MP backs reform of women's prisons

Julie Morgan MP has welcomed the Corston Review, a report into vulnerable women in the criminal justice system.

Julie supports Baroness Corston's proposed reforms and in particular the proposal to shut down women's prisons and replace them with small secure units close to women's families.

Julie said: "Because there is no women's prison in Wales, this means that the 183 women with Welsh addresses in the UK who are in prison are scattered about the country, often far away from their families. This has terrible consequences for both them and their families, and especially their children.

"It is well known that the consequences for children when their mothers go to prison are dire. Only 5% of children stay in the home when their mothers are imprisoned and about 8% are taken into local authority care, whereas the majority of children of male prisoners remain at home.

"I believe that there should be a facility for women offenders in Wales, but I do not think it should be a conventional prison. I think it should be somewhere where women not only serve a sentence, but begin to rebuild their lives — somewhere that takes a holistic approach to women's offending, like the 218 service in Glasgow. This considers the factors related to women's offending, including domestic abuse, mental illness and drug and alcohol misuse.

"This approach addresses the root causes of women's offending and offers medical, therapeutic and support services. The programme draws on all disciplines to procude a tailor-made treatment for each woman and is designed to break the cycle of offending and re-offending. For most women, prison just doesn't work. I think we need to consider such an option in Wales for Welsh women prisoners and I hope that the recommendations of the Corston Review will be taken seriously."