Dr Kay Richmond, who chairs the Soroptimist International UK Programme Action Committee writes on Day Two of the 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence.
"About 6.5% of the world’s prisoners are women. Between 2000
and 2013 the number of women in prison increased by over 40%" Penal Reform International: Global Prison Trends 2015
"Following publication of our report ‘Transforming Lives’
with the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) in December 2014 clubs across the UK and the
UK Programme Action Committee (UKPAC) have been involved in disseminating the
findings and encouraging responsible authorities to take action to address the
recommendations within it. The intention is to inspire changes to the way in
which women’s minor offending is addressed across the UK. More community based
solutions with an emphasis on diversion out of the Criminal Justice System
(CJS) and into appropriate help for women to address the causes of their
offending has been our focus.
Picture: Courtesy of Prison Reform Trust
Soroptimists have been involved in work in each legal
administration with early success in helping to dissuade the Scottish
Government from building a new prison and subsequent involvement with a review
of the current system.
The privatisation of the probation service in England and
Wales (E&W) has led to disruption of community services available to women.
We have been engaged in discussions about the impact and trying to ensure that
help continues to be available. In Wales the Integrated Offender Management
(IOM) Cymru scheme is being rolled out. The IOM approach is vital in bringing
agencies together to maximise use of collective resources and to tackle crime
and reoffending in a consistent way, at the same time allowing for flexibility
depending on the type of offender, where they live and the reasons they offend.
The plan involves many agencies through multi-agency groups in order to have
consistent arrangements across Wales and to reduce reoffending.
The HM Inspectorate of Probation (E&W) is conducting a
‘Thematic Inspection of the Work with Women Offenders’. We have representation
on the reference group. In addition, a number of clubs and PRT have put in
separate reports on the facilities available, or not, in defined areas.
Concerns raised at the first meeting included:
• Concentration
on high population areas with an apparent ommission of rural areas;
• The lack of
stable finances for Women’s Centres;
• Little
progress on alternatives to prison;
• Sentencers
unaware of the facilities available in their areas.
The report should be available in June 2016.
Interest has been
shown in the report from as far afield as the USA, Barbados, Kenya and Uganda.
The latter one, through the good offices of the PRT and the Penal Reform
International (PRI), has led to work with Scotland North linking with SI Masaka
to help address the problems there. SI Masaka will develop links with PRI and
their partners in Uganda, including in the capital Kampala. The club hopes to
raise funds for starting a home for women who have nowhere to go when they
leave prison.
Picture: Women prisoners in Uganda
The PRT has won a major grant from the BIG Lottery Fund to
continue the work of reforming the way in which women involved in the CJS are
treated. We continue to be concerned about the effect imprisoning mothers has
on their children. This work involves all four countries of the UK and will
have to address the differing legal and other systems in place currently.
Multi-agency working will be essential in this and Soroptimists across the UK,
will be playing their part".
Click on the image above to view a PDF version of this report by Kay Richmond
Links: UKPAC
Click on the image above to visit and view the Global Trends 2015 Report
Transforming Lives – reducing women’s imprisonment
A wealth of information gathered by 139 Soroptimists clubs
across the UK went into a report intended to spur
national and local governments into action. The report recommended the development
in England and Wales of a cross-government strategy for women’s justice, led by
the Minister for Female Offenders. Recommendations for improvements to the
oversight of women’s justice in Scotland and Northern Ireland were also
highlighted. The recommendations in the report were developed by the Prison
Reform Trust (PRT) to reflect the evidence gathered by Soroptimists. They included
improved training, protocols and guidance for those working in criminal justice
agencies to ensure appropriate responses to women offenders, greater regard to
the needs of children, piloting of problem-solving courts for women, the
production of directories of local women’s services for use by probation and
court services, and a roll-out of co-ordinated local multi-agency interventions.
View the full report HERE
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