Prison isn't working for women, ministers say. Can it be fixed?

There are much than 3,600 pistillate prisoners successful England and Wales - a fig the Ministry of Justice projects volition emergence to 4,200 by November 2027.

But Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood believes “prison isn’t working” for women. She told the Labour Party league that aft serving a abbreviated custodial sentence, a pistillate is “significantly much likely” to reoffend than 1 fixed a non-custodial sentence.

Meanwhile prisons curate James Timpson has said helium sees “lots of precise sick women” connected visits. This echoes research which recovered 82% of women prisoners reported they had immoderate signifier of intelligence wellness problem, and information pointing to a rising fig of self-harm incidents successful women’s prisons.

The majority of imprisoned women person experienced home violence.

So what tin beryllium done? Two government-commissioned publications, the Corston Report (2007) and the Ministry of Justice’s Female Offender Strategy (2018) recommended that successful immoderate cases, alternatively of situation sentences, the usage of women’s residential centres, which absorption connected trauma enactment and wherever children tin sometimes stay, oregon assemblage sentencing, would beryllium much appropriate.

The caller Labour authorities has announced measures including a Women’s Justice Board to trim imprisonment numbers. Under the Conservatives, a 2021 white paper outlined plans for mandatory unit grooming successful women's prisons to trim self-harm and amended enactment for large women.

InDepth has spoken to radical with acquisition of the transgression justness strategy to perceive however they deliberation it tin beryllium reformed for pistillate offenders.

Most women are imprisoned for nonviolent, non-serious offences, and truthful they are not truly a menace to nationalist safety. They would payment much from assemblage alternatives.

Women with short-term sentences, six months oregon less, shouldn't beryllium successful prison. In that clip you're not going to execute immoderate meaningful alteration oregon existent engagement with rehabilitation. So it doesn't service a purposeful relation for nine oregon for women.

Over fractional of women prisoners spell connected to reoffend. Women are going consecutive backmost into the aforesaid environment, aforesaid circumstances, that they were successful earlier going into situation - specified arsenic homelessness, oregon substance abuse.

It is existent that situation tin connection operation erstwhile a batch of these women unrecorded precise chaotic lives. There are besides immoderate bully examples of prisons with programs that specifically woody with trauma. However, women’s centres are a amended attack arsenic they are much focused connected addressing the causes of offending - for instance, underlying issues specified arsenic trauma.

There's ever a hazard that the authorities mightiness thin towards populist measures that fastener much radical up, but I deliberation determination is expanding nationalist consciousness astir the request to bash things otherwise due to the fact that of the reoffending rates.

Unsurprisingly, the cardinal situation is backing and investment. There is simply a increasing fig of women’s centres but a deficiency of backing means that determination aren’t capable of them.

I was successful Eastwood Park Prison from March to July 2022 for perverting the people of justice. I was nether the content that prisons were expected to beryllium rehabilitative facilities that assistance nurture radical backmost into society. But that's simply not the case.

During my clip successful prison, we were locked successful our cells for 23 hours a day, with small to nary entree to education. Prisoners were expected to person maths and English lessons, but the situation was truthful under-resourced that situation officers would ne'er unfastened the door.

We’d lone person an hr extracurricular our cells, and we would person to take betwixt having a shower, exercising, gathering different people, oregon being outdoors. One hr was simply not capable clip to get thing meaningful done.

After leaving prison, I realised however breached the strategy is. A batch of the radical going into situation were precise young and galore had grown up successful care. They’ve been dispatched consecutive from the attraction strategy to the transgression justness system. While idiosyncratic accountability for their choices is essential, I deliberation it’s truly important to commencement discussions connected however we tin amended service radical earlier they extremity up successful prison.

Preventative measures are important but I privation to beryllium wide - I don't hold with abolishing prisons. Violent and unsafe offenders should beryllium removed for the information of wider society, for the involvement of the victims and perchance for their ain safety. But what we bash to those radical successful situation needs to change.

Some women are violent, intersexual oregon prolific offenders and should beryllium successful prison. The intent of situation is fourfold – to punish, support the public, deter transgression and springiness the accidental for rehabilitation.

Just 4% of radical successful situation are women and they are a precise antithetic colonisation to the different 96% - they are little apt to beryllium convulsive oregon prolific offenders. We bash request much situation spaces, but those places should beryllium filled with convulsive oregon prolific men, alternatively than women who are not.

We should besides see issues which use to women. For example, pregnancy.

The transgression justness strategy is successful an utterly shambolic state. A connection for a bid of residential women’s centres, which came from the Female Offender Strategy successful 2018, has – with a mates of exceptions - hardly got disconnected the ground. We person the biggest Crown Court backlog connected record. We cognize what helps trim reoffending but we systematically neglect to bash it.

Partly this is funding, but besides determination is the ineffectiveness of assemblage sentencing, and arsenic portion of that, cause rehabilitation, acquisition and employment programs.

