Engendering Justice - from Policy to Practice - The Fawcett Society

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Chapter Three: Continued.Women and Justice – Meeting the Needs of Female Offenderscreates further difficulties accessing housing. If womendo not have a home they will then experience difficultyin getting their children back. However, they will alsofind it harder to get a home if they are not caring fortheir children. 87 TWP noted this was a common viciouscycle with women unable to get custody of their childrenunless they have housing with more than one bedroomand because women do not have custody at the timeof application they cannot apply for more than onebedroom under Council policy. Women in Prison told theCommission that its support workers are finding it harderto find housing for women leaving prison and that theintentional homelessness criterion presents a further barrier.Women who have children in care as a result of their prisonsentence should be made a priority on the housing waitinglist and should also be eligible to apply for housing withan appropriate number of bedrooms upon social servicesconfirming the number of children.be located in Holloway, travel and money are not easy onrelease or knowing what to prioritise.” 89 The provision ofone stop shop service provision for female offenders andex-prisoners is key to ensure women are provided withguidance to get the help they need.Good Practice Example:Resettlement Advice Call Centre, St Giles TrustSt Giles Trust is developing a ‘peer to peer resettlementadvice call centre’ in HMP Send and HMP Downview.Female prisoners will be trained as peer advisers toprovide a free advice phone line to all female prisoners sothey can access resettlement advice from those who reallyunderstand their situation – other female prisoners.Website: http://www.stgilestrust.org.uk/Good Practice Example: The Re-Unite ProjectThe Re-Unite Project (a joint project between Women inPrison, Housing for Women and Commonwealth Housing)provides safe, secure housing and key-work support formothers coming out of prison for up to two years. Theproject provides for two different strands of support.One for mothers whose children have been cared forby family and friends and the other for mothers whosechildren are being cared for by social services to provideintensive support to rebuild relationships and enable familyreintegration.Website: http://www.re-unite.org/Access to benefits is a complicated process and womencan be left with no funds upon release. TWP notedthat getting a woman’s benefits restarted after they arereleased from prison and ensuring they have enoughfunds to survive until their claims are processed is a majorchallenge. 88 Women are also being released from prisonwithout receiving their prescription medication or sufficientquantities of their medication to allow time to register with aG.P.Organisations told the Commission that resettlementservices are dispersed, confusing and inconsistent. “Anessential drug or alcohol support agency may be inCamberwell while a prisoners’ family organisation maySt. Giles Trust staffPage 40
Moving TowardsCommunity ProvisionThe potential for change and the delivery of effectiveservices for women is considerable…However, thereality may be very different, especially since women area minority group within the criminal justice system. Thecapacity of agencies to attend to gender-specific needsis under question; the quality of inter-agency cooperationis variable; and the position of the voluntary sector in asupportive role may be stronger in some geographicalareas than others. 90The Government’s commitment to building the capacityof one stop shop services at women’s centres andother specialist provision for women in the communitythrough investment in third sector providers is crucial. TheCommission is encouraged by the announcement of £15.6million of new funding towards the provision of additionalservices in the community for women offenders includingspecialist community provision and the development ofbail support services. However, this amount falls well shortof the amount needed to develop a national network ofcommunity provision. The Rethinking Crime & Punishmentreport estimates a budget of £4.5 million per region – anational total of £45million/year (£261 million/6 years) tointroduce a coordinated multi agency approach acrossthe country to reduce imprisonment for women – withcommunity based centres in major cities and flexible accessto services in rural areas. 91Investment in community provision in the short term hasthe potential to save the public purse in the long term (forexample, the average cost of a place at the Asha Centre isno greater than £750 compared to £77,000 for the cost ofa prison place) as well as reducing reoffending rates and theharm caused to offenders’ families. A recent report by theNew Economics Foundation found that the social cost tochildren and to the state of imprisoning mothers for nonviolentoffences totalled £17 million over ten years. 