Young Parents From Custody to Community
- Cherie Booth QC supports move to break cycle of crime -

Cherie Booth QC calls for young parents in prison to be allowed better contact with their families to prevent their children becoming the next generation of criminals in a report published today by the Prison Reform Trust.

In a foreword to the report Ms Booth says ‘we need to make sure that today’s sons and daughters of prisoners don’t end up tomorrow’s offenders’.

She adds  that for those who have committed less serious crimes ‘we should also examine closely whether there is a better alternative, for the individuals concerned and their families, to imprisonment which too often worsens rather than tackles the problem’.

The report and resource pack is a substantive guide to policy and practice on meeting the needs of young parents who offend. It marks the culmination of a major three year project supported by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It also contains a DVD with two powerful documentaries, the first by Dawson films featuring young mothers experiencing loss and distress and the second by Relate featuring couples talking about how they are trying to keep in touch despite the young father’s absence in custody.

The Government does not collect figures on the number of prisoners who are parents but each year over 17,700 children are separated from their mothers by imprisonment. Women in prison are nearly always the primary carer and are often single parents. It is also estimated that a quarter of young men in custody under the age of 21 are fathers, six times higher than the national average.

In total an estimated 150,000 children have a parent in prison and, according to Government figures, seven per cent of primary school children experience the imprisonment of their father. There is also evidence that children who have a father with a criminal record are more likely to become criminals themselves.

Many young parents in custody are held long distances from their home despite the fact that research shows that maintaining good family ties can reduce a prisoner’s risk of re-offending. At the beginning of July a third of all prisoners were held more than 50 miles from their home town and 13 per cent were held more than 100 miles away. For women in custody the corresponding figures are higher with half more than 50 miles and a third more than 100 miles away from home. 
Based on research in eight UK prisons the report profiles good practice and identifies opportunities for the Prison Service and voluntary organizations to work together to support young parents to take responsibility for their children on release.

Surveys of youth justice and probation services reveal that while there was an awareness of the importance of assisting parents of teenage offenders little, or no attention, had been paid to young offenders who were already parents themselves.

The report concludes that much more could be done by those working in the criminal justice system to support young parents who offend and for professionals in other public services to respond to the needs of prisoners’ families.

The report calls on the Department for Education and Skills to take the lead on making integrated plans with the Home Office to:

- Improve support for young parents in prison and their children and partners outside.

- Ensure that once released from prison young parents and their families have better
support with parenting and are given more opportunities to find employment and  housing.

- Provide alternatives to prison which meet the needs of young parents and to promote these alternatives with the courts.

Joanne Sherlock, the Young Parents in Prison Project Manager at the Prison Reform Trust, said today:

‘The Government is in danger of jeopardizing the prospects of future generations and breaking up families through its failure to meet the needs of young parents in prison.’

Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, added:

‘Crime doesn’t have to run in the family. Prisoners’ families, particularly their young dependent children, are overlooked as innocent victims of crime. Work to support vulnerable young parents who offend offers a unique opportunity, not only to help them get out of trouble, but also to become the good parents most want to be, and so avoid a depressing cycle of misery and crime.’