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

Women offenders: after the Corston Report 63specific funding to meet the costs of this provision there was a risk that budget cuts woulddetrimentally affect these services. 325161. Prisoners who are mothers may also benefit from specific support to maintain familyrelationships. In a recent MOJ report, 15% of prisoners stated that they needed helpconcerning problems related to family or children with 8% requiring a lot of help. Women(27%) were more likely than men (13%) to report being in need of support with a problemconcerning family or children. 326 Sherry Ashfield highlighted to us concerns that had beenraised by the Inspectorate, for example, that insufficient attention was paid to both tosafeguarding the potential risks of mothers to their children and to parenting skills, both inprison and in the community. 327 She also identified a need for staff sensitivity in difficultsituations, for example, in cases where a woman does not wish to retain or resume the roleas mother and primary carer. 328162. We sought to establish how pregnant women, and those who have recently givenbirth, are treated in custody. We were surprised to hear from Eoin McLennan Murray thatthey are generally treated “the same as non-pregnant women”. 329 Women are not routinelyasked whether they are pregnant when they enter prison, though they should be offered apregnancy test according to gender-specific standards. 330 Our evidence suggested a needfor better adapting regimes to be more practical for pregnant and post-natal women, forexample, through the provision of: additional food and opportunities to eat frequently;appropriate clothing; comfortable bedding; and longer ‘maternity leave’ from workplacements, as women are currently expected to return to the normal regime after 8weeks. 331 Several witnesses called for better ante-natal care and sensitive support whenwomen are handing the care of their child to someone outside the prison, although MrMcLennan Murray was of the view that ante-natal care was generally good. 332 We weresurprised to hear that mother and baby units, which enable babies to remain in prison withtheir mothers for up to 18 months, are frequently under-occupied. 333 Babies in Prison, asmall charity, were concerned that staff training for mother and baby units was beingdetrimentally impacted by funding cuts. 334163. Helen Grant recognised the importance of women maintaining enduringrelationships with their children and drew our attention to good practice that she hadcome across in the prison estate, for example, family days, homework clubs, release on325 Ev 95326 Ibid.327 Qq182–184328 Q 184329 Q 243330 Q 180 [Ms Cowley], Q 299 [Helen Grant]331 See Q 180 [Ms Cowley], Q 243 [Mr Hardwick], Ev w38, Ev w48, Ev 89, Ev 95, See also Alberton, K. et al (2012).Tackling health inequalities through developing evidence-based policy and practice with childbearing women inprison: A consultation, Sheffield Hallam University Community Justice Portal.332 Ev w38, Ev 95, Q 244 [Mr McLennan Murray]333 Q 239 [Mr Hardwick]334 Ev w48