92A study commissioned by the Fawcett Society in 2007into provision for women offenders in the communityrevealed a number of identified needs and best practicerecommendations. 93 Nine lessons were pin-pointed askey to the success of community provision for womenoffenders. In summary, such provision should:• be women-only to foster safety and a sense ofcommunity;• integrate offenders with non-offenders to normalisewomen’s experiences;• foster women’s empowerment to build self esteem andmotivate women to seek employment;• draw on knowledge of effective learning styles for women;• take a holistic and practical approach which focuseson addressing social problems which may be linkedto offending; including through links with mainstreamagencies (such as health, counselling and debt advice);• have the capacity and flexibility to allow women to returnfor continued support and development as required;• offer women personal support through the provision of amentor; and• provide women with practical help with childcare andtransport to enable them to attend on a consistent basis.The Together Women Programme has proven the successof such provision, offering a flexible means of support whichcan be delivered according to individual need and localresources. The two demonstration projects have showngreat potential for reducing reoffending rates and providingwomen with a pathway back into the community. Accordingto a report produced by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation inJuly 2008, early results from the TWP had demonstratedconsiderable success with an 8 percent reoffending ratecompared with a 55 percent national reoffending ratefor women. 94 Bristol Eden House Project is the latestdemonstration pilot. Due to launch in summer 2009, theproject will offer residential, day and out-reach services tolocal women offenders as well as working with statutoryand voluntary sector agencies to establish a coordinatedresponse. However, these community projects remain fewand far between and there is a need for a co-ordinated rolloutof projects to each county area.Page 41
Page 1 and 2: Engendering Justice- from Policy to
Page 3 and 4: ContentsForeword 5Executive Summary
Page 5 and 6: ForewordFor the past five years, Fa
Page 7 and 8: Executive SummarySince 2003, Fawcet
Page 10 and 11: Executive Summary continuedon domes
Page 12 and 13: Executive Summary continuedFemale O
Page 14 and 15: Chapter One: Continued.Methodology
Page 16 and 17: The Five Years of the CommissionCom
Page 18 and 19: Chapter Two:Introduction - From Pol
Page 20 and 21: Chapter Three:Women and Justice - M
Page 23 and 24: [A woman] had admitted to an offenc
Page 25 and 26: Figure 3: Female Reoffending Rate b
Page 27 and 28: writing the Government had undertak
Page 29 and 30: equirement could be used to refer w
Page 31 and 32: given current funding allocations a
Page 33 and 34: I feel that women with severe menta
Page 35 and 36: Good Practice Example: Birth Compan
Page 37 and 38: Female offenders serving indetermin
Page 39: The Commission recommends that if p
Page 43 and 44: which can be developed in conjuncti
Page 45 and 46: Chapter Four:Women Need Justice - W
Page 47 and 48: that VAW is a relevant issue for ev
Page 49 and 50: Women also need to have clear infor
Page 51 and 52: Victims reported telling their stor
Page 53 and 54: However, Rights of Women told the C
Page 55 and 56: in the decision-making process is l
Page 57 and 58: continued commitment to joint worki
Page 59 and 60: It is also important for the CPS to
Page 61 and 62: He pleaded innocent, so I prepared
Page 63 and 64: isk assessments are not uniform. In
Page 65 and 66: espect and sexual violence is a com
Page 67 and 68: different needs and experiences of
Page 69 and 70: managers. “Sometimes childcare is
Page 71 and 72: local area, with women who have rea
Page 73 and 74: her career, as these women may find
Page 75 and 76: The key issue in my view is that th
Page 77 and 78: Some magistrates noted that they fe
Page 79 and 80: for women to access development opp
Page 81 and 82: Organisations sharing their views w
Page 83 and 84: Institutional change needed:➤ A c
Page 85 and 86: International example of good pract
Page 87 and 88: ➤ The Criminal JusticeSystem will
Page 89 and 90: Key targets / indicators of success
Page 91 and 92:
➤ Women working inthe criminal ju
Page 93 and 94:
Key targets / indicators of success
Page 95 and 96:
➤ Policy and practiceof all crimi
Page 97 and 98:
➤The Judiciary and thesenior leve
Page 99 and 100:
Appendix ACOMMISSIONERS:Baroness Je
Page 101 and 102:
Annexure BSummary of Recommendation
Page 103 and 104:
not be means tested.• First night
Page 105 and 106:
in circumstances where the Prosecut
Page 107 and 108:
• Allocation to a particular cour
Page 109 and 110:
EndnotesMarch 200985Questionnaire R
Page 111:
About FawcettThe Fawcett Society is
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Engendering Justice - from Policy to Practice - The Fawcett Society

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