Questions for Rt Honourable Helen Grant, Minister of Justice

Helen Grant the junior justice minister appears in front of the justice committee on 25th March 2013 at 09 30 hrs. Whilst we welcome the coalition government's commitment to treat women offenders  from a gendered perspective, we would like to take the opportunity to ask some questions to broaden the debate.
A detailed interview outlining Mrs Grant's proposals can be found here  here

1.   Will the justice minister expand on what will happen to existing women's diversion centers and whether   NOMS will continue to fund until commissioning for transforming justice are published  which could take up to 2 years?

2. Will the minister explain how she envisages working  with existing providers to bring best practices gathered from the diversion centers  what opportunities will there be to bring new providers with experience of working with vulnerable women in the sector already? 

3. What steps are being taken to ensure vulnerable women are not further damaged by exposure to inexperienced workers subcontracted to large prime  providers with no track record or success in working with this group?

4. Will the minister  consider making the Bangkok Rules the minimum requirements for any agency wishing to work with women offenders?

5. The minister states she wishes to punish women, rehabilitate women and transform justice simultaneously.  These are 3 outcomes which require different strategies and outputs and might be irreconcilable.  Could she explain her priorities?

6. Does the minister undertake to implement gender main streaming as opposed to gender equality?  Women are not men, solutions and sentences need to reflect motherhood, discrimination and other issues specific to women.

A gendered approach to women offenders

We're delighted to welcome Justice Minister, Helen Grant's ministerial statement last Friday, prior to her scheduled appearance on Tuesday 26 March 2013 at the justice committee inquiry to give evidence regarding this government's rehabilitation transformation plans for women offenders. You can see the Kazuri submission by Imran Khan, Flo Krause and Julia Gibby here

In brief:

Helen Grant to overhaul community sentences for women

The government wants more alternatives to custody

Continue reading the main story

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Community sentences in England and Wales are to be made more "female friendly" in an effort to keep women out of prison.

Justice Minister Helen Grant wants to cut reoffending rates and offer judges credible alternatives to custody.

She says "vulnerable" women offenders need help to break the cycle of crime and abuse many of them face.

But the new approach will include an element of punishment such as unpaid work or curfew, she stressed.

Ministry of Justice officials insisted the aim was not to lock up fewer women offenders, but to reduce the number of reoffenders and to make "credible" alternatives to custody available to judges.

'Mental health'

About 4,000 women are currently in jail in England and Wales, most of whom are serving sentences of six months or less.

Eight out of 10 were sent to prison for committing a non-violent offence.

Ms Grant is setting up a new advisory board to overhaul community orders for women and look at other issues such as locating female prisoners near to their families.

"Many female offenders share the same depressingly familiar issues of abuse, drug and alcohol dependency and mental health problems," said the Conservative minister.

"Women who commit crime should be punished, but we must not forget that a significant number have been victims during their lives and need targeted support to break the cycle of offending.

"I will provide the strong leadership required to drive these priorities forward and I'm confident that by working together with all partners we can better tackle female offending."

Expanding on the proposals in an interview with The Independent, she said: "Women offenders are a highly vulnerable group, they commit crime because of that vulnerability and earlier failures to protect and support [them]."

'Secure hostels'

The Ministry of Justice said it costs £45,000 to keep a woman in prison for one year, while almost 45% of all women released from custody in 2010 reoffended within 12 months, committing more than 10,000 further offences.

Up to 56% of women offenders have been in care and the proportion of female prisoners that report abuse in their lifetime is double that of males.

In addition, about 60% of women leave behind dependent children when entering prison.

Prison Reform Trust director Juliet Lyon broadly welcomed the government's stance but said it would have little effect if it was not backed by new laws.

"History shows that, in the absence of specific legislation, commitments to address women's different needs are often not realised, and momentum can be lost as ministers and officials come and go."

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the proposals lacked detail.

But he added: "It does, however, reflect the fact that community sentences are a far more appropriate way of dealing with the vast majority of women currently in prison, including all those who have committed non-violent crimes."

The government is also considering the introduction of "secure hostels" for less serious women offenders in England and Wales, as an alternative to women's prisons.

via BBC website

Kazuri  will be attending the Justice Committee hearing on Tuesday and live Tweeting (if permitted)

Grayling, the 'tough justice secretary', 'spices up' Clarke's community punishment reforms

A key crime and courts bill stating proposals to reform community punishment by Ken Clarke, has been dismissed by justice secretary Chris Grayling. Grayling plans to ’spice up’ the bill, revealing his new approach on Tuesday, claiming he wants to be the ‘tough justice secretary’ by imposing more punitive community sentences. He believes “more competition, more outsourcing and more payment by results” is the way forward. Probation sources write that Gray has dismissed Clarke’s proposal for community sentences as he does not want them to be an alternative to custody. The 220,000 offenders, that receive community sentences every year, could be subject to 24-hours tagging, satellite tracking and the seizing and selling of their assets and property, some of which were under consideration already. He has also postponed the legislation that is essential in setting up the new national crime agency. This move comes about as NAPO, the probation union, fight to stop the privatization of the probation, stating this would result in poorer protection of the public due to staff cuts in training and fewer staff overall. A private company already handle the supervision of low and medium risk offenders. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said this move was to bring about innovation through competition, or is this just quality and effectiveness lost to ideology?