Deadline extended on the call for evidence: Clinks’ response to the Ministry of Justice's 'female offender strategy'
Clinks previously emailed you to let you know that the Ministry of Justice has asked Clinks to encourage input from specialist women’s organisations into its ‘female offender strategy’. The deadline for submissions has been extended to 5th May. We are preparing a submission on behalf of our members. Our evidence will be based on knowledge and intelligence that you have provided to us through our regular women’s networking forum, policy forums, evidence submitted as a response to this email and other work.
A letter from the Ministry of Justice outlining the call for evidence is below. If you would like to submit evidence you would like us to consider in our response please e-mail Oonagh.Ryder@clinks.org.
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Offender Policy Team
4th Floor, Postpoint 4.12
Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
28 March 2017
Dear Colleague
Working together to develop our female offender strategy: Call for Evidence
The Government’s white paper on Prison Safety and Reform set out our intention to publish a strategy on how we will reform and improve the safety of female offenders in custody and the community.
Our ambition is to create a justice system that works to reduce crime and re-offending and responds to the particular needs of female offenders at all points of the system and recognises that they have frequently been victims of abuse.
In developing the strategy we want to seek input from key stakeholders and ensure that our proposals are informed by the best available evidence. I am therefore writing to ask for evidence to inform the development of the strategy based on the questions at annex A. Please send submissions to cjwst@justice.gsi.gov.uk by 30 April 2017.
We will separately be engaging with key stakeholders on specific issues. One of the first events (aiming for April) will be a workshop to discuss the design of the community prisons for women. If you would like to attend this workshop please contact, andy.hudson@hmps.gsi.gov.uk for further information and to register an interest.
We will be in touch shortly with details of further engagement events.
Yours sincerely,
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Luke Taylor
Offender Policy Team, Ministry of Justice
Annex A
We are proposing that the strategy is based on the following principles:
better early intervention for vulnerable women at risk of offending, to steer them away from the CJS and into treatment and support where appropriate;
improving the quality and consistency of robust gender-specific sentencing options in the community, allowing women to receive a community rather than a custodial sentence where appropriate. This will include looking at the potential for improving residency based accommodation support for female offenders in the community;
improving the women’s custodial estate, including some smaller community prisons, allowing female offenders to be held closer to home and to meet women’s physical, emotional, and social needs supported by suitably trained staff;
improving outcomes for women in the CJS who are at risk of self-harm and suicide. Our response to self-harm will be a multi-agency stepped approach, undertaken in partnership with the women themselves;
cross-Government leadership at the national level and stronger co-operation between central and local government;
multi-agency collaboration at local level, with the justice system working in partnership with other statutory and voluntary agencies to develop whole system approaches that provide the holistic support female offenders need, supported by a network of high quality Women’s Centres.
We would welcome your written responses to the following questions:
Have we identified the key principles or are there others that we should be considering?
What more can be done to support and divert vulnerable women when they first come into contact with the criminal justice system?
How can we improve community sentences for women in a way that inspires sentencer confidence; ensures that they are seen as a viable alternative to custody for some women; and contain the right support/interventions to support rehabilitation?
How can government work with the sector to increase the resilience of women’s centres?
How do we move towards a higher quality women’s custodial estate which is safe, secure, rehabilitative and closer to home for the majority of women?
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