Prison isn’t working – and it’s even worse if you happen to be a woman

Editorial: New data released by HM Prison Service and the Ministry of Justice shows that violence in women’s prisons has risen dramatically. One obvious answer to this quiet, unseen crisis is to send fewer women to jail in the first place

Prisons, whether public or privately run, are all too often universities of crime (PA)

Men are generally more violent than women but in Britain’s prisons, the position is now reversed – and to an alarming degree. Data released by HM Prison Service and the Ministry of Justice shows that the number of violent incidents between inmates in women’s prisons – along with instances of self-harm – has risen dramatically.

The shameful fact is that women’s jails in Britain are the most violent they have ever been. Assaults have tripled in a decade to hit an all-time high, and there is no sign of matters improving in the short term. Among those involved in the prison system – governors, staff, prisoners and their families – there seems to be a mood of general despair. In particular, the lazy assumption that women’s prisons are somehow “easier” seems to be vastly at variance with contemporary reality.

It is something that should concern the wider community and our political leaders, but the one fact about prison life that hasn’t changed in recent times is that few care about the plight of those inside. It is as if human rights – of which we hear so much – do not apply to prisoners, and especially not to female prisoners. If they did, then the levels of violence and disorder would not be anywhere near where they presently stand.

The gender disparity in the incidence of self-harm is particularly extreme. The statisticians record that one-third of those currently held in the women’s estate have self-harmed. In the year to September 2023, self-harm rocketed in women’s prisons by 38 per cent – to a new peak of 5,988 incidents per 1,000 prisoners – and is 10 times higher than it is in the men’s estate.

It is not immediately apparent why things are deteriorating at such a pace, but a few factors may be surmised. According to criminal justice charity Nacro, the overwhelming majority of women are sent to prison for non-violent offences, yet a prison sentence sets off a “grenade” in their lives. They lose their jobs, homes, and children. Then, at this time of crisis, they are thrown into the “inherently traumatising” environment of prison.

Without falling into the trap of blaming all of criminality on “society”, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the crisis in our prisons is related to the recent squeeze on living standards. Poverty is also a prison – and too commonly a precursor to the real thing. Despair among the very poor – who have been hit the hardest by the cost of living crisis – can drive some to misuse drugs and alcohol; it can lead to depression, a chaotic lifestyle, and loss of control. The very same pressures exert themselves within the walls of a prison, but with the obvious added stress of incarceration.

It may also be relevant that the ratio between staff and prisoners has worsened in women’s prisons. This means that inmates enjoy fewer hours outside their fetid, overcrowded cells, and less time socialising – conditions that can only have added to the strain on all those involved.

This situation may well have resulted, as the report states, in the high levels of self-harm among inmates – as well as in tensions developing between those detained and those working at an institution. And it is traumatising women. It is a cruel irony that of the 3,600 or so women detained at His Majesty’s Pleasure, the majority are incarcerated for offences such as shoplifting, or failing to buy a TV licence. Violence of some sort is much more likely to be a factor when custodial sentences are given to men. Yet once interred, as these findings show, women may enact violence upon others – or against themselves.

One obvious answer to this quiet, unseen crisis is to send fewer women to jail in the first place. In some quarters, there seems to be an inexplicable prejudice against desperate mothers who offend, verging on the sadistic. At any rate, there is no logic in making chaotic lives even more chaotic with a disruptive and fruitless spell in prison – which often means children being sent into care, thus creating yet more intergenerational trauma.

The benefit of the deterrent effect resulting from the harshness of the punishment is surely far outweighed by the probability that even a short period in jail will lead to reoffending. These lives are fragile. Of course, the most premeditated acts of violence or fraud have to be punished, and women who represent a threat to society should be kept off the streets; but there must be better ways to sort out persistent shoplifters and drug users.

There is another all-too-familiar factor: the financial neglect of the prison service and the criminal justice system. There are no votes in the rehabilitation of offenders, but plenty in advocating longer custodial sentences, even when there are not any places left for the relatively petty offenders. The years of austerity and continuing downward pressures on public spending have left conditions in our ageing prison estate worse than ever – even the Victorians housed fewer prisoners per cell and per institution than we do in the 21st century.

Prisons all too often lose out to schools, hospitals and tax cuts, when chancellors seek to frame their economic policy. Prisons, whether public or privately run, are all too often universities of crime. To adapt an old and rather discredited phrase: prison isn’t working – and it certainly isn’t if you happen to be a woman.