September 6, 2004: Thousands of women needlessly imprisoned, say PRT

Six out of ten women imprisoned while awaiting trial are subsequently acquitted or given a non-custodial sentence according to a Prison Reform Trust report by Dr Kimmett Edgar.

The report states that the number of women being remanded into custody has more than trebled in a decade, despite the fact that more than three quarters are charged with non-violent or minor offences.

'Lacking Conviction: The rise of the women's remand population' says that very few women are charged with sufficiently serious crimes to require custody and too little is known of the problems they face to prove that the deprivation of liberty is necessary. Whilst in prison their lives are damaged by loss of homes, job prospects and contact with their families.

The report says that women on remand constitute one of the fastest growing groups among the prison population. It notes:

• There was a 196% increase in the number of women remanded into custody between 1992 and 2002 compared to a 52% increase for men.
• Of the 12,000 women sent to prison in 2002 two-thirds were on remand.
• More women are remanded into custody for theft and handling stolen goods than any other crime.
• Following trial 59 per cent do not receive a custodial sentence and one in five is acquitted.
• Four out of ten remanded women have received help or treatment for mental health in the year before being sent to prison and a quarter say they have injected drugs in the month before custody.

The report highlights the fact that once in prison women receive inadequate support. They do not get the drug treatment or mental health care they require, are confined to their cells for long hours and have limited opportunities to stay in touch with family. The provision of bail information has broken down in many prisons.

It concludes that custodial remand is used too frequently by the courts due to unacceptable failures to gather, present and transfer information about the needs and experiences of vulnerable women. There are also breakdowns in bail support in the community, a scarcity of court liaison and diversion schemes and gaps in healthcare and housing provision geared to the needs of women.

The report recommends:

• Custodial remand must be reserved for those charged with serious or violent offences.
• The Government must conduct a wide-ranging review of the use of remand and bail in England and Wales.
•  A national network of small, local women-only supervisions centres must be established to work with women who come into contact with the criminal justice system. These centres should provide women with multi-agency support and should replace prison custody for all women except those whose offences demonstrate a serious danger to society.
•  An increase in the provision and an improvement in the quality of court based diversion schemes for women with serious mental health problems.
•  An improvement in the provision of information to the courts, particularly adequate social, psychiatric and probation reports, prior to taking a decision to deny bail.

Prison Reform Trust Director Juliet Lyon, stated:

"There is clear evidence that, instead of getting the support they need, vulnerable women are being jailed due to breakdowns at every point in the criminal justice system. Sorting out the needless use of remand would reduce the women's prison population at a stroke".