What is going on in women’s prisons?

Concern is growing over the state of women’s prisons after a series of studies identified issues with inmate numbers and wellbeing.

The government set out a strategy in 2018 to reduce the number of women in prison and support vulnerable offenders to turn their lives around.

But forecasts suggest the number of female prisoners will rise and recent reports have painted an “alarming” picture of what is happening behind bars.

How many women are there in prison?

“Today there are 3,850 women in our prisons,” wrote David Gauke MP, the then justice secretary, in the 2018 strategy paper. “I want to see this fall, with fewer women in prison for short sentences.”

However, new official predictions suggest that the female prison population may rise by a third in the next three years, said The Guardian.

According to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) prison population predictions, overall numbers fell from 3,958 in February 2017 to 3,219 in July 2022, but the adult female prison population is expected to be 4,300 in July 2025, up by a third from 3,170 in July 2021.

The justice select committee of MPs said “there is yet to be any clear evidence” that women are being diverted away from prison despite pledges to develop other methods of punishment and rehabilitation.

MPs have questioned whether the government needs to create 500 extra places in women’s prisons and called for clarity on what the new cells will be used for, said Inside Time.

An MoJ spokesperson said: “Custody is used as a last resort for women and since we launched our female offender strategy in 2018, the number entering prison has fallen by nearly a third.”

Women currently make up around 4% of the UK prison population.

How commonplace is self-harm?

The report by the justice select committee found that, during 2021, there was an “alarming” rise in self-harm by women in prison. Although self-harm fell among male prisoners, in women’s prisons it rose by 4%, noted The Independent.

“The increasing level of self-harm in the female estate over the last decade is alarming and while the number of self-inflicted deaths is low, even one death is one too many,” said the report.

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/prisons/957641/what-is-going-on-in-womens-prisons