Engendering Justice - from Policy to Practice - The Fawcett Society

Chapter Three: Continued.Women and Justice – Meeting the Needs of Female Offenderstwelve staff members it is a difficult task. Unless trainingand information-sharing takes place consistently andpractice within the prisons is audited, implementation of theGSS within prisons and a real shift in the current mindsetis unlikely. Further resources need to be devoted to thedelivery of these standards and support provided within theprison service for the work of the NOMS team.There have been some important changes on the ground.NOMS Women and Young People’s team and the CrossDepartmental Criminal Justice Women’s Unit should beparticularly commended for the introduction of the newarrangements for full searching, introduced in all femaleprisons in April 2009. 47 These new arrangements meanthere will be a reduction in the number of full searchesrequired (with a search only to be conducted if there isintelligence or suspicion that an item is concealed) andwhen a full search is necessary this will not require stripsearching.This measure will go a long way to reducing thehumiliation and distress resulting from the previous over-useof strip searching, particularly for those women who havesuffered past abuse. The introduction of the two additionalpathways in women’s prisons in relation to violence againstwomen and women who sell sex is welcomed. Further, theintroduction of the Women Awareness Staff Programme(a two day training course) together with the Workingwith Women in Prison training DVD is also a significantachievement of the Women’s team.However, despite these important developments, evidenceindicates that the gap between policy and practical changeremains within the female prison estate.Mental Health, Deaths & Self Harm in CustodyIt is dreadful to live with women losing their lives in prison. 48When the Commission began its work in 2003, self-inflicteddeaths in custody for women offenders for the year totalleda startling 14. At this time, the Commission urged the prisonservice “to address as a matter of urgency the spirallingincidence of death or self harm among women prisoners.” 49The numbers of deaths in custody for female offendershave continued to fluctuate since this time. For examplein 2006, there were 3 self-inflicted deaths followed by 8female deaths in 2007. In 2008, the self-inflicted femaledeaths in custody totalled only one, which was a welcomereduction. 50 However, at the time of writing this report, onewoman had already taken her life in January 2009 at HMPStyal, just one day into her 28 day sentence .51Figures obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reformreveal, although women make up only 5 percent of the totalprison population, they commit around 50 percent of selfharmincidents. There has been a dramatic rise in self-harmamong women since the inception of the Commission, withself-harm rates increasing by 48 percent between 2003 and2007. 52A national survey of 1,457 newly sentenced prisoners in2008 revealed that 18 percent of female prisoners hadlikely psychosis compared to 9 percent of men and 56percent of female prisoners had 6-10 symptoms of anxietyand depression. 19 percent had attempted suicide and 14percent self harm in the year prior to custody. 53 A Universityof Oxford study into the health of female offendersconcluded that women in prison were five times more likelyto have a mental health problem than women in the generalpopulation. 54These statistics paint a picture of a criminal justice systemwhich is not only failing to respond to the mental healthneeds of women but is also not safeguarding their liveswhile in custody. The recent inspectorate report on HMPStyal, based on an unannounced inspection in September2008, noted that although there had been improvementswith the involvement of the local primary care trust, withinitiatives such as a mental health assessment for everywoman, the prison remained unable to meet “the scale andcomplexity of need.” 55 Staff lacked the training and supportto deal with complex mental health issues such as self harmand as a result, the use of force and lock-up as a means of‘caring’ for these women had increased. The Commissionsupports the finding of the Inspectorate that there is aneed for appropriate resources and a professionally ledtherapeutic environment to allow prisons such as Styal tomeet the complex needs of the women living there.Significantly, the majority of prison workers who sharedtheir views with the Commission from seven of the femaleprisons expressed their concern that prison staff were notequipped to respond to the multi-layered needs of manyfemale prisoners. As one prison worker commented:Page 32