The number of women in jail will be slashed, the Justice Secretary has revealed – as she insisted ‘prison isn’t working’ for female offenders.
Shabana Mahmood’s remarks amounted to a reversal of then Tory home secretary Michael Howard’s famous ‘prison works’ mantra from three decades ago.
She said women offenders could be housed in ‘residential centres’. It is understood that they would be free to come and go, and could have their children with them.
Other criminal charges against female offenders could be ‘resolved before they go to court’, the Labour Party conference in Liverpool heard.
‘It is high time we stopped sending so many women to prison,’ Ms Mahmood said.
‘For women, prison isn’t working. Rather than encouraging rehabilitation, prison forces women into a life of crime.’
Other criminal charges against female offenders could be ‘resolved before they go to court’, the Labour Party conference in Liverpool heard.
‘It is high time we stopped sending so many women to prison,’ Ms Mahmood said.
‘For women, prison isn’t working. Rather than encouraging rehabilitation, prison forces women into a life of crime.’
It comes just weeks after Ms Mahmood launched a scheme which will allowthousands of inmates – including violent offenders – to be released early in order to free up space in overcrowded jails.
‘After leaving a short custodial sentence, a woman is significantly more likely to commit a further crime than one given a non-custodial sentence,’ Ms Mahmood said.
‘For that reason… this Government will launch a new body: the Women’s Justice Board… to reduce the number of women going to prison, with the ultimate ambition of having fewer women’s prisons.’
She said the board will look at ‘how we make community support – such as residential women’s centres – a viable alternative to prison’.
A report by charity the Prison Reform Trust, published last year, found 58 per cent of women jailed in 2022 were given sentences of less than six months – with shoplifters making up 36 per cent of those.
Twelve of the 117 prisons in England and Wales are currently designated for female inmates.