The circumstances, needs and risks of vulnerable women leaving prison are fundamentally different to those of men leaving prison. Vulnerable women should be provided with safe homes on release.
The London Assembly has today agreed a motion setting out a number of calls and recommendations to the Mayor, in order to better support women leaving prison.
Siân Berry AM, who proposed the motion said:
“I want to firstly commend the Housing Committee for its work around this issue since it was initiated by my predecessor, former Assembly Member Murad Qureshi, when he was Chair of the Committee last year.
“Everyone leaving prison should have somewhere safe and secure to live, but too many women are released with just £46, a plastic bag of belongings, and no place to live.
“New figures from the Governor of Bronzefield prison in Surrey, where a large number of imprisoned women from London are sent, show that 65 per cent of the women released have no safe home to go to.4 For the vast majority of women leaving prison to be homeless is completely unacceptable.
“It does not need to be this way. This motion is an opportunity to call for serious reform of the services women receive when leaving prison.
“We can create more secure routes to safe, stable homes and a joined-up strategy for trauma-informed services that these Londoners need at a challenging time in their lives.”
Sem Moema AM, who seconded the motion said:
“Women leaving prison face wide-ranging challenges; safe and secure housing is key to keeping vulnerable women returning to prison.
“It’s clear from conversations with London Prisons Mission that women who are released from prison are extremely vulnerable to abuse or returning to offending behaviours as a direct result of often having no choice but to return to an abusive ex-partner. This lack of a home means womens’ rehabilitation is hampered, with just over half reoffending and returning to prison.
“Government measures are wholly inadequate and it’s crucial that women leaving prison have tailored support to engage with their local authority’s homelessness and housing teams, the Department for Work and Pensions and Ministry of Justice, well before they are released from prison.
“We need to build systems to help women get back on their feet. The Mayor and GLA can take a leadership role in making sure the specific needs of women leaving prison are recognised and met across the capital, giving them the tools to reintegrate into the community.”
The full text of the motion is:
This Assembly notes the Mayor’s response to the Housing Committee about housing for women leaving prison.
This Assembly further notes the Housing Committee’s submissions to both the Commons Select Justice Committee’s inquiry into women in prison and the Prisons Strategy White Paper.
This Assembly calls on the Mayor to:
- Acknowledge that the circumstances, needs and risks of vulnerable women leaving prison are fundamentally different to those of men leaving prison and that these must be addressed by ensuring that such women are provided with safe homes on release;
- Agree and implement a Women’s Prison Release Protocol with co-signatories to the London Blueprint for Women in contact with the Criminal Justice System and encourage London Councils and the G15 Housing Associations to the same;
- Reaffirm his call to Government to develop and apply in all criminal justice settings a consistent and agreed definition of 'released homeless' or 'released to settled accommodation';
- Explore ways in which much-needed funding for technical support – computers and phone calls – can be provided to enable women in prison to engage with local authorities concerning their circumstances and needs for safe accommodation on release;
- Continue to lobby for a review of sentencing for women, particularly around implementing alternatives to short-term sentences for non-violent offences;
- Support the London Blueprint delivery partners to develop a communications strategy to share good practice around housing women leaving prison;
- Reaffirm his call on the Government to reduce prison remands awaiting trial or sentence and to reduce the number of women recalled to prison for breaches of their license conditions;
- Support improvements to data collated on the reasons why short-term sentenced women are recalled to prison; and
- Continue to fund structured programmes and pilots as alternatives to custodial sentences.
Notes to editors
- Watch the full webcast.
- The motion was agreed unanimously.
- Siân Berry AM, who proposed the motion is available for interview.
- Statistic from London Prisons Mission.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
For media enquiries, please contact Lisa Lam on 020 7983 4067. For out of hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer.