These specialist quarterly ebulletins keep you updated on relevant developments for organisations working to support women in contact with the criminal justice system.
In this edition...
Appointment of Women’s Network Co-ordinator
Clinks is committed to supporting and representing our members who provide specialist support to women, and to this end have recently appointed a Women’s Network Coordinator. Please contact Jackie Lowthian at Jackie.lowthian@clinks.org if there is anything you would like to raise or to include items in this quarterly bulletin.
Welsh justice
Anne Fox, Clinks Chief Executive Officer and Dr Jenny Earle, Director of Reducing Women’s Imprisonment at the Prison Reform Trust, gave oral evidence to the Welsh Justice Committee on the treatment of women in the criminal justice system in Wales. Anne stressed the need for effective funding for well-established trauma-informed women’s specific services, and for referral systems to be in place to ensure the needs of these women can be met. Read the transcript here
The Advisory Board on Female Offenders
The Advisory Board on Female Offenders (ABFO) met in March 2019. Kate Aldous, Head of Strategic Development at Clinks, represents the women’s voluntary sector on the ABFO and attended the meeting. Issues covered included: an update on the Female Offender Strategy, including the development of a framework for measuring the Ministry of Justice’s progress on implementing the strategy’s commitments, mapping community women’s services; and the high use of prison recall for women. Kate also attended an ‘extraordinary’ meeting of the ABFO to consult about the government’s plans for the residential women’s centres and the National concordat for Female Offenders. If you would like to discuss the ABFO, please contact Kate at kate.aldous@clinks.org
The case for abolition of short sentences
David Gauke MP, Secretary of State for Justice, has signalled he wants to end short-term prison sentences. In a speech, ‘Beyond prison, redefining punishment’, David Gauke said the high rate of reoffending for those on sentences of less than six months has shown that “prison simply isn’t working”. He said there is “a very strong case to abolish sentences of six months or less altogether … and put in their place, a robust community order regime.” He specifically cited disruption to the lives of families when women are sentenced to custody as a key issue. Read the full speech here
Sale of Holloway prison site
The site of a former women’s prison, HMP Holloway, was sold by the Ministry of Justice to Peabody Housing Association. Over 1,000 homes and a women’s centre will be built on the site. The Mayor of London announced that as part of the deal more than 600 of the homes must be genuinely affordable with 70% of those being for social rent. Find out more here
Entry of women into the justice system
The Howard League has launched a three year programme, supported by Lloyds Bank Foundation, to reduce the arrests of women and stem the flow of women into the criminal justice system. It will promote good practice by the police and other agencies that divert women away from the criminal justice system where possible, preventing them serving custodial sentences or a community penalty. Find out more here
The right to family life
The Joint Committee on Human Rights held two oral evidence sessions as part of their inquiry into the right to family life. The committee heard from Edward Argar, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) and Nadhim Zahawi, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education). Ministers discussed the current lack of data about children with a mother in contact with the criminal justice system, the need for accurate pre-sentence reports and the government’s intention to send fewer women to prison. Read the transcript here. Dr Jenny Earle, Director of Reducing Women’s Imprison at the Prison Reform Trust also gave evidence to the committee, which is yet to be published.
Successful bidders announced
In January 2019, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced the successful bidders for the second wave of community investment funding from the Female Offender Strategy. Many of the organisations are Clinks members. They will each receive a share of £1.6 million. Clinks will be submitting a paper to the MoJ to advise on how to improve future grant funding approaches for the women’s voluntary sector. See the successful bidders here
Financial decision making
Women’s Resource Centre’s ‘Finance for Project Managers’ course [14th May, London] is geared toward applying practical knowledge for financial decision making in projects and will enable participants to more effectively monitor financial progress against project budget(s). Find out more here
Women’s networking forum
Clinks, with support from Agenda, will be holding the next 'Women’s Networking Forum' [19th June, London, £15]. Our networking forums provide support, information and networking opportunities to those working with women in contact with the criminal justice system. We welcome your suggestions for speakers and agenda items - please contact Jackie.lowthian@clinks.org. Find out more here
Lobby of parliament
Women in Prison (WIP) is hosting a mass lobby of parliament [26th June, London] to mark one year since the publication of the Female Offender Strategy. It is calling on women's centre staff, women affected by the criminal justice system and other supporters working to reduce the women’s prison population to join together at Westminster and meet with their MP. It is calling for greater investment so that the Female Offender Strategy can be delivered. Barrow Cadbury Trust is sponsoring this event, enabling WIP to pay travel expenses to women centre staff and any individual who has been affected by the criminal justice system. Find out more here
The elimination of discrimination against women
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has published its recommendations. These include that the UK government allocate sufficient resources to effectively implement the Female Offender Strategy; continue to develop alternative sentencing and custodial strategies for women convicted of minor offences; and take further measures to improve the provision of mental health care in all prisons, taking into account the particular needs of women. Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) is co-ordinating England’s work on CEDAW and consulted with more than 100 women’s organisations across England to gather evidence on the state of women’s rights to produce England’s shadow report on CEDAW. Download the recommendations here
