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DOING WHAT
8 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| April 2013
Cover story |
Women’s justice
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Katy Swaine Williams
and
José guiar
discuss
much-needed steps to reform women’s justice
T
oo many women are imprisoned unnecessarily in the UK, many on remand or serving
short sentences, and most for non-violent offences. For many of these women, drug
and alcohol issues are intimately connected with their offending behaviour. In turn,
problematic substance use all too often coincides with underlying mental health
needs and domestic abuse.
Research shows that women are more likely than men to report that their offending was to support
someone else’s drug use, as well as their own. As one commentator quoted in the 2007 Corston
review of vulnerable women in the criminal justice system put it, ‘A vicious cycle of victimisation and
criminal activity develops, creating a toxic lifestyle that is extremely difficult to escape.’
For some, prison does provide a form of escape, albeit temporary. It may prove a refuge from
domestic violence or sexual abuse, or it may be the place where women first access treatment
for drug or alcohol problems – although for others it is where substance use problems first
develop. However, while drug treatment services in prison are better than they were, problems
persist with the transition from community to prison and vice versa, and short sentences are
unlikely to allow for effective treatment. Release is a dangerous time, with women prisoners
nearly 70 times more likely to die during the week after leaving prison relative to the general
population, with 59 per cent of those deaths drug related.
More often than not, prison compounds the problems that may have contributed to women’s
offending behaviour in the first place. The trauma of separation from children, loss of income and
housing and the breaking of links with health and social care services all contribute to the damage
that can be caused, even by short sentences.
This is why the Prison Reform Trust, supported by the Pilgrim Trust, has adopted a three-year
programme to reform women’s justice. We are working alongside civic society organisations including
the Soroptimists and the National Council of Women to put an end to the unnecessary imprisonment
of women who pose no risk to the public, including those affected by drug and alcohol issues.
The Corston review concluded that ‘community provision for non-violent women should be the
norm’ and received cross-party support, yet women’s prison numbers remain much too high and
gender-specific community support and supervision – often provided through women’s centres –
lurch from year to year with uncertain and increasingly limited funding.
*****
Government research has shown that community sentences are more effective in reducing
reoffending than short prison sentences, and gender-sensitive community sentencing – taking
account of childcare needs and carried out in safe environments – is known to help reduce
offending behaviour. Sentences can include mandatory treatment for mental health, drug and
alcohol problems, and while this may present ethical dilemmas for treatment providers it is surely
preferable to seeing women locked up by magistrates who hope that they will get the treatment
they need while inside.
Through our Talking Justice programme, supported by the Monument Trust, we aim to increase
public understanding of community solutions to women’s offending and inform public debate. The
solutions include improving and extending specialist community support for women at risk of
offending, as well as ensuring that liaison and diversion services for those with mental health
needs and learning disabilities – currently available in some police stations and courts, and due
to be extended across England and Wales – make appropriate provision for women.
As in the prison system, women represent a small minority of community drug and alcohol
treatment service users. Mainstream services can help to redress this balance by holding women-
only groups and drop-in sessions, and by working closely with specialist partner organisations like
Women’s Aid and local women’s centres. However, treatment providers acknowledge there is