Women in Prison

Women in Prison

Women in Prison

There have been repeated investigations on the negative impact of the current system of penalties for non-violent crimes for women. Baroness Corston led one of the comprehensive reports in 2006. There were 43 recommendations about the treatment of women in the criminal justice system, and it argued “the need for a distinct radically different, visibly-led, strategic, proportionate, holistic, woman-centred, integrated approach”. In 2011, Dame Elish Angiolini chaired a Commission on Women Offenders in response to concerns about women’s justice in Scotland to look at ways of improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system and made wide-ranging recommendations. These reports deal with the impact on women but also their families, particularly if they have young children, and society. As can be seen from the evidence of the Seen and Heard charity, the cost to society and the surrounding support services is vast. The most recent report is from the UK crime and justice consultancy Crest Advisory, Counting the Cost of Maternal Imprisonment. The report states:

‘The Government’s Female Offender Strategy contains the core strategic objective of having ‘fewer women in custody (especially on short-term sentences) and a greater proportion of women managed in the community successfully’. This report focuses on the cost of female imprisonment for two particularly vulnerable groups; mothers who are imprisoned and their children. However, maternal imprisonment also has a high cost for the taxpayers who fund the agencies charged with picking up the pieces in the longer term. To explain the wider impact of maternal imprisonment, it is necessary to take a ‘whole systems approach’, analysing how the criminal justice system responds to maternal imprisonment, identifying the impacts of existing responses not only on the life chances of imprisoned mothers and their children, but also the economic impact through potentially avoidable costs which accrue.’

According to the Prison Reform Trust, the women in prison represent a small percentage of the overall prison population, about 4% and most sentences are for non-violent offences. In 2020 72% of women were imprisoned for non-violent offences and 70% sentenced to less than 12 months in prison. Mothers who are sentenced sometimes hide the fact that they have children. Their concern is that if even there are relatives who can care for them, typically grandparents, officials might put their children into care.

Scotland

Scottish Prison Service (2018) Women in custody 2017, Edinburgh: SPS

Northern Ireland

House of Commons (2018) UK Prison Population Statistics Briefing Paper

England

Julia Pitman of Crest Advisory, co-author of the report with Jessica Hull, said of imprisoning mothers. “Ultimately it is children who pay the highest price, left with the trauma of separation, which can have devastating consequences. Rather than building more prison places for women, the government must implement its own female offender strategy and invest in community alternatives that will keep families together.”

The Howard League for Penal Reform is another group which maintains pressure on the relevant government authorities to take action. One of its demands is to ‘Close women’s prisons and introduce small local residential units for the tiny number of women who commit crimes serious enough to merit a custodial sentence’.

Although evidence of the immense cost to society is available, many of the charities acting in this area report that there is simply not the political will to take action, as no party wants to look ‘soft on crime’. ■

The Corston Report | www.basw.co.uk

Counting the Cost of Maternal Imprisonment | Crest Advisory

Thanks to Heather Philips CEO Beating Time.org. All the images are with permission of the Prison Reform Trust.