Reducing female prison populations requires long-term strategy
The prison capacity crisis cannot be solved through a series of short-term fixes. Victims need confidence that the government has a credible long-term strategy for the criminal justice system, not another piecemeal intervention designed to buy time.
I share your concern about the pressures facing probation services. There are also legitimate questions about the impact on policing, but we cannot discuss the prisons crisis without confronting the crisis in our courts. About one in five prisoners are now awaiting trial, often because cases are taking so long to be heard.
Some defendants spend so long on remand that by the time they are sentenced, they are released from court, having effectively already served their sentence. Victims will rightly ask whether that is justice, and the public will rightly ask what it means for public safety.
The government points to the removal of foreign offenders as part of the solution to prison overcrowding. Yet a third are held on remand awaiting their day in court due to a court system in crisis.
Court Delays and Prison Overcrowding
Delays leave victims waiting years for justice, drive up the remand population and place further pressure on an overcrowded prison estate. Waxman stresses that the government cannot hope to resolve the prisons crisis without also addressing the crisis in the courts.
As victims’ commissioner, I need assurances that the prime minister is focused on pursuing a strategy for the whole justice system, not simply responding to the latest emergency.
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Women’s Centres and Prison Reform
A collective of women’s charities, frontline services, and women with lived experience of prison argue that women’s centres are an essential element in reducing the number of women in prison. These centres provide holistic support with housing, domestic abuse, employment, childcare, therapy, and more.
According to Women in Prison, for every £1 invested in a women’s centre, £2.75 is saved. Women’s centres help stop women entering the criminal justice system, keep children out of care, and relieve pressure on emergency services.
The Holloway Women’s Building Collective has spent a decade campaigning for a women’s centre on the site of the former Holloway prison, which was closed 10 years ago. While building work is underway, funding is still not secured.
Reducing the Number of Women in Prison
Measures to reduce the number of women behind bars are long overdue, but they must be more than a short-term fix to free up capacity. Enver Solomon, chief executive of Nacro, notes that women in and leaving prison face particular challenges, including higher rates of homelessness and recall to prison.
A pilot women’s court in Bristol offers a potentially constructive approach, taking a trauma-informed, problem-solving approach to address the circumstances underlying offending. This approach recognizes the consequences of imprisoning women, including the disruption of children’s lives and family relationships.
The real test of a successful prison policy should not be whether we can find more cells, but whether we can reduce the need for them.
