INSIDE
In our work, we see time and time again that the labels of ‘victim’ or ‘offender’ are a false dichotomy. Young women+ in prison have experienced disproportionate levels of rejection and suffering throughout their lives - often by people in their life that they should have been able to rely on. These experiences have a huge impact on an individual’s behaviour, their understanding of themselves and what they feel they have to offer society. For example:
• 31% of women+ in prison were taken into care as a child,
• 53% of women+ in prison reported experiencing emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child (compared to 27% of men)
• 46% of women+ in prison report having suffered a history of domestic abuse.
• Around 40% of women+ in prison left school before age 16 – 10% before the age of 13
• 30% were permanently excluded from school (compared with 1% of the general population).
These experiences can have a hugely negative impact on a person’s understanding of who they are and what they have to offer society. They mean that many women+ in prison have missed out on opportunities in a number of areas of life, leaving them stuck in cycles of re-offending without any sense of hope or real prospects away from a life of crime.
Through our work we have seen that young adults in women’s prisons really benefit from having caring and compassionate support workers, to be there for them throughout their time in prison. Our ID Essence Workers can help young adults in women’s prison to feel heard and understood, to gain new skills and access new opportunities and aspirations for their future.
OUTSIDE
Women+ leaving prison face multiple barriers to being able to move forward positively with their lives after prison and as a result, 48% of people leaving prison end up going back. Some of the barriers young women+ in particular leaving prison might face are:
No secure place to live;
Struggles with mental health, often as a result of the past trauma mentioned above;
Barriers to employment and/or education due to having a criminal record; (a recent report by the Prison Reform Trust and Working Chance found that women released from prison are almost three times less likely to be employed on release than men leaving prison);
A lack of viable alternatives to crime;
Less work experience, qualifications or training to be able to put on their CV than other people in their age group, as a result of going to prison at a young age;
Feeling institutionalised and re-traumatised from time in prison;
A sense of hopelessness that these barriers are too big to overcome and stay out of prison.
It was hearing from people in prison about these barriers and the need for more support outside that caused us to respond by setting up a resettlement support component to our work. You can find out more about this on our ‘The Work’ page
For latest resources and key facts about the female prison population, we would recommend you visit the Women in Prison charity's website.