Saturday 19 January 2013

To ask Her Majesty's Government how will work programs in prisons be commissioned?


Baroness Uddin (Labour)
My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, for bringing this matter before the House in a most poignant manner. It gives me an opportunity to share my experience of working with Kazuri, a social enterprise working to re-house female ex-offenders and women who have suffered domestic violence.
I had the privilege recently to launch Kazuri's report in the House, attended by grass-root practitioners and campaigning organisations, as well as NOMS and the Ministry of Justice. There were more than 80 individuals present. The meeting was addressed by the human rights lawyer, Imran Khan, and the barrister and legal specialist, Flo Krause, as well as by Julia Gibby, who had also prepared evidence to the Justice Committee's inquiry on women in the criminal justice system.
There are 4,133 women in prison and, staggeringly, 224 of them are Muslim. The report calls for a dismantling of the existing female estate, saying it has no relevance to the needs of women in prison. I commend the report to the House and hope that many noble Lords will take the opportunity to read it, as it makes a harrowing case about the level of misogyny against women in prison. Women serving the end of their sentences at an open prison were surveyed by Kazuri, which identified consistent gaps in provision in training and educational opportunities.
In the current climate of privatisation of public services, the recent probation service announcements and the building of yet more Titan prisons, women are punished far more heavily in prisons that lack trained staff. Kazuri's report states that underfunded privatised education and resettlement departments are ill equipped to facilitate resettlement and rehabilitation.
We must ensure that there is no further replication of the Work Programme, which has not been a successful example of large private sector companies working with the smaller social enterprises and charities, which walked away. I hope that the Minister will say how the Government intend to work with smaller companies and organisations to deliver more ethical and appropriate services, where large-scale organisations and providers have thus far failed.
It is alarming that, according to the charity Women in Prison, 87% of women who are serving custodial sentences have been victims of violence. According to the Chief Inspector of Prisons, HMP Holloway, which I have visited, no longer offers any courses in understanding domestic violence for the women prisoners.
While the Government are making strides generally to bring violence against women to a higher level on the policy agenda, this must be reflected in the prison estate. If women are not empowered to deal with the impact and long-standing trauma of prison, they will be released and simply fall back into cycles of abuse and-inevitably-crime, to which the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, has eloquently referred.
As a Parliament committed to rooting out violence against women, we cannot leave women in prison out of this equation. Interestingly, the noble lord, Lord McNally, in response to a Question from my noble friend Lady Corston, agreed to yet another review when asked whether custodial care and offender management should be organised to meet gender-specific requirements. The Corston report is the most comprehensive review of women in the criminal justice system. It seems perverse that this universally accepted framework to look at the needs of women across the raft of ministries and statutory duties appears to have been sidelined by this Government.
I respectfully submit that the time for reviews is over. There have been numerous reports on and reviews into the plight of women in the criminal justice system, and I urge Her Majesty's Government to look at the wealth of evidence collated by the Justice Committee as a result of its recent inquiry. Kazuri's submission to the Justice Committee says that more women than men lose their homes and children as a result of their incarceration, and that more children and public services are affected in profound ways by the incarceration of women. Some 17,000 children suffer every year because their mothers have been placed in custody. Will the Minister say how the Government intend to tackle the disproportionate inequalities faced by women in the criminal justice system?
I submit that the eradication of inequality is not synonymous with treating everybody equally. This is both disingenuous and deeply flawed. It is disingenuous because it gives supremacy to a concept that few would be hard pushed to criticise-namely, upholding the prima facie eradication of inequality-without actually and actively giving weight to evidence and outcomes. It is also deeply flawed because the criminal law and indeed equalities law do not require that criminal offences, maximum penalties and the principles of sentencing should be the same irrespective of the sex of the offender.
When it comes to women offenders, we know what needs to be done. Small alternatives to custody units, intensive therapeutic interventions and the increased use of community-based sentences have all shown tremendous results in reducing reoffending in women and are far less expensive. Can the Minister tell me and the House what we are waiting for and when the directive will be announced to make the seemingly obvious happen?

Sunday 6 January 2013

Remembering Anne

Anne ( not her real name) gave evidence to the Justice Committee after Baroness Corston in late December  What a great shame the government in all its wisdom have completely excluded the noble baroness from all discussions about how to deal with women in the criminal justice system when she wrote the most holistic review and call for change. Some things are too important to be blue or red about. Purple is such a good color this season.

Lady Corston tells us that Lord McNally told her that a women's strategy to reduce reoffending would be forthcoming in the New Year.
December 2012
Anne was released from prison two and a half weeks ago. A was a victim of domestic violence for a  number of years. Eventually, she couldn't take it any longer and in an act of violence she killed her perpetrator and ex partner. She was convicted of murder and has just completed an 18 year prison sentence. Whilst still serving her sentence, A  was told she would receive extra support from probation, with a back up probation officer  and given a mentor in the community. The prison resettlement department also said they would help with her  resettlement pathways. Nothing transpired. She was released with a £46  release grant. She still has not  received a single payment  for jobseekers allowance and has to apply for a crisis loan and has spent much of today standing in the cold waiting for a food parcel. She is meant to be supported by a Stonham project where she resides  in  Kent however in spite of receiving additional funding for working with and housing Allison who is considered a high risk to the public and has MAPPA status, they are unable to assist with her most basic needs. She had to beg another resident of the project to lend her a tea cup to make a cup of tea on Friday. A  has no money for food. 
Whilst serving her sentence, A  says she was not supported by any of the  offending  behavior management courses or those meant to help her understand why she committed the crime and they were all about apportioning blame. 
Due to the nature of the crime she has had to take full responsibility for her actions in order to  get her parole. This defies any  evidence that it is helpful for women who kill, for reasons of domestic violence should be further punished in an already punitive system. The system forces women into assuming the role of the perpetrator  when in fact they are victims of domestic violence.   If she did not accept it was murder and not the tragic consequence of  a domestic violence situation, she would still be inside. A 's recent experiences, the lack of joined up resources and particularly the denial of any public agency including the prison service and the probation services  to take responsibility and work with her in a holistic fashion demonstrates, right now, how the criminal justice system continues to fail women offenders. A has just been informed her back up probation officer has been reassigned so now she has only one and she is only seeing probation only once a week although she did ask to be seen twice a week. None of the support or services which were promised to her have been made available and she is frankly, quite desperate to get her life back on track.  

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This is just one of the horror stories of women who are being failed by the criminal justice system. A system designed by men, for men, to punish and  mete out retribution. 

Wednesday 2 January 2013

"Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."


So we did it. We begged bullied and roasted you till you came up with over  two thousand pounds for our Buzzbnk campaign which you can see here, to put a woman who has suffered violence and trauma into decent sustainable housing.

The woman is in her late forties and recently deported from the Caribbean having served a prison sentence for overstaying her Visa. She has recently undergone a mastectomy  and recovering, we'll know the outcome of the surgery in 7 or 8 weeks.


The first step is to provide decent housing and tomorrow she is coming  to see us and meet our advocate who will work with her for the next twelve months to secure the support and services she needs and in order to begin and sustain her desistance journey.

Thanks again for your amazing support. You can still contribute via PayPal or standing order to help cover the costs of the one to one support. The first milestone reached on Buzzbnk enables Kazuri to pay a month's rent and  deposit to secure sustainable housing for her.

We'll keep you updated about her progress.

We got this from one of our favorite people this morning, accelerated art trauma practitioner, Marion Green.

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." 
source:last two lines Goethe from Faust, the rest is attributed to him.


Thank you for your support!
K Team
London 2  January 2013.