Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 36
36
Accepted
Paragraph: 194
Broaden employment, training, and education provision to meet the specific needs of incarcerated women
Recommendation
Whilst we recognise that the quality of education provision across the female estate is generally better than in the male estate, it is concerning that provision for women 80 Women in Prison is too narrow, and access to education can be varied, depending on sentence length. The Ministry of Justice should set out what work is being done to broaden provision of employment, training and education to meet the specific needs of women, both on short sentences and long sentences.
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation and outlined a new Resettlement Approach, including embedded pre-release teams in women's prisons to connect women with community support and services. It committed to pursuing legislation to allow earlier release where a release date falls on a Friday or before a bank holiday (Private Members' Bill Second Reading in December) and to developing a personalised resettlement passport covering education, skills, and work, with initial trials by the end of the year.
Paragraph Reference:
194
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We accept this recommendation. As part of the new Resettlement Approach, Probation Practitioners will start to build a relationship with women wherever they are held, through contact prior to release. As part of this approach, all resettlement prisons, including women’s prisons, will have an embedded pre-release provision who work closely with prison staff and the Offender Management Unit (OMU) to develop and strengthen relationships with Community Offender Managers (COM) and Commissioned Rehabilitative Services suppliers (CRS). These pre-release teams (PRT) ensure efficient and effective processes are in place to access people quickly, no matter which prison they are located in. They provide immediate resettlement needs and pre-release support, including undertaking specialist work around accommodation and debt, and referral to CRS on behalf of the COM. For out of area people, they provide the link between the person in prison, their COM and CRS provider in their home area and provide a direct point of contact for CRS suppliers seeking to engage with the individual. In addition, PRT support COMs by identifying an individual’s resettlement needs at the beginning and end of their sentence and assist them with referral to prison based support services during the custodial period and CRS services pre-release. We recognise that an individual’s needs cannot be addressed in isolation, requiring a partnership approach, and have commissioned CRS services to respond to the often multiple and complex needs of women identified during their pre-release phase and/or in community based contact with their COM. Although CRS services are mainly community focused and based in local areas, facilitating ongoing support following a person’s release from prison, we provide accommodation and personal wellbeing, mentoring support services in prisons during the 12-week pre-release period. We will also pursue legislation to enable offenders who are at risk of reoffending to be released up to two days earlier, where a release date falls on a Friday or before a bank holiday. This measure will take into account the personal circumstances of an offender to ensure that public protection is maintained. A Private Members’ Bill has been introduced on this issue which will have its Second Reading in December. We will also develop a resettlement passport that provides women with key information and services that they need to adjust to life in society. Each passport will be a personalised document covering mental health, drugs, education, skills, work, accommodation, and family ties. We will take an iterative approach to passport development, working with initial prisons to trial implementation of passports by the end of this year.