Women’s charity urges to fast-track sentencing review recommendations considering ‘bleak’ annual prison report

A Birmingham charity has urged officials to fast track the recommendations in the Independent Sentencing Review following the latest HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Annual Report.

The request comes from Anawim, a women's centre providing trauma-informed alternatives to custody and advocacy for women experiencing abuse, poor mental health and economic inequality.

The report, which the charity had called 'bleak for women', examined conditions in 37 prisons across England, including 14 women’s prisons and 23 men’s prisons.

According the report, the rate of self-harm has rocketed in women’s prisons over the last ten years and is now more than 8.5 times higher than in men’s.

Staff had also said they weren’t always well trained enough for the challenge of looking after the many women who self-harmed.

The report also found the response to some women in crisis had become punitive – with an overreliance on physical force – in some cases without good reason.

It goes on to say that often officers couldn’t provide the basic support women needed, and long periods in their cells increased anxiety and isolation.

However, at Drake Hall there were “an excellent range” of tools and interventions to help women cope– including therapy dogs and a specialist unit.

Day to day living was beset by difficulties, including

• 94 per cent of women said what mattered to them most was contact with their families – but the report found insufficient contact in the first few days, poor provision for social visits, and a lack of creativity around maintaining contact.
• 19 per cent of women said they had developed a problem with drugs, alcohol or medication not prescribed to them while in prison.
• There wasn’t enough suitable clothing or underwear for women.
• Only one third of women thought complaints were dealt with fairly and under half thought the replies were fair.

Only 29 per cent of women were released near their home area and not all women’s prisons offered a safe and supportive space outside the gate.

Joy Doal, Anawim CEO said: “This shows, again, why the recommendations in the Independent Sentencing Review need to be implemented as soon as practicably possible. There needs to be a presumption against short sentences, increased use of community orders, and sustained funding for women’s centres to allow us to continue our work.

“We know what we do works, it removes a layer of trauma for the women, can keep families united, saves thousands of pounds of public money, and leads to better outcomes.”

For more information contact Alice Rosenthal via email or call 07908 403 325

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