Reaction to HM Inspectorate report on HMP Bronzefield

“The issue of women prisoners being released into various kinds of homelessness has been a running sore for years. The Government is presiding over systemic failure which continues to see vulnerable women released from custody with nothing but a small discharge grant and a plastic bag; this ruinous system sets them up for failure and leaves them vulnerable to harm and to reoffending. That one woman felt forced to spend two nights in the prison gatehouse on release shows just how serious this is – the loss of liberty preferable to the risks of destitution.

Just last month, in a scathing report, the Public Accounts Committee found Government had failed to ‘prioritise’ or fund its Female Offender Strategy. Today’s inspectorate report on the largest women’s prison in the UK brings this all into sad focus – particularly as teams of housing and resettlement workers have been slashed by budget cuts and new commissioning arrangements. Ministers say they realise that preventing homelessness among prison leavers is the first step to recovery and rehabilitation - when will they actually do something about it?”. Dr Jenny Earle from the Safe Homes for Women Leaving Prison initiative.