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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40 <strong>Women</strong> <strong>offenders</strong>: <strong>after</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> <strong>Report</strong>does exist, some options, for example Approved Premises which hold women representinga medium or high risk of harm, mean that women are often not able to have <strong>the</strong>ir childrenliving or even visiting <strong>the</strong>m on site, and o<strong>the</strong>r options, for example, in <strong>the</strong> social andprivate sector, may be unsafe, for example with no locks, or inadequate, for exampledamp. 20499. Success in reducing reoffending will require greater access to housing. Rachel Halfordof <strong>Women</strong> in Prison described accommodation as a “fundamental need for anyone who isgoing to not reoffend and succeed when reintegrating back into society” 205 Yet, <strong>the</strong> need tofind suitable accommodation for women highlights starkly <strong>the</strong> resource intensive nature ofrehabilitative support. 206 Jacqueline McKenzie from FPWP Hibiscus described to us <strong>the</strong>case of a shoplifter who had been released from prison without accommodation:“She was a victim of domestic violence so could not go back to what was her familyhome. She could not find any accommodation and we spent, I think it was, two tothree days literally trying to find her somewhere, which included walking up anddown <strong>the</strong> high street trying to book her into bed and breakfast at our own cost,which we had great difficulty doing because she had no ID because her ID was at <strong>the</strong>home that she shared with her former partner.” 207100. We heard about some examples of good practice, for example, that of Re-Unite, whichwas developed to help meet <strong>the</strong> housing and support needs of mo<strong>the</strong>rs who would behomeless upon release from prison, so that <strong>the</strong>y can be reunited with <strong>the</strong>ir children. 208 Ittackles a cruel Catch-22 situation: if a mo<strong>the</strong>r leaving prison does not have custody of herchildren when she applies to her local authority as homeless, she is eligible for nothinglarger than a one bedroom property. However, when she has only such a property, she isdenied custody of her children. Re-Unite provides larger accommodation to give her <strong>the</strong>opportunity to seek to regain custody, and works with <strong>the</strong> family as a whole. Somewitnesses welcome <strong>the</strong> move to outcome-based commissioning and believe it has potentialto increase community based accommodation provision, including approved premises andbail accommodation.101. Rachel Halford feared that recent changes to <strong>the</strong> housing benefits system had fur<strong>the</strong>rrestricted <strong>the</strong> availability of private accommodation, which had been providing a partialsolution to <strong>the</strong> problem. She explained that women were faced ei<strong>the</strong>r with having to leave<strong>the</strong>ir accommodation and move somewhere in <strong>the</strong> outer London boroughs, losing all <strong>the</strong>ircontacts, or, if <strong>the</strong>y wished to stay in accommodation with which <strong>the</strong>y were familiar andfelt safe, <strong>the</strong>y were not eating, for example, to provide <strong>the</strong> extra rent. 209102. We heard that <strong>the</strong>re was some potential for improved access to housing for somehigher risk women through <strong>the</strong> personality disorder pathway. 210 Yet, Sherry Ashfield of <strong>the</strong>204 Ev w1, Ev w12, Ev w67, Ev w104, Ev w132205 Q 187206 Q 222 [Ms Calderbank]207 Q 189208 Ev w67209 Q 190210 Q 187 [Ms Ashfield], Q 211 [Ms Rijnenberg]