Reaction to Public Accounts Committee, Women in the Criminal Justice System Report

“This report is a bleak and damning indictment of the Government’s approach to implementing its own Female Offender Strategy. It highlights the failure to secure the cross departmental working needed, the lack of key performance indicators and the frankly bizarre disproportionate spending of £200 million to build new prison places whilst failing to invest in the community services that we, and others in the sector, know are the best way of keeping women out of the criminal justice system and of reducing re-offending. Crucially, the lack of ‘joined up working’ is costly for the taxpayer too – driving more women unnecessarily into the criminal justice system with no means to get out. It’s morally outrageous that we are still discharging up to 7 in 10 women prisoners into some form of homelessness. This simply sets these women up to fail. The Government should be investing in providing them with the long term supported housing that we know works.” Dr Jenny Earle