Responding to the government’s response to the Corston review on women in the criminal justice system, Lucie Russell, Director of SmartJustice said;

“While it is encouraging that most recommendations from the Corston report have been accepted by the Government, it is very disappointing that there is no clear commitment to replacing women’s prisons. In stark contrast to the £1.2 billion pledged yesterday towards building super prisons, where are the resources to tackle women’s offending?

Our recent independent ICM poll showed that there is overwhelming public support for a fundamental change in how most women who offend are treated - most people do not agree with sending women to prison for non-violent offences and nine out of ten support alternatives to prison for non-violent female offenders. Our SmartJustice for Women campaign is supported by a national alliance of women’s organizations who have been lobbying the government to change the way we deal with women who commit crime.

Rather than simply putting women behind bars, it is essential to address the reasons that lead to their offending. This includes debt, domestic violence and addiction – as well as making them do compulsory work in the community to payback for what they have done. More effective alternatives would make communities safer as they will effectively tackle the reasons women are commiting crime in the first place. Prisons have become the ultimate social service for female offenders at a cost to the taxpayer of over £40, 000 a year”

The Corston review was a comprehensive blueprint for a more effective way of treating women who offend, but with no money behind the government’s support for the recommendations, nothing will fundamentally change”

ends

For more information or to arrange interviews please contact:

Sinead Hanks on 0207 689 7734 or 07931 380952 or Lucie Russell 07931 507873

Notes to Editors

1. SmartJustice for Women is a campaign run by SmartJustice which is based at the Prison Reform Trust. SmartJustice promotes community based solutions to crime. It is funded by the Network for Social Change and the Big Lottery Fund.

2. SmartJustice for Women is supported by a broad alliance of public groups including the National Council of Women (with 50 affiliates), the Greater London Domestic Violence Project, Soroptomists International, and the Oxfordshire Federation of Women’s Institutes. These groups are calling on the government to implement the recommendations of the Corston Report.

3. The report is based on UK wide ICM survey, interviewed a random sample of 1006 adults aged 18+ by telephone across the UK between 9th – 11th February 2007. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further information at www.icmresearch.co.uk.

4. Copies of the full SmartJustice survey on women and offending can be obtained from Sinead Hanks at sinead.hanks@smartjustice.org Tel 0207 689 7734

5. SmartJustice for Women was launched at HMP Holloway in July 2005. Supporters include Michelle Collins, Sheila Hancock and Clare Rayner. The SmartJustice for Women EDM attracted 87 MP signatures. It believes that the best way to reduce women’s offending is by tackling its causes-by improving mental health services, tackling drug abuse and through community punishments.

6. Following the tragic death of six women at Styal prison, the Home Secretary asked Baroness Jean Corston to conduct a review of vulnerable women in the Criminal Justice System. Throughout 2006 Baroness Corston and her team visited overcrowded women’s jails, local women’s centres and alternatives to custody for women across the UK. The review was published In March and the Government response is expected shortly.

7. Key facts about women and prison:

· There were 4,454 women in prison on 16th November 2007 compared with 1,811 in 1994.

· Most of the rise in the female prison population can be explained by magistrates and judges handing out harsher sentences. A woman is seven times as likely to receive a custodial sentence in a magistrate’s court than ten years ago.

· Eight in ten women are jailed for non-violent crimes. In 2004 more women were sent to prison for theft and handling stolen goods than any other crime.

· Two in three women released from prison in 2002 were reconvicted within two years of release, rising to eight out of ten for female shoplifters.

The majority of women are in prison for very short sentences. In 2004 nearly two in three were sentenced to custody for six months or less.

· Around one in three women prisoners lose their homes, and often their possessions, whilst in prison. 41% do not have accommodation organised on release.

· Over a third of all adult women in prison had no previous convictions

· Nearly 1 in 3 women prisoners are from minority ethnic groups

· 2/3 of women prisoners have a drug problem, 2/3 have mental health problems and half have been victims of domestic violence

· Nearly 18,000 children are separated from their mothers by imprisonment each year and only 5% remain in the family home