4.6 While the announcement of £3.2 million joint funding from the Ministry of Justice and the CorstonIndependent Funders Coalition is significant, if we are to rely on women’s centres to play a key role in thediversion of women from custody, then these centres will need funding to continue. The Howard League urgesthat the Ministry of Justice provides funding for community sentences for women and ensures that magistratesare utilising women’s centres rather than resorting to custody.