Prisons: Women

Lord Woolf Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Keen of Elie]

My Lords, we are seeking to invest in what is termed the whole system approach in respect of female offenders who are released from custody in order that we can develop a female offender strategy. By 2020 we will have invested £1 million in seed funding investment for community provision.

[Lord Woolf (CB)]

Does the noble and learned Lord agree that in dealing with female prisoners it is most important that great attention is paid to the need for offenders to have regular contact with their children? Otherwise there is a danger of repetition by succeeding generations of what happened in the case of the offender.

[Lord Keen of Elie]

I entirely agree with the observations of the noble and learned Lord. We are concerned to ensure that such contact can be maintained. At another level, of the 12 prisons currently located throughout the country for female offenders, six have mother and baby units.