Women’s Justice Board announce first meeting: Women in Prison respond

The Ministry of Justice has today announced the first meeting of the Women's Justice Board, launched by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and chaired by Prisons Minister James Timpson.

The Board is made up of experts and advisors, including our partners, working across women's justice and will be tasked with publishing a new strategy to reduce the number of women in prison.

"The launch of the Women's Justice Board creates an essential opportunity to address problems in women's justice that have existed for far too long. It is our hope that the Board has the strategic resources to ensure cross-government support to address the inequalities and harms that push women into criminalisation, such as domestic abuse and mental ill health.

It is particularly encouraging to see so many co-signatories of our recent open letter to the government, calling for an end to the criminalisation of domestic abuse survivors and leveraging the Women's Justice Board to make this a priority.

As plans emerge of the Board's strategy later this year, we look forward to understanding more about the plans for delivery, which should include a robust accountability mechanism and clear ring-fenced budget to resource the plans."

ENDS

1. 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.
2. Women in Prison published an open letter in December 2024, calling for the Women's Justice Board to make domestic abuse an additional fourth priority area for its strategy, due to be released in Spring 2025. Partners and co-signatories of the letter are members of the Women's Justice Board.
3. The Ministry of Justice has announced “Women’s Justice Board kicks off plans to send fewer women to prison”. See the MoJ press notice below.
4. In September, Women in Prison published our Checklist for the Women’s Justice Board, if it’s to ‘make meaningful change for the women who so urgently need it.’