New figures reveal a continued postcode lottery in rates of women’s imprisonment.

By Emily Evison, Policy Officer (women and equalities), Prison Reform Trust

The recent tragic case of Sarah Everard has sparked a passionate debate around women’s safety. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill currently before parliament has been criticised for failing to do enough to protect women from violence and abuse. A lesser publicised aspect of the bill is how it will affect women offenders, the majority of whom will have histories of violence, abuse and multiple disadvantages. This past trauma is often a driver to their offending, most of which is low level and non-violent.

Women in prison are likely to be victims of much more serious crimes than those they are accused of committing, and for some, exposure to physical, emotional and sexual abuse is a driver of their offending. Women overwhelmingly are sent to prison for non-violent offences for short periods. In 2019, 62% of women were sent to prison for less than six months. This is long enough to disrupt their home life, have serious implications for caring responsibilities and for them to lose their job.

Provision in the bill to enable the piloting of Problem-Solving Courts has the potential to better meet the needs of women offenders. However, other measures are likely to worsen the response to women in the criminal justice system. For example, women and men who commit repeat offences of domestic burglary, and some drug or knife offences, will be more likely to be sent to prison as a result of proposals to limit the discretion of judges in setting appropriate sentences for repeat offenders. This goes against the Ministry of justice’s own evidence, which shows that community sentences are more effective than short prison sentences at reducing reoffending, particularly for prolific offenders who have a mental health need.

The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) recently analysed local court data published by the Ministry of Justice to look at the criminal justice response to women in each police force area in England and Wales. We looked at rates of imprisonment, use of short sentences and use of community sentences. The figures revealed a continued postcode lottery of imprisonment rates for women across different local areas. 

Overall, the rate of women’s imprisonment in England and Wales was 25 per 100,000 in 2019, compared to 32 per 100,000 in 2014. Yet there are many areas where serious work still needs to be done to stop the postcode lottery of women’s imprisonment. Women in the north of England, the Midlands and parts of Wales far more likely to end up behind bars than those in the south of England. For instance, women in South Wales are nearly seven times more likely to be imprisoned than women in Surrey.

The analysis also examined trends in the use of immediate prison sentences for women in England and Wales from 2014 to 2019. During this period, the analysis found that there had been a 21% reduction in the number of immediate prison sentences for women, but this is not evenly spread between local areas. Between 2018 and 2019, the number of immediate prison sentences for women increased in 13 of the 42 police force areas. 

In Greater Manchester, an area with an embedded multi-agency strategy to address the causes of women’s offending, the number of immediate prison sentences given to women has reduced by 44% since 2014, compared to the national reduction of 21%. The number of immediate prison sentences of less than 12 months given to women has reduced by 56% since 2014, compared to the national reduction of 24%.

At a national level, a welcome change in policy direction was signalled by the introduction of the government’s female offender strategy in 2018, which committed to reducing the numbers of women in prison. However, the latest prison population projections and government’s decision to build 500 new places in the women’s estate throw doubt on the government’s confidence in its strategy. The number of women in prison is predicted to climb from just over 3,200 to 4,500 by 2026.

Whilst PRT’s analysis suggests that progress is being made, worryingly, the latest prison population projections show that this could be undone within the next six years. The provisions of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, along with the commitment to build an additional 500 women’s prison places, will mean more women are locked up for pointless short spells behind bars. We urgently need sustained investment in community alternatives for women and a sharp reduction in the use of short sentences to stop the devastating cycle of imprisonment on women and their children.