Recommendation 18

As a result of our questioning, we were concerned that the female prison estate was a Cinderella service within the prison system. HMPPS removed plans to build new places for female prisoners from the Prison Estate Transformation Programme, as its Female Offender Strategy, launched in June 2018, superseded the programme’s plans. We asked why the Prison Estate Transformation programme did not cover the female estate and how witnesses would ensure that the estate did not deteriorate because it was forgotten. The Ministry explained that the government’s strategy for the female prison estate was different to that for offenders overall to take into account the “different nature of women offending and the positions in which women find themselves when they get into trouble with the law”.37 In written evidence, De Montfort University similarly told us that women 31 Qq 67–68 32 Q 77, C&AG’s report Figure 6 33 Qq 69, 71–72, C&AG’s report, para 2.9 34 Qq 70, 72 35 Qq 65, 69, 73 36 Qq 79–80, 82, C&AG’s report Figure 1 37 Qq 81–82, C&AG’s report, Figure 9 14 Improving the prison estate had gendered pathways into crime and therefore gendered pathways out of crime.38 The Ministry told us that the government’s strategy for female offenders was focused on community services and the women’s centres rather than on building prisons. The strategy aims to reduce demand for female prison places by emphasising earlier intervention and community-based rehabilitation, so there are fewer women in the criminal justice system and serving custodial sentences.39 Community alternatives to prison have shown to be effective for women, but to date have been starved of investment.40