Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood MP outlines vision for Probation Service. Women in Prison respond.
12 February 2025: The Government has set out its vision for the future of the Probation Service in a speech delivered today by the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood MP. The announcement included:
- Acknowledgement that probation officers are “burdened with high workloads.”
- A commitment to recruiting 1,300 new probation officers.
- A focus on a service that “protects the public, reduces reoffending and makes our streets safer.”
- Reducing administrative burden on probation officers using new digital tools and technology
“Women should be supported in their communities rather than being sent to prison, so we welcome the government’s commitment to investing in and improving the probation service. We know any transition to ensure women are kept in their communities can only succeed if probation services are equipped to meet their needs.
Women who come into contact with the justice system often experience issues like poverty, mental ill-health, domestic abuse, or substance misuse – they must also be able to access effective support in their communities rather than being unnecessarily imprisoned. Without a commitment to sustainable, long-term funding for public services and charities to deliver gender-specific, trauma informed services the government’s ambitions will not be realised.
We welcome the Lord Chancellor’s focus on probation and hope this reflects the government’s commitment to reduce the women’s prison population.”
ENDS
- Women in Prison (WIP) is a national charity that delivers support for women affected by the criminal justice system in prisons, in the community and through our Women's Centres. We campaign to end the harm caused to women, their families and our communities by imprisonment.
- Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood MP gave a speech on 12 February 2025 setting out the government’s vision for the future of probation
- Nearly 60% of women in prison have experienced domestic abuse (Ministry of Justice. (2018). Female Offender Strategy
- Many women in prison have dependent children – 95% of children with mothers in prison leave the family home (Corporate report, A review of health and social care in women’s prisons, NHS, Nov 2023)
- As of September 2024, there were 3,524 women were in prison and as of June 2024, 21,282 were supervised by the probation service
Image credit: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. House of Commons via Flickr.