Women in Prison comment on Chief Inspector of Prisons Annual Report

Content warning: self-harm, suicide.

The Annual Report from the Chief Inspector of Prisons published today (8th July) outlines a concerning picture of the situation behind the walls of our prisons. The two inspections into women’s prisons highlighted the lack of day-to-day support for women causing ‘such distress that some resorted to self-harm.’

The report shows that despite the high level of mental health problems experienced by women in prison, staffing challenges meant women often had to wait a long time to access the help they needed, and there were continued delays in transferring severely unwell patients to secure hospitals under the Mental Health Act.

Nicola Drinkwater, Director of External Affairs and Campaigns commented:

“This report tells us that the crisis in women’s prisons is part of a bigger picture of a struggling prison system. Now more than ever women’s needs must not be overlooked.

It is clear, as it has been for decades, that prison is not a safe place for women. Women who are extremely unwell are being kept in cells rather than receiving medical, psychological or psychiatric care, while healthcare in prison remains deeply inadequate.

We welcome the government’s recognition that most women should not be in prison and its commitment to reducing the women’s prison population through the Women’s Justice Board, and to implementing recommendations from the recent Independent Sentencing Review.

It is important these ambitions are urgently achieved to prevent women from being held in unsafe, harmful environments that actively worsen the very conditions of poverty, domestic abuse, mental ill-health that led to their criminalisation.”

ENDS

  • Women in Prison 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.