Responding to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s announcement on the creation of a Women’s Justice Board aimed at reducing the number of women’s prisons, Director of External Engagement, Helen Berresford, commented:
“Nacro welcomes the Justice Secretary’s recent announcement of a Women’s Justice Board which will have the ultimate ambition of having fewer women’s prisons.
The announcement signals a significant and long-overdue shift in focus towards reducing the number of people unnecessarily being sent to prison. We are glad to see this shift in policymaking informed by the evidence of what works.
As the Justice Secretary referenced, it is now two decades on from the publication of the Corston report, which was clear that imprisonment for women must be reserved for women who pose a threat to the public and have committed serious and violent offences. Given that currently, two thirds of women who receive a custodial sentence have committed a non-violent offence, this ambition could have a profound effect on the lives of some of the most vulnerable women in England and Wales.
We know that prisons are particularly harmful for women, many of whom enter the prison system and are often already incredibly vulnerable. Over 50% of women in prison have experienced abuse. The rate of self-harm incidents for women in prison is over ten times higher for women than for men. Women in prison are twice as likely as men in prison to report having mental health problems. The prison system has long been failing women – the impact of their incarceration is felt not just by the individuals, but by the families torn apart in the process.
Prisons can not only be retraumatising for women, evidence shows they are often also ineffectual. When given a short custodial sentence, women are significantly more likely to commit a further crime than when they receive a community sentence. We know that the same is true across the men’s estate.
It is incredibly promising to see an increased focus on the prevention and rehabilitation of women who offend. We are hopeful that this new approach will go on to inform policymaking across the criminal justice system more broadly. By seeking to address the root causes of offending behaviour, this new announcement offers huge potential to reduce the number of people overall trapped in the criminal justice system.”
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We operate in more than 40 prisons and provide services across England and Wales. We help 28,000 people across our services each year and run the CAS-2 service for the Government housing people coming out of prison on bail or licence. We work with people at every stage of the criminal justice system, from liaison and diversion services in police custody and courts, to resettlement into the community after prison. We use the insights from our services and the experiences of the people we support to campaign together for a criminal justice system which better serves us all. We’ve been working in this field for more than 50 years.