Soroptimist (UK), in partnership with the Prison Reform Trust, will today (Thursday 25 April 2013) launch an action pack at a reception in the House of Commons to support the Soroptimists’ initiative to reduce women’s imprisonment in the UK.

The reception is being held as figures just released by the Ministry of Justice show that:

• Nearly half of female prisoners (48%) surveyed report having committed offences to support someone else’s drug use, compared to 22% of male prisoners
• Women in prison are nearly twice as likely to be identified as suffering from depression as male prisoners (65% versus 37%), and more than three times as likely as women in the general population (19%)
• Women in prison suffering from the combination of anxiety and depression are significantly more likely to be reconvicted in the year after release from custody compared to female prisoners without such symptoms (this relationship is not found amongst male prisoners)

Speakers at the reception include: Lord McNally, Minister of State for Justice and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords; Lord Woolf, former Lord Chief Justice, chair of the Prison Reform Trust; Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws QC, FRSA; Jan Hemlin, UKPAC chair; and Juliet Lyon CBE, Prison Reform Trust director.

Soroptimist International is an organisation that works to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide. It has a membership of approximately 90,000 women in over 3,000 clubs in 127 countries and it is the only women’s service organisation with general consultative status at the United Nations.

The Soroptimist UK Programme Action Committee resolved to mount a campaign to reduce women’s imprisonment across the UK working in partnership with the Prison Reform Trust. This ties in with their flagship project Violence Against Women - Stop it Now, on which a detailed analysis of the work done, club by club, is presented annually to the Home Secretary, ministers and the government Equalities Office.

This innovative partnership is timely. The government has recently published a strategy on women’s justice and announced the establishment of an Advisory Board, chaired by the Justice Minister Helen Grant, to help shape future policy and drive through reform. The Scottish government has committed to transforming women’s justice in Scotland and there are proposals in Wales and Northern Ireland for improved provision for female offenders.

Approximately 13,500 women are sent to prison each year in the UK, and the number of women in prison has increased significantly over the past decade. This is despite a widespread consensus, based on evidence, that community solutions that address the causes of women’s offending are more effective than prison in reducing crime and minimising the cost to society.

More than eight out of ten of sentenced women entering prison have been convicted of non-violent offences. Many have young children. Many have themselves been the victims of serious crime, including domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape.

Mental health problems, drug and alcohol addiction and self-harm are also very common. In the 12 months ending June 2012, women accounted for 31% of all self-harm incidents in prison in England and Wales despite representing only 5% of the prison population.

Today’s event in Westminster will bring together senior Parliamentarians, policymakers and representatives from each Soroptimist region across the UK to raise awareness of women’s justice reform and support members to take action locally.

The action pack contains facts and figures about women’s justice and other useful resources, and suggests steps Soroptimists can take to help end the unnecessary imprisonment of women who are not a threat to the public, and enable them instead to tackle the causes of their offending.

Information gathered by clubs about what is happening locally in police stations, courts, probation services and women centres will fill critical gaps in the national picture of the state of women’s justice, serving to increase our understanding of the drivers to custody for women as well as highlighting good practice.

The evidence received from clubs will be published in a report on the state of women’s justice across the UK in 2014, which will be presented to Ministers and policy makers.  

Commenting on the Soroptimists’ campaign to end the unnecessary imprisonment of women in the UK, Jan Hemlin Chair, Soroptimist UK Programme Action Committee, said:

“The Soroptimists are uniquely placed to gather much-needed information and add a strong voice from communities across the UK to press for, and achieve long-awaited change. We have learned of the exponential increase in women’s prison numbers in recent years, with about 13,500 women now sent to prison each year across the UK. Most are imprisoned for non-violent offences. Our members are committed to ensuring more constructive responses across the country to women who come into contact with the criminal justice system, many of whom are involved in non-violent, petty offending and have been victims themselves.”

Patricia Black, President, Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland, said:

“I know that Soroptimist members across the UK have been horrified by the statistics presented on the imprisonment of women. If there is a way forward which can help women to change their lives for the better, if there is an alternative for some to being imprisoned, then surely we can provide a voice on this issue.”

