Support for Women Leaving Prison

Ellie Reeves Excerpts

Tuesday 9th March 2021 Westminster Hall

[Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab) [V]]

It is a pleasure to speak in today’s debate and to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Charles. First of all, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) for securing this incredibly important debate today; it is particularly timely, given that yesterday was International Women’s Day. It is important to see from the first two contributions that women from both sides of the House can find common ground on this really important issue. I for one am grateful that there are these issues that, as women, we can potentially work together on.

It is important to remember that as many as 70% of women in prison are survivors of domestic abuse, and that women in prison are also five times more likely to have mental health difficulties than those in the general population. However, sadly, in many cases they are simply not receiving the support they need on being released from prison. According to the Ministry of Justice, in the year ending March 2020, one in 25 women were sleeping rough on release from custody, and nearly half of women left without settled accommodation. Data from the independent monitoring boards for women’s prisons and the prisons themselves suggest that the figure is actually as high as 60%. This is a huge problem, not least because 65% of women released from prison to no fixed abode go on to reoffend. Failure to provide safe and secure accommodation is therefore preventing rehabilitation and fuelling reoffending.

The Ministry of Justice has recently announced £70 million of funding to support former offenders at risk of homelessness, including a pilot to provide prison leavers with temporary accommodation for up to 12 weeks. However, that pilot is limited in scope, as it covers only five of the 12 probation regions and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East pointed out, does nothing for women in the other seven probation regions. There is also uncertainty about whether those vulnerable women leaving prison will be supported beyond the 12 weeks’ temporary accommodation to find long-term, safe and secure accommodation. That is the type of accommodation that is desperately needed, not a 12-week temporary fix.

That funding is also incredibly low, compared with the £150 million recently pledged to build 500 new prison cells for women. While Ministry of Justice figures published in November last year show that the female prison population is projected to rise by around two fifths by 2026, it is important to remember that, in the main, we need to focus on community sentences and the use of women’s centres instead of prison, especially given that 80% of women are in prison for non-violent offences. Indeed, a series of inquiries and reports in recent decades have all concluded that prison is rarely a necessary, appropriate or proportionate response to women who offend. The Government’s own female offender strategy promises a focus on early intervention and community-based solutions. Why are the Government not following that female offender strategy? Why are they investing in prisons, when actually the money is needed in women’s centres?

Specialist women’s services are best placed to address women’s complex needs, to divert women from the criminal justice system, and to prevent reoffending. The Women’s Budget Group further found that a place at a women’s centre costs between £1,223 and £4,125 per woman, depending on needs, while a place in a women’s prison costs £52,000 per year. Better investment in and use of women’s centres would therefore yield huge savings on the costs incurred directly by the criminal justice system, and on those incurred indirectly by the health, mental health, housing, welfare services that would otherwise be used by a previous offender. Instead, these specialist providers face a £10 million core funding gap from this March. The Government should provide proper ring-fenced core funding to ensure the long-term sustainability of those services.

We also seriously need to look at the presumption against short sentences. Fifty-eight per cent. of women are reconvicted within one year of leaving prison. That figure rises to 73% for sentences of less than 12 months. Meanwhile, the proportion of women sent to prison to serve very short sentences has risen sharply. In 1993, only a third of custodial sentences given to women were for less than six months. In 2019, the figure had nearly doubled to 62%. The problem with short sentences is that there is no time for any form of rehabilitation, and it often means that during that time women lose their family ties, any job they may have, and their housing. Statistics show that women are more likely to reoffend when they are given a short sentence. A review of the purpose and use of short sentences for women offenders, and their value to victims, offenders and the taxpayer is needed.

We know that women are more likely to reoffend if they are released from prison to no fixed abode. We know that women released from prison are more likely to reoffend than those serving community sentences, and that women are more likely to reoffend if they are given a short sentence in prison rather than a community sentence. Despite that, the Government are not seriously looking into a presumption against short sentences, are leaving women’s centres at the risk of closure through underfunding, and are not investing enough in measures to prevent homelessness. Instead, they are investing more in prison places, which is the one thing that has been shown to not be of use for the majority of female offenders.

Without action on those issues, the Government simply condemn many women to a cycle of crime. To truly support women in the criminal justice system we need a much more holistic, understanding approach, which ultimately would cost less to both the taxpayer and to society.