Embargo 00.01 hours Sunday 28th March 2004
The Fawcett Society can be contacted on 020 7253 2598/
07939 257040

PUBLIC SAYS PRISON NOT THE ANSWER FOR WOMEN

The public favour providing women offenders with residential drug
treatment centres, mental health
care and community sentences rather than locking them up, according to
a new survey published
today by the Fawcett Society.

These findings come ahead of the publication of the report of the
Fawcett Society's Commission on
Women and the Criminal Justice System later this week (31 March 2004),
which will highlight the
"man-made justice" that women receive as victims, offenders and
workers throughout criminal justice.

Government figures show that:
=B7 There are now over 4,500 women in prison, up by 194% in the last
ten years

=B7 Suicides in women's prisons have exploded from 1 in 1993 to 14 in
2003

=B7 70% of women prisoners have two or more mental health disorders

=B7 Around 50% of females have used crack or heroin in the year prior
to imprisonment

The MORI survey for the Fawcett Society, which presented different ways
to deal with record numbers
of women in prison, found that:

=B7 More than eight in ten people (82%) favoured providing more
treatment centres for offenders
with mental health problems

=B7 74% supported more residential treatment of drug problems

=B7 68% wanted greater use of community sentences

In contrast fewer than half of people asked said they wanted more
prisons, and just one per cent
suggested tougher penalties.

Chair of the Commission, Vera Baird QC MP commented today:
"The dramatic increase in the number of women in prison has put a
severe strain on the Prison
Service. The horrifying number of suicides indicates the level of
desperation amongst women
prisoners and it is well-known that imprisonment is very damaging not
only to the woman
herself, but also to her children and family.

Most women in prison have been convicted of non-violent offences such
as shoplifting or fraud
and there is a pressing need to look again at why we are imprisoning
women who do not pose a
serious threat to others. We urge the government to look seriously at
alternatives to prison for
women."

Speaking today, Rob Allen, Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment,
which has supported the
work of the Commission, said that:

"For too long politicians, judges and magistrates have wrongly assumed
the public wants more
people locked up. This misconception about the climate of opinion has
led to record numbers in
prison. As this new research shows, what the public really wants is for
offenders, especially
women, to receive specialist mental health care, residential drug
treatment and community
penalties and certainly not tougher sentences."

The Fawcett Society's Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice
System will be publishing its
final report at a reception on 31 March 2004 addressed by the Home
Secretary, David Blunkett. The
report is the result of a year-long Commission into women's
experience of the criminal justice system,
the first of its kind internationally to look at women's experience
right across the criminal justice
system. Commissioners were drawn from the senior ranks of the criminal
justice system and brought
to their work a wealth of experience of all parts of the system.
- ends -

Notes:
1=2E The Fawcett Society can be contacted on 020 7253 2598. For out of
hours press inquiries please
phone 07939 257040.

2=2E The Fawcett Society's Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice
System is an independent
inquiry into women's experience of the criminal justice system,
chaired by Vera Baird QC MP. The
Commission has been funded by The Barrow Cadbury Trust, the Esm=E9e
Fairbairn Foundation's
Rethinking Crime and Punishment initiative and The Lankelly Foundation.
The Commissioners, senior
experts from across the criminal justice system and other areas of
public life, are:
Vera Baird QC MP - Chair of Commission
Liz Bavidge - Magistrate
Ruth Bundey - Solicitor, Harrison Bundey & Co.
Angela Deal - Crown Prosecution Service (from June 2003)
Lord Navnit Dholakia - House of Lords, Liberal Democrat
Commander Cressida Dick - Metropolitan Police
Cheryl Gillan MP
Ms Justice Heather Hallett - High Court
Dr Kate Malleson - London School of Economics
Karon Monaghan - Barrister, Matrix Chambers
Fiona Morton - Former Senior Probation Officer
Baroness Usha Prashar - House of Lords, Crossbencher
Hannana Siddiqui - Southall Black Sisters
Anna Southall - Barrow Cadbury Trust
Baroness Vivien Stern - House of Lords, Crossbencher
Professor Robert Stevens - Covington & Burling Solicitors
Monica Townsend - Crown Prosecution Service (until June 2003)
Jenny Watson - Equal Opportunities Commission, Women's National
Commission

3=2E MORI conducted 1,006 interviews by telephone among a representative
quota sample of British
adults aged 16+ between 6-8 March 2004. Data were weighted to match the
known demographic
profile of adults in Great Britain.

4=2E Sources: Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners, Social Exclusion
Unit, 2002. The Prison Service
website, www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk

The Fawcett Society, 1-3 Berry Street, London EC1V 0AA Tel: 020 7253
2598 Fax: 020 7253 2599
www.fawcettsociety.org.uk; www.equalcitizen.org.uk
The Fawcett Society: Company No. 4600514. A company limited by
guarantee. Registered in England.



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