Juliet Lyon, Director, Prison Reform Trust, said:

“The Soroptimists have an invaluable role to play, and the capacity to succeed, both in gathering information across the UK and achieving much needed reform. Most of the solutions to women’s offending lie outside prison walls in treatment for addictions, mental health and social care, safe housing, debt management and employment and skills.”

 

 

 

 

 

• A YouGov opinion poll, launched today by the Prison Reform Trust, reveals strong support for public health measures to tackle women’s offending
• Dame Elish Angiolini, chair of the Scottish Commission on Women Offenders, to deliver Prison Reform Trust lecture tonight on Reforming Women’s Justice
• Prison Reform Trust launches three year strategy to reduce the imprisonment of women in the UK

A YouGov opinion poll, launched today by the Prison Reform Trust, reveals strong support for public health measures to tackle women’s offending. Treatment for drug addiction, help to stop alcohol misuse, and mental healthcare, were the top three solutions to get public backing for reducing offending by women who commit non-violent crimes.

The poll of 1,552 people across Britain reveals:

• Nearly seven out of ten people polled (69%) believe treatment for drug addiction would be effective at reducing the risk of offending
• 68% thought help to stop alcohol misuse would be effective
• 62% believe mental health care would be effective.

The poll also reveals that getting out of debt was considered effective by 61% of people surveyed, supervision and support centres for women serving community sentences were seen as effective by 54%, and making amends to victims was considered effective by 53%.

Imprisonment was considered the seventh most effective way of addressing women’s offending and was backed by 52% of people surveyed.

The poll findings come as data just released by the Ministry of Justice shows that the rate of self-harm for female prisoners is over ten times higher than that for men (F: 2,104 self harm incidents per 1,000; M: 194 incidents per 1,000 male prisoners). Over half the women in prison report having suffered domestic violence and 1 in 3 has experienced sexual abuse. Around half of women leaving prison are reconvicted with one year of release. This figure rises to over 60% for those women serving a short sentence of 12 months or less.

The Prison Reform Trust is launching these poll results on the day that Dame Elish Angiolini delivers the Prison Reform Trust Lecture 2012 on Reforming Women’s Justice. Dame Elish is the former Lord Advocate of Scotland, the highest law officer in the Scottish legal system. She most recently chaired the Commission on Women Offenders in Scotland, which found that Scotland’s women’s prison Cornton Vale was not “fit for purpose” and recommended a radical overhaul of the system. In response to the Commission’s recommendations, the Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has confirmed that the Scottish government will identify “suitable alternatives to Cornton Vale, leading to its replacement”.

Elish Angiolini was tasked by the Scottish government with finding more effective outcomes for the population of women offenders in Scotland; a population that has more than doubled over the last ten years. In the lecture she will explain the thinking behind her call for radical change to the systems in place in Scotland and the demolition of the national woman's prison there, of the need to abandon easy slogans of "tough or soft" on crime and to replace the soundbites with what works.

Dame Elish Angiolini will say:

In a long history of pretty meaningless sound bites "short, sharp shock" at least has the merit of being an attractive display of an alliteration. That is its only value. Far from having a deterrent effect, the short sentence has the impact of inoculating women offenders from any deterrent value of imprisonment. Neither are these sentences suitable as a refuge from the harsh reality of life outside for some badly damaged women. Prison needs to stop being the default position because of inertia in finding robust and effective alternatives in the community. It is time to abandon the fragmented efforts at tackling the profound underlying problems propelling so many women in Scotland and elsewhere into prison and adopt a cohesive and coherent approach.

The lecture, which will be attended by around 700 PRT Friends and supporters and allied civic society groups, will be an opportunity to consider the lessons from Scotland for women’s justice reform in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. The coalition government in Westminster has acknowledged the distinct needs of women offenders and is expected to publish a strategy on women’s justice by the end of the year. Helen Grant MP, the newly appointed minister for women in the criminal justice system, will be attending the lecture at Friends House in London as the special guest of the Prison Reform Trust.