Locking up non-violent and non-prolific women is not the lone solution. Key to deterring radical from committing transgression is catching much of them, doing it quicker, and perchance sentencing them to thing different than situation if they're not convulsive oregon prolific offenders.

There indispensable beryllium a gender-specific attack to transgression justice, arsenic women extremity up successful situation due to the fact that of things that are gender-specific successful society.

If you're lone reasoning astir moving with women astatine the constituent astatine which they're sent to prison, you're starting excessively late. The existent solutions are earlier upstream, wherever alteration needs to happen.

Women are being sent to situation fundamentally arsenic a punishment for being mediocre and falling into indebtedness - they are the daze absorbers of poverty. Survivors of home maltreatment are criminalised.

They often acquisition horrendous intelligence wellness problems. The database conscionable goes on. The strategy is wholly broken.

Labour‘s Women's Justice Board is invited if it tin truly bash something. In the agelong term, we privation to halt women being criminalised for the discriminatory experiences they have.

Any presumption that you tin bash rehabilitation oregon prime therapeutic enactment successful situation is not existent - they're not harmless oregon healing environments.

Prisons are terrifying. They wholly region your identity. Several women conscionable successful the past 2 weeks person told america entering situation was similar entering a intelligence asylum from the 1800s - radical screaming done the night, radical banging their heads connected the walls. It truly is hellish.

Just due to the fact that you person a sex lens, it doesn't mean you don't look astatine men. Having a sex lens means that you recognize however disproportionately galore women offenders are themselves victims.

Prisons are meant to beryllium astir rehabilitation, but present they’ve go purely astir punishment. I recognize that radical privation to spot those who perpetrate crimes wage the price, but a batch of women that are successful situation are astir apt victims of superior offences themselves.

There besides needs to beryllium peculiar information for women that person children and amended intelligence wellness enactment for them. You person a batch of women self-harming due to the fact that of the conditions successful prisons.

There are a batch of societal issues that origin radical to extremity up being successful prison. People find themselves successful poorness and bash things that are questionable.

But it's conscionable not the lawsuit that everybody who does thing atrocious ends up successful prison. Black radical are doubly arsenic apt to beryllium arrested, remanded and sentenced than their achromatic counterparts. If you're much apt to archetypal look transgression charges and custodial sentences, past you are astir apt going to person to woody with the interaction of prisons.

When I speech astir issues that are happening with women erstwhile they're successful prison, I'm talking astir women overall. But we can't disregard the disparities that achromatic women look erstwhile they look transgression charges.

The mode we run the probation strategy and the wider offender absorption strategy is frankly sloppy. We are not disciplined oregon rigorous capable successful our expectations of offenders. These women person committed a crime. There are victims to whom we person a work of care, and punishment arsenic good arsenic rehabilitation is important.

If we privation to beryllium a functioning wide society, we person to beryllium 1 that operates with a precocious level of trust. No substance however petty the crime, we indispensable beryllium strict. Otherwise we hazard undermining the wider consciousness of trust.

However, we request to deliberation cautiously astir our attack to penal argumentation due to the fact that we inactive person a aboriginal 20th Century, semi-Victorian attitude, whereas behavioural subject and probe connected offending and rehabilitation has moved connected rather significantly.

It's besides important to admit the differences betwixt antheral and pistillate offenders. Men are mostly much prone to unit and differences successful wide behavioural traits should beryllium reflected successful our approach.

While I judge determination needs to beryllium a penal constituent to the justness system, determination are smarter ways of dealing with idiosyncratic than conscionable shoving them successful prison.

For example, determination are a proportionality of women who are successful situation due to the fact that they are perpetrating acquisitive transgression to provender intoxicant addiction. We tin usage sobriety tagging, which has been remarkably successful, to support radical sober and truthful not offending and retired of prison, combined with unpaid enactment successful the assemblage arsenic a amended result for victims and perpetrators alike.

If the nationalist knew who's successful prison, what it costs, what that's doing successful the agelong run, they would privation change. Prison is not succeeding successful bringing astir transformational alteration done rehabilitative work.

Most women successful situation are victims arsenic good arsenic offenders and successful situation due to the fact that of what they've experienced successful their relationships.

Some request to beryllium dealt with securely, but we request to code issues successful the assemblage successful bid to halt reoffending, arsenic astir are determination for abbreviated sentences, and spell backmost done the revolving door.

I ne'er privation to accidental “let's conscionable fto women off”, but situation lone sets up much layers of trauma. That determination are inactive large women successful situation is unacceptable.

There are alternatives, specified arsenic women's centres and assemblage sentences. Problem-solving courts are being trialled, looking astatine however to trim reoffending - we request much of that approach.

So galore reports conscionable extremity up connected ministers' shelves. Even if you don't attraction astir the women, you astir apt bash attraction astir payer money. What we're doing makes nary fiscal sense.

If we could get this close for women, we could bring successful immoderate of the aforesaid principles to the men's estate.

Top photograph credit: Getty