Prison is "dumping ground for vulnerable women"
Prison is "dumping ground for vulnerable women"
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Tuesday, 09, May 2006 08:32
A prison is acting as a "dumping ground" for vulnerable women according to a prison reform charity.
The Prison Reform Trust made these comments following the publication of the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons' report on HMP Styal that showed room for improvement.
"The chief inspector's report reveals that Styal prison is being used as a dumping ground for the most vulnerable women in the north-west of England," said Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust.
"It is clear from the report that, despite commendable improvements in reception arrangements, Styal is in no way equipped to manage such a vulnerable population nor should it be asked to do so."
Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, has praised the improvements made in the Cheshire facility following earlier inspections that had criticised it.
However, while saying that reception and induction procedures had been "transformed", the report said that most women still felt unsafe and that the mother and baby unit had "drifted" away from best practice.
Support on one wing was found to be "unsatisfactory" with 100 out of 165 prisoners locked up during the day and having minimal interaction.
Worryingly, incidences of self-harm were deemed to be "prolific" and while Ms Owers said that many suicides had been prevented, she added there were insufficient resources to tackle the underlying problems that caused self-harm.
Ms Lyon claimed that many of the women in prison had a history of suicide attempts, domestic violence or sexual abuse that led to such problems.
While Ms Owers recommended a new strategy to deal with this, Ms Lyon called for the government to instigate former proposals for women-only bail hostels and other schemes to help "vulnerable" imprisoned women.