On the 19th July 2022, the Justice Select Committee published a special report looking at women in prison.
Background
Less than 5% of the UK prison population is made up of women. Women in prison women often present with challenges such as substance misuse and mental health issues as well as complex histories of trauma and abuse, including domestic abuse. Women are more often than not sentence for low-level, non-violent offences. The Government released a new Female Offender Strategy in 2018, looking at changing the way the justice system deals with female offenders. This report looked into this strategy, and examined how it is progressing in terms of it’s strategic aims.
This report concluded that there had been a lack of progress against the aims of the female offender strategy, particularly around reducing the female prison population.
Nacro’s comment
Campbell Robb, Nacro chief executive said: “Women should not be in prison, except in the most serious of cases. The Government knows this and yet admits that their own failings will see the number of women in prison rise drastically by 2025. The lack of commitment is worrying, from poor data collection to a lack of measurable change in policy and plans to expand the female prison estate. These women deserve more, and soon.”
Read the full report.
Contact the press office
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