Commenting in response to a Parliamentary Question on women offenders by Amber Rudd MP on 13 November, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP, said:

One of the first prisons I visited was Holloway. I saw at first hand the very different challenge we face with women offenders. One of the earliest steps I took was to separate ministerial responsibility for men and women in our prisons, asking the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant) to take on the role of Minister with responsibility for women in prisons, and to look at whether we are getting the regime right and how we should adapt it to reflect the very different challenges we face with women in our prisons.

Mumsnet – the UK’s busiest social network for parents – will be holding a discussion with its members from midday on Monday about women and prison.

The lecture will be broadcast live online at the PRT website from 7.00pm

The lecture marks the official launch of the Prison Reform Trust’s three year strategy to reduce the unnecessary imprisonment of women in the UK. Supported by the Pilgrim Trust and PRT Friends, the strategy builds on the work of the Women’s Justice Taskforce which reported in 2011.

Too many women are imprisoned every year for non-violent offences. About 13,500 women are sent to prison in the UK every year. At any one time there are around 4,650 women in our prisons. The average annual cost of a women’s prison place is £56,415, compared to £10,000 - £15,000 for an intensive community order

Women’s offending is commonly linked to underlying mental health problems, drug and alcohol misuse, financial difficulties and debt, and experience of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Many women who offend spent time in local authority care as children. Some are victims of human trafficking and are coerced into offending. Most women in prison have dependent children.

Over the next three years we will work with our partners including the Soroptimists, the National Council of Women, and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, and allied charities and organisations, PRT Friends and supporters committed to reforming justice for women, and achieving change.

Commenting, Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

Most women in prison are serving short sentences for petty persistent offending and non-violent crime. Most have been victims of serious crime, domestic violence and sexual abuse. Solutions to women’s offending lie, not behind bars, but in effective treatment to beat addictions to drugs and drink, mental health care and help to get out of debt. The public understand this, now it is up to government to put things right.

Jenny Earle, the director of the new PRT programme to reduce women’s imprisonment, said:

Because women are such a small minority of the prison population they are easily overlooked. But change is also more easily achieved on a smaller scale. By working constructively with government, and together with our partners - including the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, the Soroptimists and the National Council of Women, and other organisations committed to reforming justice for women - we will ensure more effective responses to women’s offending.

What’s the Problem?
In the last decade the women’s prison population has gone up by 33%. There are currently 4,267 women in prison.

Why are Women in Prison?
Almost two-thirds of women are in prison for non-violent offences

What kinds of women are in prison?
One in four women in prison were in local authority care as a child. Nearly 40% of women in prison left school before they were 16, almost one in 10 were 13 or younger.
Over half the women in prison have suffered domestic violence and one in three has experienced sexual abuse.

Why should I care?
This increased prison population has not increased public safety. 54% of women leaving prison are re-convicted within one year – for those serving sentences of less than 12 months this increases to 64%. For women who have served more than 10 previous custodial sentences the reoffending rate rises to 90%.

Who else is affected?
66% of women in prison have dependent children under 18. Each year it is estimated that more than 17,700 children are separated from their mother by imprisonment.

What should the government do?
It is widely accepted that the best way to reduce women's offending is in the community, by improving mental health services and tackling drug abuse.

We believe that reducing the women’s prison population through providing better alternatives to custody should be a government priority

The Prison Reform Trust is launching a three year strategy to reduce the imprisonment of women in the UK. Supported by the Pilgrim Trust and PRT Friends, the strategy builds on the work of the Women’s Justice Taskforce.

Find out more here

The Prison Reform Trust is supporting a UK-wide campaign by the Soroptimists to put a stop to any unnecessary imprisonment of women.  The Soroptimists adopted the campaign in the face of a wealth of evidence about the numbers of vulnerable women ending up in the UK’s prisons despite posing no risk to the public.  We have produced an Action Pack to support the campaign, which outlines the state of women’s justice in each of the UK’s nations and gives guidance on action that can be taken locally.

Download the pack by clicking this link.

This report presents clear evidence that some of our most vulnerable and socially excluded women are being failed by a range of agencies. It sets out an agenda for changes in policy and practice within and outside the criminal justice system.

download here