Proposed new centres, prisons by another name?

Kate Wilmot attended the recent Zoom conference held by the Ministry of Justice , discussing the roll out of the new proposed women's centres. On the 5th August, Clinks and the MOJ held an online conference to discuss the MOJ’s plans to develop a residential women’s centre (RWC) pilot in at least five sites across England…

August 7, 20200Comments

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Rebuilding better, a legacy building for HMP Holloway

HMP Holloway was closed in June 2016 and was then purchased by Peabody in 2019, a housing association with a £42m loan from the Mayor of London. Their commitment is to build approximately 1 100 homes and a legacy Women’s Building that helps women in the community as well as those who come into contact…

August 6, 20200Comments

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From Women’s Prisons to Women’s Centres: Women’s Punishment

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…

August 5, 20200Comments

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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…

August 5, 20200Comments

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Who is holding the purse strings?

Concerns regarding the morality and effectiveness of women’s prisons are reflected in the statistics revealing 45% reoffend within a year of being released from prison. Alternatives that help reduce reoffending and keep women safe from further trauma must be a priority. Funding is very precarious for the existing network of women’s centres. It is also sporadic…

August 5, 20200Comments

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Pink Punishment? Women’s centres and punishment

by Dr Gemma Ahearne ‘Women empowering women’ screams the headline. An alternative would be ‘Our Sisters’ Keepers’ given that organizations are competing for funding in order to punish women. We cannot punish women in the spaces we are trying to heal them. Services must be trauma-led by qualified professionals. Painting something pink and calling it empowerment is…

August 4, 20200Comments

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Women’s Centres: are they fit for purpose?

An Introduction Women’s centres came came into place after The Corston Report in 2007 which made 43 recommendations for gendered criminal justice reform in order to create a more women-centred and holistic approach to supporting women affected by the criminal justice system. Many such centres were set up with little oversight, all claimed to be gender…

August 3, 20200Comments

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Why are women’s concerns are not being taken seriously?

We are Invisible is a report that focuses on women from BAME backgrounds within the criminal justice system and their experiences with domestic abuse. The report contains the results of survey questions from over 100 women and includes 3 qualitative case study interviews with women who were comfortable to discuss their experiences in more detail. The first…

August 1, 20200Comments

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HMIP Inspections of Women’s Prisons, 30 June 2020

On the 30th June 2020, the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons published a report after visiting prisons holding women. It focused on the conditions in two prisons, HMP Send and HMP and YOI Downview, during the coronavirus pandemic. Whilst there were some positives, conditions in these establishment were still unacceptable. For example, prisoners at Send were only given one hour…

July 20, 20200Comments

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“WE ARE INVISIBLE” highlighting the need for systemic change

Our report documents the harrowing experiences of minoritized women in the criminal justice system. We aim to generate a nation-wide conversation about the urgency of widespread reform. The discrimination that women suffer, particularly those who are BAME, happens at various stages of their journey as defendants. We cannot focus only on the police, only on…

July 17, 20200Comments

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