Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Deferred
Paragraph: 78
Full written pre-sentence reports should be mandatory for all women facing custodial sentences.
Conclusion
Given the widespread agreement that pre-sentence reports play a crucial role for women, we agree with Lord Farmer and others that full written pre-sentence reports should be mandatory for all women facing custodial sentences.
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation but responded by outlining plans to provide 456 additional trauma-informed prison places across five women's prisons by early 2025, rather than addressing mandatory full written pre-sentence reports.
Paragraph Reference:
78
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
We accept this recommendation. The new facilities in the women’s prison estate will aim to provide 456 additional places through a mix of twelve open (25 places per unit) and six closed units (26 places per unit) across five women’s prisons: HMPs Drake Hall, Eastwood Park, Foston Hall, Send and Styal. Additional funding from NHSE will support health and wellbeing services for this new provision, working collaboratively with agencies and using a gender specific approach to health, wellbeing, and trauma informed care. The new smaller communities of accommodation are specifically designed to be trauma informed with visible aspects such as windows without bars, smaller units, better layouts and bigger association spaces. What is not included in the design, and what has been avoided, are just as important. For example, dark, narrow corridors and blind corners may trigger responses linked to sexual assault, or communal showers or areas that require undressing in front of others may trigger sexual abuse trauma. The programme is currently moderating tenders for the design and construction contract, and we expect a contractor to be onboarded by the end of October 2022. We have started the pre-planning application enquiry process and submitted these to local planning authorities in December 2021. We anticipate submitting full planning applications later this year to support our current plans for construction starting by the end of 2023. We expect the first women to be in the new facilities in early 2025. Due to the age and condition of the prison estate it is inevitable that some prison buildings will reach the end of their useable, economically viable lifespan necessitating removal from use. Since late 2020, 240 places which no longer met statutory fire safety standards have been permanently decommissioned in the women’s prison estate. The most recent prison population projections were published in November 2021 and show that the adult female population is predicted to increase to 4,300 by the end of 2026. This compares to the population of 3,195 as of July 2022. This increase is due to an additional recruitment of 20,000 police officers, the impact of courts recovering from Covid-19 and long-term sentencing trends. If the predicted increase does not occur, we have committed to using the new places as an opportunity to close down older facilities in the women’s estate.