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

Women offenders: after the Corston Report 69male establishments and for men to work in female establishments, and to meet thespecific needs of the population but he agreed that there could be “some flex” in theapplication of this benchmark, within reason. 373 The Government’s review of thewomen’s estate should include an assessment of the competencies required to workwith women offenders and an appraisal of existing national standards. The women’sawareness training that has been provided to prison staff should also be evaluated andthe review should seek to examine whether the training provided is sufficient to enablestaff to deal confidently and sensitively with the distinct needs of women offenders,including those who have committed sexual offences.Self-harm and deaths in custody178. Our evidence suggests that there are more fundamental issues that cannot be resolvedby changes to prison regimes alone. The deaths of six women in HMP Styal prompted theCorston Report, and it is therefore particularly disturbing that in the prison’s most recentinspection report published in January this year, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisonscommented that it was “disappointing to find, and to be told of by the governor, too manycases of women, some of whom were clearly mentally ill, serving very short prisonsentences which served little purpose except to further disrupt sometimes already chaoticlives”. 374 He reiterated to us that there continue to be women in prison “for whom thesystem does not seem able to provide appropriate treatment and conditions.” 375179. Since the Corston Report was published in March 2007, the number of deaths ofwomen in prison have fallen but there have been a further 35 deaths, 14 of which were selfinflicted.376 INQUEST recently published a research report which highlighted “seriousflaws” in the learning process following an inquest into a death in custody. In theirevidence they note several “patterns” in these cases including: histories of significantdisadvantage and complex needs; inappropriate use of imprisonment given the offence;isolation from families, including children; prisons being unable to meet women’s complexneeds; poor medical care and limited access to therapeutic services in prison; and unsafeprison environments and cells that are unable to prevent women from taking their ownlives despite having known mental health problems and histories of self-harm. INQUESTbelieves that legislation should be strengthened to compel relevant governmentdepartments, public authorities and prisons to act on inquest findings and coroners’recommendations. 377180. Helen Grant assured us that the MoJ take the findings from coroners’ inquests “veryseriously indeed”, for example, to inform policies, initiatives and strategies. Michael Spurr373 Q 280374 Ev 65. In February 2012, Nick Hardwick, speaking at the University of Sussex on 29 February 2012, had declared thisin stronger terms. He said: “[...] prisons-particularly as they are currently run, are simply the wrong place for so manyof the distressed, damaged or disturbed women they hold [...] the treatment and conditions in which a smallminority of the most disturbed women are held is—in relation to their needs—simply unacceptable. I think—Ihope—we will look back on how we treated these women in years to come, aghast and ashamed [...] This is aresponsibility that lies squarely at the door of successive governments and parliament.”375 Q 245376 Ev w124. Nearly half (16/46%) have so far been classified as non-self inflicted; and 4 (11%) were from a BAMEbackground.377 Ibid.