Female offenders should be sent to support centres not prison, says report

'Many of these women are not a threat to the safety of others and society in general so shouldn’t be behind bars'

The report by the London Assembly police and crime committee found women convicted of minor offences are too frequently jailed for short sentences (Getty/iStock)

Female offenders should be sent to support centres rather than prison because they are normally far less dangerous than their male counterparts, a report has suggested.

The London Assembly police and crime committee found women convicted of minor offences are frequently jailed for short sentences.

They were also more liable to turn to crime due to poverty, drug and alcohol problems, mental health issues and coercive relationships with men.

Rather than jailing them, the report suggested that specialist women’s centres to support offenders in the community would tackle the root causes of offending and the cycles of reoffending.

In London where HMP Holloway, the capital's only women’s jail and western Europe’s largest women’s prison closed in 2016, many offenders were jailed elsewhere, isolating them from their loved ones, it said.

But in the year to September 2017, 62 per cent of sentenced women entering prison were given six months or less compared to 45 per cent of men.

The all-party report, entitled A long way from home: Improving London’s response to women in the criminal justice system, found that around 15 per cent of the arrests made by the police in London each year are of women.

Last year 1,204 women were sent to prison, mainly for theft.

“Most of the crimes in London are committed by men, but the women who commit crimes, which are mainly of a much less serious nature, are getting badly treated by the justice system," said Sian Berry, a London Assembly member and the joint author of the report. “Women prisoners from London are sent miles away, cutting them off from their family and support system, which harms their rehabilitation and risks damaging them further.

“Many of these women are not a threat to the safety of others and society in general, so shouldn’t be behind bars. London needs at least one more women’s centre specifically for offenders to provide more of the support that these women and their families need to get their lives back on track."

She added: “The Government’s new strategy on female offenders presents a new opportunity. We are calling on the Mayor to lead the way, and work with Government to make sure that London is set up to make a difference to the lives of women offenders.”

“Women are also more likely to be involved in offences related to struggles with money, such as welfare fraud, fare evasion, and TV licence evasion,” the report states. “In 2017, for example, TV licence evasion accounted for 20 per cent of all prosecutions of women and under 2 per cent of all prosecutions of men in London. 70 per cent of the roughly 15,000 defendants prosecuted for TV licence evasion in the capital were women.”

Jenny Earle, Director of the Prison Reform Trust’s Transforming Lives Programme to Reduce Women’s Imprisonment, told The Independent: “Women overwhelmingly commit non-violent crimes, but are ending up behind bars for short spells, which do little to tackle the root causes of their offending.

"Additional investment in London women’s services is welcome but there is still much to be done to improve community provision for women in trouble with the law in the capital."

The Ministry of Justice revealed last month almost half of all female prisoners in England and Wales committed their offence to support the drug use of someone else, while many more are substance abusers themselves.

The report echoes the fact leaders of the justice system are starting to support the idea it is better and cheaper to tackle the root causes of offending instead of simply throwing people in jail cells.

A briefing published by the Prison Reform Trust urged the government to follow Scotland’s lead and introduce a presumption against short prison sentences as part of their efforts to bring back safety and stability to Britain’s struggling jails.