No, 500 times NO

No, 500 Times NO

The View urges you to support our call for the release of incarcerated women who are not dangerous or a risk to themselves or society and imprisoned, by writing to your MP. We ask that your MP contacts the Secretary of State for Justice, raise our concerns and request the Ministry of Justice reconsiders building 500 new prison places for women. This is false economy. Empty prison cells will lead to sentence inflation and there is a serious risk the Police and Crime Bill, coming through parliament at present will lead to more women being arrested and sentenced to prison.

We call for effective mental health treatment, women’s centres, community service sentences, home detention services and electronic monitoring where necessary. This would also reduce the huge pressure on prison staff, allowing them to focus on maintaining adequate health standards and indeed, their own wellbeing.

We have prepared a template for you to complete and email to your MP here:

Far too many vulnerable women with mental health conditions and disabilities are locked up for non-violent offences. There is no effective rehabilitation in prison. Women need care and supportive treatment for their mental health conditions. This will reduce the high reoffending rates and decrease costs to the taxpayer.

Vulnerable women prisoners are stripped of their civil liberties and receive degrading treatment in overcrowded prisons, breaching their human rights, in violation of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Over 60% of the female prison population are serving a 6-month custodial sentence or less. Only 10% are deemed to be a risk to themselves or others. Statistically, 500 more prison places for women would mean a 15% rise in the female prison population.

During the devastating Covid 19 pandemic, women cannot socially distance and have been forced to risk their lives in overpopulated prisons without adequate PPE, sanitiser or even hot water to wash their hands. These women are being persecuted for having mental health conditions and disabilities. This sick treatment needs to end now. Women are still being locked up 23 ½ hours a day and have very limited access to showers, maybe once every 3 – 4 days.

We implore you to take action and write to your MP, calling for the government to observe the most basic human rights of these  women, our women, and to encourage effective rehabilitation. With the right support, the suffering  that we  the community are funding and their consequent offending behaviour could be drastically reduced. We want women not to be sent to prison for low level offending  and to come out of prison and live as contributing members of a society that welcomes their integration.

Help us bring about this important change.

Download the letter here