Penal reform must not be gender neutral
Calls for investment in community orders are welcome, but more understanding is needed to keep women out of prison
Aware of the shrinking public purse and the £4bn prison-building programme, prison governors are calling on the government to invest in community orders as a way of saving money and cutting reoffending. The demand is backed by a growing number of MPs and probation officers. According to the Guardian, new research shows a reoffending rate above 74% of the 55,000 short-term prisoners jailed each year for up to six months. Napo, the probation union, says the £350m cost of imprisoning them would be better and more effectively spent on intensive community orders with a reconviction rate of 34%.
As happens too often, any discussion around penal reform acts as if it's gender neutral, while actually focusing on the male prison estate and overlooking what happens to women. Three years ago, a government-commissioned review on female offenders – the Corston report – tried to rectify this. It bravely suggested that prison should be abolished for all but a tiny minority of female prisoners who present a threat to the public or who have committed exceptionally serious crimes.
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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