Imprisonment

Mrs. Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab)
21. What recent discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues on alternatives to imprisonment for women.

The Minister for Equality (Barbara Follett)
I have had many discussions with ministerial colleagues on this subject. As my hon. Friend knows, last week the Government published our response to Baroness Corston’s review, in which we agreed to promote the effective use of community orders and set up projects, which will report next April, to look at alternatives to custody and review the future of the women’s prison estate.

Mrs. Moon
In a report for the Prison Reform Trust, the New Economics Foundation estimated that savings of £18 million could be made if community-based sentences were available for the 2,000 non-violent women offenders who have been imprisoned. Will my hon. Friend hold cross-Government discussions so that we can submit to the review next year a full understanding of the costs and the effect on women and their children? We need to take into account the costs of health, housing, benefits and education, and care costs for children, to show the global cost of imprisoning non-violent women.

Barbara Follett
I appreciate my hon. Friend’s concern about the issue and I am aware of her work for a women’s prison in Wales, where there is none. It is one of the issues addressed in Baroness Corston’s review, and it is why the National Offender Management Service put in a bid to set up Turnaround—the demonstrator project for women offenders in Wales. I shall do all I can to ensure that the costs of imprisoning non-violent women for short periods are made as transparent as possible.

Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
Does the Minister agree that the courts should treat men and women equally when sentencing them, and that the best alternative to sending women to prison is for them not to commit crime in the first place?

Barbara Follett
Historically, men and women have not been treated as equals. At present, women make up 6 per cent. of the total prison population and there are not enough appropriate women’s prisons. I value Baroness Corston’s report, because it could lead us to a new way of treating women offenders.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Portsmouth, North) (Lab/Co-op)
When women are given a custodial sentence, often it is not just the women who are punished but their children, too. Children often end up in care, and as a disproportionate number of women in the prison system have been through the care system themselves we could be perpetuating a cycle. We must look at non-custodial sentences for non-persistent, non-violent women offenders to keep families together and maintain their stability.

Barbara Follett
I agree. At present, 8,000 children a year have their living arrangements disrupted by their mother’s imprisonment, even if it is only a short period. That is why Baroness Corston’s review recommended the use of intensive community sentences, and I am committed to them.