At last! Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood creates group to lead drive to keep women out of prison

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has underlined her determination to cut the number of women sent needlessly to prison - and we were glad to hear it.

Ms Mahmood announced a review of prisons policy last year, noting that women were being sent into custody with little regard for the damaging consequences for them and their families, particularly their children.

We share her view. While we recognise some women’s offences are so serious they merit custodial sentences for public protection, the clear majority of women we've seen locked up over the years did not need or deserve to be treated this way.

Furthermore, we do not believe taking these women away from support services - including those we can provide - is good for them. It certainly does not meaningfully serve the public interest.

Speaking on Woman's hour on BBC Radio 4 earlier this month, (Wednesday, February 5), Ms Mahmood said: "I believe we are sending far too many women to prison in the first place and, for too many of those women, prison is not working."

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She has created the Women's Justice Board and has asked it to take a fresh look at sentencing and rehabilitation policy in relation to women. It is expected to look at alternatives such as greater use of community sentences, electronic tagging, as well as substance misuse treatment and mental health support.

According to research by the Ministry of Justice, instances of self-harm in women’s prisons are nine times higher than in the male estate, while women serving short custodial sentences are more likely to reoffend than those serving community sentences.

At least 17,000 children's mothers are imprisoned every year, with many of those youngsters having to go to live with relatives or entering the care system, it added.

Speaking a few weeks ago to confirm the board’s membership and timetable, Ms Mahmood said: "It is high time we found better solutions to help vulnerable women turn their lives around."

Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, James Timpson, said: "One of my earliest memories of the prison system is waiting outside HMP Styal as a child while my mum took babies she’d fostered in to see their mothers.

"It’s a sad truth that children like them are still, today, more likely to end up locked up themselves later in life because of their mum’s crime many years before.

"Punishment is important. But, as chair of the new Women’s Justice Board, I want better punishments that steer women away from a life of crime and give children the best start in life.”

The Women’s Justice Board will meet four times a year. Its first meeting will review the current issues contributing to female offending and how these can be best tackled.

They will later use the findings of the upcoming Sentencing Review to consider how community sentences, like tagging and drug treatment, can be used as effective ways to divert women away from crime.

The New Futures Project offers a comprehensive welfare and counselling service for women and young people dealing with sexual abuse or exploitation, domestic violence, trafficking, poverty and debt, substance use or mental ill-health.

Call us on 0116 251 0803 or send us a message at: info@new-futures.org.uk

You can find us at 71 London Road, Leicester, LE2 0PE.