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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72 <strong>Women</strong> <strong>offenders</strong>: <strong>after</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> <strong>Report</strong>218 Centre, GlasgowThe 218 Centre in <strong>the</strong> centre of Glasgow is funded by The Scottish Executive. <strong>Women</strong> can self-referor <strong>the</strong>y can be referred by GPs, social workers, or schools, for example, if girls start truanting. Theyhave one floor that is secure, so women who are not able to leave <strong>the</strong> centre, who are <strong>the</strong>re byorder of <strong>the</strong> court, can be held. Staff from <strong>the</strong> centre go into <strong>the</strong> court on a regular basis whenever awoman is coming before <strong>the</strong> sheriff court. They are entirely accepted by <strong>the</strong> court as professionals,who can make judgments and recommendations about <strong>the</strong> most appropriate way to deal with awoman who is coming before <strong>the</strong> court. The court now uses <strong>the</strong> Centre routinely. 390The Dóchas CentreThe Dóchas Centre, meaning centre for hope, is a custodial unit for women within <strong>the</strong> vicinity of amale prison in Dublin. It comprises six individual houses, with single room accommodation, plus apre-release and health area unit. Once inside <strong>the</strong> buildings, <strong>the</strong>re is nothing to indicate that one is ina prison. The regime is relaxed (staff wear civilian clothing) and <strong>the</strong> prisoners are givenresponsibilities to take decisions <strong>the</strong>mselves on <strong>the</strong> running of <strong>the</strong> various houses. The prisoners arenot handcuffed when being escorted, not even to court. Emphasis is placed on operating a regime asclose as possible to living in ordinary accommodation outside of <strong>the</strong> prison, with training anddevelopment activities structured like a normal working day. 391187. Baroness <strong>Corston</strong>’s proposal was made alongside o<strong>the</strong>r proposals designed to reduce<strong>the</strong> prison population. She told us that she estimated that only 140 women at any one timewould need to be kept in secure circumstances; 392 provision for smaller custodial unitswould <strong>the</strong>refore need to be considered on <strong>the</strong> basis of a much smaller prison population,with resources potentially freed by prison closures. There was widespread support for suchunits amongst our witnesses, although not all mentioned <strong>the</strong> units explicitly but arguedinstead that <strong>the</strong> use of high security custody could be fur<strong>the</strong>r restricted to those womenwho have committed serious offences. 393 For example, Val Castell of <strong>the</strong> Magistrates’Association thought it feasible to limit <strong>the</strong> use of high security to “where it is reallyneeded”. 394 Ano<strong>the</strong>r spoke in more abstract terms about <strong>the</strong> potential to radically reduce<strong>the</strong> prison population if a more pragmatic approach was taken to give a higher priority toreducing reoffending than punishment. 395188. There certainly appears to have been limited consideration by Government ofBaroness <strong>Corston</strong>’s proposals for small units thus far, perhaps on <strong>the</strong> assumption that costswere prohibitive. Witnesses variously highlighted a need to consider <strong>the</strong> bigger pictureoriginally set out by Baroness <strong>Corston</strong>. Jackie Russell did not consider that <strong>the</strong> issue hadbeen looked at seriously, and thought it had never been fully costed. Juliet Lyon outlined<strong>the</strong> approach that she believed <strong>the</strong> previous Government had taken:“<strong>the</strong> review that occurred was an inhouse review conducted by officials who took alarge prison and reduced it so that <strong>the</strong> economy of scale no longer applied and <strong>the</strong>yrealised how very expensive it would be to build small custodial units for women. It390 Q 26391 Irish Prisons Inspectorate, Mountjoy Prison and <strong>the</strong> Dochas Centre Inspection, 2003392 Q 24, Frances Crook estimated that <strong>the</strong>re would be a requirement for up to 100 places for public safety (Q 145)393 Q 101 [Mr Kilgarriff, Ms Russell], Q 144 [Ms Lyon, Ms Crook], Q 224 [Ms Calderbank], Qq 230–232 [Mr McLennanMurray], Ev w4,Ev 89, Ev w124394 Q 224395 Q 232