Penal Studies for Professional Practice

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Anonymity Number: 140165                                                                              Date submitted: 9th June 2005

Penal Studies for Professional Practice

“Women in prison face greater resettlement problems than men on release”. Examine this statement and use research and academic writing and your own practice to find evidence to support or disprove this statement.

The purpose of this essay is to support of disprove the statement “women in prison face greater resettlement problems than men on release”. Research undertaken on the resettlement of female and male offenders has highlighted that little information currently exists. Therefore, I have widened my reading to include information on the characteristics of female and male offenders, their experiences of prison and the impact this has on their lives, as it is these which create and shape resettlement needs.  

To begin I will provide a brief description of the current rate and type of women being imprisoned. I will then go on to consider the aim of resettlement and what it encompasses. Following this I plan to investigate those issues deemed to be the cause of resettlement difficulties. I will focus on; housing, childcare, education and employment and substance misuse and will compare findings within these areas for both sexes. I appreciate that both long-term and short-term prisoners may both have resettlement needs, however, due to the limitations of this essay I will focus on those women in receipt of short custodial sentences as these form the vast majority of women prisoners today. I shall also look at other factors which may affect resettlement; including current release arrangements, the stigma attached to female offending and the fact that women form the minority of the total prison population.

To conclude, I will argue that women do face greater resettlement problems than men. This is based upon findings that the majority receive short-term sentences meaning that they are not eligible for post-release supervision. Also there appears to be limited resources specifically for women, and their offending is less accepted in society. Furthermore, the majority of women are affected by one, or a combination of the following factors; single parenthood, homelessness, unemployment and addiction, thus indicating that re-integration into the community will be more of a challenge. It is acknowledged that efforts are being made to improve the services offered to women via the introduction of NOMS (National Offender Manager Service), new policies and new legislation, however these are not without some expected limitations. It is appreciated that women are not a homogenous group of individuals and that some may not face any or as many resettlement problems on release. Also, allowing individual choice and decision making are integral to avoid re-offending and allow effective re-integration. Finally, I am aware that men do face resettlement needs, which may differ from those of females but can also be as problematic. Nevertheless these appear to be more effectively addressed in accordance with the current climate and a system designed with, and for, male offenders. Therefore actions need to be taken to redesign resettlement provisions so that better and more effective assistance is made available for women offenders.  

It is acknowledged that the female prison population is currently rising at a hugely disproportionate rate. There has been a 173% increase in the number of women imprisoned between 1992 and 2002, compared to an average rise of 50% in the male prison population. In April 2005 it was reported that there were 4,541 women in prison, of which approximately 20% were Foreign Nationals (Home Office 2005). The majority of women in prison are non-violent offenders, serving short sentences mostly for property and drug offences. Whilst the numbers of women in prison are growing women still constitute a very small proportion of the total prison population, therefore they rarely attract public attention and hence are easily overlooked. Hence this lack or provisions for women may be blamed for figures indicating that just over a third of women released from prison commit another crime within two years (NACRO 1993, p4).

It is reported that women offenders face particular challenges on release, therefore a positive strategy for the resettlement of women is required. Resettlement is described as “the effective reintegration of imprisoned offenders back into the community” (Gelsthorpe 2004, p34). This it is thought can be achieved by providing individuals with assistance both inside and outside prison via partnership arrangements with statutory organisations such as the Probation Service and specialist voluntary organisations, who offer assistance with housing and employment.

Information on the type of women currently in prison can aid the identification of particular resettlement problems they may face on release. A majority of women are imprisoned for first time offences (40%), compared to 13% of men (Home Office 2000a, p6). Therefore, it is likely that they will be criminally unsophisticated in terms of previous convictions and hence would not have experienced institutionalisation. Also, women’s offences, being considered less serious than men’s attract short custodial sentences of less that one year (Prison Reform Trust 2000, p13). According to the thematic report ‘Through the Prison Gate‘ it was identified that despite the fact that short-term prisoners have the greatest resettlement needs and present the highest risk of re-offending, they have the least done for them in prison and on release (Morgan 2004 p)

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Additionally, under the current release policy, those sentenced to less than 12 months are not included in the arrangements for Automatic Conditional Release (ACR) or Discretionary Conditional Release (DCR) (Criminal Justice Act 1991) and therefore leave prison free of licences or conditions (Burnett & Roberts 2004, p218). Therefore, there is currently no statutory duty on the Probation Service to provide assistance with resettlement (Gelsthorpe 2004, p34). This means that women will not benefit from sentence planning and may be disadvantaged in terms lack of support to deal with issues such as housing, education, employment and financial management (Morgan 2004). ...

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