Sentencing: Females

(asked on 12th March 2019) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of women in prison on a sentence of imprisonment for public protection that have children.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 15th March 2019

There are 2,489 unreleased IPP prisoners, of which 46 are women. We know that when coming into contact with the criminal justice system, some women choose not to disclose that they have children. Data is therefore not currently collected on numbers of prisoners with children (whether that be total numbers of children or dependent children).

Our Female Offender Strategy is committed to improving outcomes for women at all stages of the justice system, and this includes supporting those who have children. We know that female prisoners are more likely than male prisoners to be a primary carer and imprisoned mothers are more likely to be living with their children prior to custody – around 60% of women compared with about 45% of men in prison who have children. Figures from a 2015 data matching exercise with the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions showed that between 24% and 31% of all female offenders were estimated to have one or more child dependents.

We recognise the impact that imprisonment of a parent can have on families. That is why we have asked Lord Farmer to continue his work on the importance of family ties by conducting a further review into female offenders in custody and the community. Lord Farmer is expected to report his findings to Ministers shortly.

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