Increasing prison places for women makes no sense
Three events in one week in February 2023:
- Publication of an update of the female offender strategy
- Announcement of a vast new prison building plan for women
- Release of he Prisons Inspectorate’s report on HMP Eastwood, finding conditions there were ‘appalling’
The strategy
The government recently published its Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan 2022-2025. It states:
Women in contact with the criminal justice system are amongst the most vulnerable in society. Many experience trauma, domestic abuse, mental health problems or have a history of alcohol and drug misuse.
The document states that the government has these aims:
- Fewer women entering the justice system and reoffending. In some cases, a woman’s offending could have been prevented through earlier intervention, including through diversion from the criminal justice system and into support.
- Fewer women serving short custodial sentences, with a greater proportion managed successfully in the community.
More prison places
However, Inside Time recently reported that the expansion of women’s prisons has taken another stop forward, with an application to build 103 extra places at Drake Hall, in Staffordshire.
The Ministry of Justice is seeking planning permission to build four new houseblocks at the prison. Three would be closed units, holding a total of 78 women, whilst one would offer open conditions, with 25 places. This follows expansion plans for two other women’s prisons unveiled in recent months, with 164 extra places proposed at HMP Send, in Surrey, and 50 at HMP Styal, in Cheshire.
In October 2022 the Ministry of Justice announced that it plans to build a total of 456 additional places at women’s prisons in England, of which 300 will be open places. As well as the three prisons mentioned above, expansion is also envisaged at Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire and Foston Hall in Derbyshire.
The Government says the £150 million expansion of the women’s estate is essential to cope with a projected rise in the number of women in custody. Forecasters at the Ministry of Justice have said the number of female prisoners is expected to rise by 40 per cent by the middle of this decade, due to the recruitment of additional police officers and longer sentences
Appalling conditions in Eastwood Park women’s prison
At the same time as these two items of news appeared the prison inspectorate reported on its inspection of Eastwood Park in South Gloucestershire. At the time of the inspection, in October last year, Eastwood Park held 348 women and 83 per cent reported having mental health problems.
The Inspectorate reported that acutely mentally-ill women were being held in terrible conditions. Cells were described as “appalling, dilapidated and covered in graffiti, one was blood-splattered, and some had extensive scratches on the walls”, reflecting the degree of trauma experienced by previous inmates.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said:
Some of the most vulnerable women across the prison estate were held in an environment wholly unsuitable for their therapeutic needs. The levels of distress we observed were appalling. No prisoner should be held in such terrible conditions.
The Inspectorate’s report concluded that the prison was fundamentally unequipped to support the women in its care, and leaders did not seem fully aware of the severity of the situation.
Sonya Ruparel, CEO of Women in Prison, commented:
This is the second report in less than a year showing prisons cannot keep women safe, and that most women in prison should not be there... These high levels of despair and distress are all too familiar in women’s prisons across the country. This cannot continue
Alternatives to prosecution and imprisonment
Diversion schemes operate in many areas of the UK and have been found to be highly successful in keeping women out of prison. Checkpoint Plus, for example, operates in Surrey.
At the point of arrest women are diverted from the traditional criminal justice route and supported to address their crime and the root causes of their offending. The support provided includes sessions around key pathways to offending including mental health needs, substance misuse and domestic abuse. During 2018/19, 79 per cent of the women supported by the service had experienced or were experiencing domestic abuse, 72 per cent had a mental health concern and 69 per cent were using drugs and/or alcohol.
Diversion schemes should be supported and extended and the Women’s Centres who are crucial to their success should have better and more secure funding.
To conclude
The plan to build new prison places for women is incoherent, fundamentally flawed and directly in conflict with the government’s stated aims of continuing the current trend of having fewer women in prison. To claim that an increase in the number of police officers would lead to an increase in the numbers of women in prison makes no sense.
A greater number of better trained police together with an increased investment in the successful diversion programmes now operating should lead to fewer women in the criminal justice system, not more.
More effective policing can be expected to increase the number and effectiveness of diversion programmes for women and at the same time to reduce the amount of domestic abuse, violence and coercion which has been found to be a major driver for women coming into the criminal justice system.
The plan to increase the number of prison places for women should be immediately halted. It makes no sense socially, economically or morally. It may well be profitable business for some, but it is not in the interests of women, their families and communities or our society in general.
Rona Epstein is Honorary Research Fellow, Coventry Law School, Coventry University