good practice

European Prison Observatory
Alternatives to imprisonment in Europe:
A handbook of good practice
DIVERSION POST-CONVICTION
Poland: Non-custodial penalty replacing short-term imprisonment when suspended sentence
breached
Provisions now exist whereby courts can choose not to imprison someone who had previously
received (but breached) a suspended custodial sentence of up to one year, and instead impose a
community penalty. The duration of the penalty must be (at least) double the duration of the
custodial sentence that was originally suspended. Electronic monitoring cannot currently be
selected as the penalty, only community service.
UK: Diverting women from prison and supporting them in the community
Over the past decade, a series of inquiries and reports in the UK have concluded that prison is
rarely a necessary, appropriate or proportionate response to women caught up in the criminal
justice system. In 2007, a report by Baroness Jean Corston called for women who did not pose a
risk to the public to be kept out of prison. The report recommended a larger network of women’s
centres in the community, geared up to provide advice and supervision. There are now 47 centres
across the UK, but geographical provision is uneven. Northern Ireland’s only centre, Inspire
Women, Belfast, suspended operations in 2015 due to funding cuts and a government policy to
focus resources on ‘high risk offending’.
Women’s centres help to divert women from prison and prosecution by getting them the support
and protection they need. They offer a range of alternative solutions, for example, after a
community sentence has been passed, requiring attendance at a women’s centre to receive
support, rehabilitation, or supervision. They can also be effective as an alternative to
imprisonment by giving support and advice to women seen as ‘at risk of offending’, including
intervening before prosecution to divert the woman from criminal justice altogether.
Research on the impact of women’s centres shows that they deliver value in terms of women’s
optimism, autonomy, self-efficacy, and establishing supportive relationships — all of which are
pathways out of contact with the criminal justice system. The research suggests that all society
benefits from investing in alternatives to prison for women.
Many UK organisations and experts also advocate the introduction of a statutory presumption
against the imprisonment of women for all but the most pressing public protection needs.
Women’s Centres are well placed to ensure alternatives to short prison sentences are available.
France: Suspended sentence with individualised probation support
A new probation sentence, the ‘contrainte pénale’ was introduced in 2014 along with a new
benchmarking methodology (accompanied by training), based on European probation rules and
desistance principles. The sentence works like a suspended prison sentence with a probation
requirement. It can be accompanied by a community service or a treatment order based on an
individual assessment of the person’s circumstances. The sentence only remains in place for as
long as necessary to complete reintegration and progress is closely monitored by the sentencing
magistrate. Although as yet rarely used, the new system has had a wider impact due to the
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