Two
years ago, ministers signed up to the Bangkok Rules – new UN standards for the
treatment of women offenders. Yet the first analysis into how the UK has
performed found that, contrary to its responsibilities, it is wrongly
imprisoning large numbers of women who pose no threat to society and is not
taking into account the human rights of children affected by their mothers'
imprisonment.
The
report also confirmed that "shocking" levels of self-harm persist
among female inmates. Although monitoring of the UK's 15 women's prisons
revealed almost 9,000 self-harm cases in 2011, a significant drop from more
than 12,000 the previous year, the figure still remains too high, according to
campaigners.
The
figures mean that women prisoners account for a fifth of self-harm cases across
the UK penal estate despite making up only 5% of the prison population,
although the number of female prisoners has fallen during the past year from
4,282 to 3,918.
The
report says that the approach to dealing with mental health among female
inmates is inadequate and that those in control need to start discussing
currently ignored themes including "patriarchy, identity, shame, love,
attachment, feminism, loss, abuse and equality of opportunity".
Rachel
Halford, director of campaign group Women in Prison, which compiled the report,
said: "There are still too many women unnecessarily imprisoned, too many
women hurting themselves in prison and too many women reoffending on
release."
Prisons
reformer Baroness Stern said the findings revealed that six years after the
critical Corston report called for a "distinct, radically different,
visibly led, strategic, proportionate, holistic, woman-centred, integrated
approach", in truth "little has fundamentally changed."
The
chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, warned last year that the way women
are treated in prisons will leave England and Wales "aghast and
ashamed" in years to come. Hardwick described terrible levels of
self-mutilation and admitted that the distressing sights he encountered in one
women's unit had kept him awake at night.
Among
the inmates interviewed for the report were those who admitted they had
contemplated suicide. Others said they felt isolated and that they had no one
to turn to. One woman said that the attitude of prison officers
"stinks" while another said that there was a "lot of bullying,
but staff don't always do anything".
A
government review of women's prisons is to be completed by the summer,
following the announcement that seven public-sector prisons are to close by
March and two more partially shut in England and Wales to help cut costs.
Justice
minister Helen Grant said: "The government is committed to addressing
women's offending and providing services for their specific needs, making sure
they are rehabilitated whether they serve sentences in prison or the community.
"We
are putting in place measures that ensure crimes are met with proportionate
punishment that is both tough and meaningful in order to reduce reoffending and
promote rehabilitation."