About the seminar

In 2008 the Government launched a strategy to divert women away from prison by putting in place alternatives to custodial sentences. The Single Equality Scheme now adopted in all probation areas should ensure that appropriate services for women are available. These include Women’s Community Projects, Intensive Alternatives to Custody and specialised Approved Premises, examples of which are featured in this seminar.

There have been several major studies into women in prison in recent years, including the Corston report which sparked many of the changes to government policy. This highlighted the fact that, while there had been a significant rise in the number of female prisoners in recent years, they were also overwhelmingly given very short sentences for non-violent crimes. The figures were reflecting the chaotic lifestyles of the offenders and a failure to address the causes of offending. The short prison sentences themselves were changing nothing.

Women offenders also experience a range of other problems. Twice as many women as men prisoners are single parents and 80% of women in custody have dependents aged under 18. A prison sentence means that women risk losing their homes, and their families are likely to be severely disrupted. Upon release, their lives are likely to be more chaotic than before.

A large majority (approximately 80%) are substance misusers and about half of women prisoners have been victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse. Mental health problems are widespread, and women commit half of all incidents of self harm in prison, despite forming only 5% of the prison population.

Alternatives to custodial sentencing are gradually being adopted in all areas. The recent Women in Focus road-shows (Promoting equality and positive practice), part of the government’s strategy to divert women away from crime, highlighted key requirements for making a real difference to women offenders. These include partnership working because of the multiple difficulties faced by women offenders, better information on community provision, and intervening early. All areas stressed the need to ‘embed and mainstream a gender specific approach to women’, which is cost-effective.

This seminar provides an opportunity for professionals who work with women offenders to consider how effective the non-custodial alternatives have been, and to look in detail at three initiatives.

NOTE: There will be a further seminar in the autumn which will look at initiatives which work with the children and families of women offenders. A discount will be available for delegates who book onto both seminars.

Who should attend

• National Offender Management Service
• Projects which work with women offenders and their families
• Housing services
• Social services
• Mental health services
• Substance misuse services
• Domestic violence services
• Community police
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Local authority community safety officers

Agenda

9.15 - 10.00		Registration & Coffee
10.00 - 10.15		Welcome and introduction Stevie Hatton, Locality Manager, Action Housing & Support Ben Wild, Project Manager, Intensive Alternatives to Custody Derbyshire
10.15 - 10.45		Women offenders and community supervision: promoting desistance from crime Dr Gilly Sharpe, University of Sheffield
10.45 - 11.15		What difference have the Single Equality Scheme and alternatives to custody made to women in the criminal justice system? Frances Flaxington, Deputy Director JP Women and Third Sector Strategy, Ministry of Justice
11.15 - 11.30		Q&A
11.30 - 12.00		Coffee
12.00 - 12.50		Delivering real alternatives to custody Rokaiya Khan, Chief Executive, Together Women Project (Yorkshire & Humberside)
12.50 - 1.40		Lunch
1.40 - 2.30		Putting Women at the Centre - Women's Community Projects diverting women from custody Helen Avison, Manager, Evolve, Calderdale and Kirklees WomenCentre
2.30 - 2.40		Quick tea break
2.40 - 3.30		Managing higher risk women back into the community Service Manager, Crowley House Approved Premises (Birmingham), Staffordshire & West Midlands Probation Trust
3.30		Final comments and close of seminar

Any amendments will be included on this website.

> DOWNLOAD full programme here...

Information about the speakers and projects



Action Housing and Support/Derbyshire Intensive Alternative to Custody
The Derby office of Action Housing provides office space to Derbyshire Intensive Alternative to Custody pilot, which offers a stringent alternative to a custodial sentence for offenders assesses as suitable by courts and probation. Community Mentors based in the south of the county of Derbyshire. This project is funded through NOMS (National Offender Management Service) and provides mentoring to individuals on the IAC Order. Initially piloted in Derby, the project was subsequently rolled out across the county.



Dr Gilly Sharpe formerly worked as a Youth Justice Social Worker, but went on to develop her academic interests in the criminal justice system, particularly focusing on social and criminal regulation of young offenders, particularly girls. She is actively involved in research in the area of community provision for women who offend, and recently carried out a major review of such provision in Britain for the Fawcett Society.

She is currently evaluating the Re-Unite project (with Loraine Gelsthorpe at the University of Cambridge). Re-Unite is an innovative London-based partnership between Housing for Women, Commonweal Housing and Women in Prison to provide stable, safe accommodation and intensive support to women leaving prison who have dependent children.

Her publications include:

• Sharpe, G. (2009) 'The Trouble with Girls Today: Professional Perspectives on Young Women´s Offending', Youth Justice, 9(3).
• Sharpe, G. and Gelsthorpe, L. (2009) 'Gendering the Youth Justice Agenda: Introduction to a Special Issue on Girls and Young Women', Youth Justice, 9(3).
• Gelsthorpe, L., Sharpe, G. and Roberts, J. (2007) Provision for Women Offenders in the Community. London: Fawcett Society.
• Gelsthorpe, L. and Sharpe, G. (2007) 'Women and Resettlement', in A. Hucklesby and L. Hagley-Dickinson (eds.) Prisoner Resettlement: Policy and Practice. Cullompton: Willan.
• Gelsthorpe, L. and Sharpe, G. (2006) 'Gender, Youth Crime and Justice', in B. Goldson and J. Muncie (eds.) Youth Crime and Justice. London: Sage.
• Gelsthorpe, L. and Sharpe, G. (2005) 'Criminological research: typologies versus hierarchies', Criminal Justice Matters, 62, Winter 2005/06.

Frances Flaxington leads the Government's Criminal Justice Women Strategy Team. The team works closely with NOMS, criminal justice and a wide range of partners to reduce the number of vulnerable women in prison who are not a serious risk to the public and to reduce re-offending. Frances also heads up the Ministry of Justice's Third Sector Strategy team and is responsible for the strategy to improve support to the children and families of offenders. Her previous role was leading the offender partnership strategy for the Ministry of Justice. Her previous roles include Head of the Home Office Victim's Unit, Deputy Chief Inspector in HM Inspectorate of Probation, and a career in the Probation Service.



Together Women is headed up by Rokaiya Khan and now has centres across Yorkshire, in Leeds, Bradford, Doncaster and an outreach centre in Keighley and another based at New Hall Prison. TWP is currently in the process of setting up one stop shop centres in both Hull and Sheffield with local partner agencies.

It has four aims:

1. Supporting women to tackle triggers of offending behaviour so they can break the cycle of offending that many women become trapped in.
2. Diverting women from custody (where appropriate)
3. Preventing family breakdown and reducing social exclusion.
4. Helping vulnerable women to turn their lives around.