Tackling violence and abuse
The government has published its response to the domestic abuse consultation, which Clinks submitted a response to, alongside the draft Domestic Abuse Bill. Clinks recommended earlier intervention and greater use of schemes that divert women away from the criminal justice system. We also highlighted the importance of a whole-systems approach involving women’s-led voluntary sector services. The government’s response recognises the link between experiences of abuse and offending and reiterates the commitments it made in the Female Offender Strategy. Find out more here
Strategy to end violence
The government published a progress update on its strategy to end violence against women and girls. The update gives progress on the 95 actions committed to in the strategy, of which 54 have been completed. Actions that are still a work in progress include establishing a ‘What Works Centre’ for evidence-based resources and developing a cross-government approach to increase the diversity of provision and access to services for victims with complex needs. Find out more here
Violence and multiple disadvantage
Breaking down barriers is the final report from the National Commission on Domestic and sexual violence and Multiple Disadvantage published by Against Violence and Abuse (AVA) and Agenda. The report makes a series of recommendations that include the need for diversion from the criminal justice system and into gender-specific community support for women, particularly for crimes related to prostitution. It also recommends the need for universally available women specific substance use services with childcare provision. Find out more here
Survivors of multiple disadvantage
Hand in hand is a report by peer researchers for the National Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and Multiple Disadvantage published by Against Violence and Abuse (AVA) and Agenda. Findings show that both the peer researchers and the women they interviewed had experienced many forms of abuse throughout their lives. Despite this, the report says, too many women struggled to get help, with services often failing to understand their needs. The report makes a series of recommendations, including the need for multi-agency support to ensure women can access the range of services they need in one place and more experts by experience in the workforce to support women. Find out more here
Practice from the front line
Research by Homeless Link and the Women’s Resource Centre explores the gendered support available to women who experience homelessness and multiple disadvantage. 69% of services reported an increase in women with multiple disadvantage presenting to their service over the last two years but less than half were designed to work specifically with those women. Recommendations include for central government to develop a strategy that recognises women’s specific experiences of multiple disadvantage and the support they require; for funders and commissioners to provide funding for gender specific specialist services and approaches for homeless women experiencing multiple disadvantage; and for local service providers to work in partnership to provide co-located support for women in familiar surroundings such as drop-in centres. Find out more here
The reality of serving an IPP sentence
Too many bends in the tunnel? is a research report by Sarah Smart for the Griffins Society which examines the experiences of women serving Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection (IPPs). This was the first time any of the women involved had spoken about the reality of serving an IPP sentence. They all spoke about the lack of information about IPPs, the frustration and confusion and the adverse affect on their mental health. The report recommends: there be a designated IPP caseworker in recognition of this group’s complex needs; ending the IPP sentence once the Parole Board has ordered release, limiting licence lengths; and dealing with any further offences under normal sentencing provisions. Find out more here
Rethinking prisons
Clinks’ Head of Policy and Communications, Jess Mullen, has blogged about the Justice Committee’s report Prison population 2022: planning for the future, the final report of the Committee’s inquiry into the prison population. Clinks gave written and oral evidence to the inquiry and welcomes the report. It emphasises prioritising funding for rehabilitation and criticises under-resourced operational policies that fail to drive reform. The report calls for an overarching strategy for reoffending and a clear vision for what prisons will look like in the future. The report recommends trials of alternative approaches to prison for accommodating and caring for women who do not represent a high risk to the public. Read the blog here
The future probation model
In a Clinks blog Jess Mullen, Clinks’ Head of Policy and Communications, argues the changes currently proposed for the future of probation do not go far in the light of eight Community Rehabilitation Companies affected by collapse and administration and recent reports from the Chief Inspector of Probation and National Audit Office. She outlines Clinks’ five recommendations to ensure the voluntary sectors role in any future model, including the need to tackle inequalities and sufficiently fund specialist services. Simplifying the system and providing grant funding would particularly benefit small organisations that specialise in working with women. Read the blog here
Meeting the needs of people with protected characteristics
What's the reality like on the ground for organisations meeting the needs of people with protected characteristics? is a blog by Lauren Nickolls, Clinks Policy Officer, which highlights how Clinks member Women@theWell identifies and responds to the gender-specific and intersectional needs of a diverse group of women and the challenges they are experiencing. Find out more here
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