From Women’s Prisons to Women’s Centres: The Continuation of Wome

Eleanor Jones, Criminology BA (Hons) Graduate from the University of Liverpool

Half the women discharged from prison reoffend.1 Over 17 500 children are separated from their mothers every year due to female imprisonment.  We are calling for greater investment in researching and implementing alternatives to women’s imprisonment, because women’s imprisonment is ineffective and inflicts  the morally indefensible pains of imprisonment, endured by women prisoners and their children 2. Women prisoners across England and Wales have reported that the deprivation of privacy and having their communication with their children, clothing, nutrition and other daily routines controlled are distressing aspects of imprisonment 2.

One female prisoner at HMP New Hall, Paula, has described her experience of imprisonment as “identity stripping”: “you lose your identity as soon as you come into prison […]  any rights that you have […] they literally strip you […] you take your clothes off […] and then they take away your property” 3.

“Humiliating and embarrassing” strip-searches performed in women’s prisons across England and Wales inflict  re-trauma for women prisoners with past experiences of sexual and/or physical violence 4. Alarmingly, women prisoners at HMP Peterborough have been subject to a series of unwarranted and illegal strip-searches at the hands of prison staff 4; one female prisoner at HMP Peterborough has reported being directed to remove a sanitary item without an explanation for nor a record of the search 4.

Thirty-six suicides have been reported across women’s prisons in England and Wales in the last ten years 5; the stripping of autonomy  contributes to women in prison feeling so helpless that they kill themselves, as a way to get out of the unbearable pain they are feeling6.

The children of women serving non-custodial sentences may endure less separation-related  compared to the children of women in prison, while women’s non-custodial sentences, as an alternative to women’s imprisonment, may benefit women’s rates of reoffending 1. Women’s non-custodial sentences are an attractive alternative to women’s imprisonment, while emphasis has been placed on the care and support provided by women’s centres for both women serving non-custodial sentences and women considered to be in danger of coming into contact with the Criminal Justice System 7,8.

Nevertheless, we must address glaring concerns such as:

1. the continuation of surveillance and control beyond the prison walls and into women’s centres 9. State carceral power is replicated within women’s centres as non-incarcerated women judged to be at risk of offending or reoffending undergo acute observation and instruction 8.
2. some believe that the success of women’s centres lies in their capacity to reproduce the pains of imprisonment within a community setting 9.
3. women’s centres encourage false ideas that women may reshape their lives via accessing services meant to help women to navigate a difficult economic times, through hard work and determination 8.

This dangerous narrative makes women responsible for their unmet goals 8 while reducing the role of the state in creating structural social and economic disparities 8.

Thus, the role of women’s centres in supporting women serving non-custodial sentences must be reviewed  9 and  more compassionate alternatives to women’s imprisonment require further investigation.

1 Hedderman, C. and Jolliffe, D. (2015). The Impact of Prison for Women on the Edge: Paying the Price for Wrong Decisions. Victims & Offenders, [online] 10(2), pp.152-178. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15564886.2014.953235?needAccess=true

2 Crewe, B., Hulley, S. and Wright, S. (2017). The gendered pains of imprisonment. [online] Crime and Justice. Available at: https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/gendered-pains-imprisonment

3 Rowe, A. (2011). Narratives of self and identity in women’s prisons: Stigma and the struggle for self-definition in penal regimes. Punishment & Society, [online] 13(5), pp.571-591. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1462474511422151

4 Bulman, M. (2019). ‘Prison officers illegally strip-searched female inmates, High Court rules’. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/women-prison-strip-search-hmp-peterborough-female-inmates-high-court-a8791711.html

5 Women in Prison. (2020). Key facts. [online] Available at: https://www.womeninprison.org.uk/research/key-facts.php

6 Liebling, A. (1994). Suicide Amongst Women Prisoners. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, [online] 33(1), pp.1-9. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-2311.1994.tb00790.x

7 Williams, S. and Wynne-Bannister, E. (2017). Non-custodial community programmes for non-violent female criminals in the UK. [Blog] Policy Wonkers, Available at: https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/policywonkers/non-custodial-community-programmes-for-non-violent-female-criminals-in-the-uk/

8 Elfleet, H. (2018). Women’s Centres: Gender Responsive Services for Formerly Imprisoned Women Post Corston Report (2007). In: Howard League for Penal Reform, ed., Early Career Academics Network Bulletin, 35th ed. [online] Howard League for Penal Reform, pp.17-22. Available at: https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ECAN-bulletin-April-2018.pdf#page=17

9 Ahearne, G. (2019). The Problem with Women’s Centres. [Blog] PLASTICDOLLHEADS, Available at: https://plasticdollheads.wordpress.com/2019/05/18/the-problem-with-womens-centres/