Several years ago, a former secretary of Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats and I started a campaign for a women's prison in South Wales. We had the best of motives. Convicted female offenders in Wales were being sent to gaols in England. Apart from the chances of being deposited in one of the poorer prisons, detention many miles from home bears more heavily on women than men. They are far more likely to have families dependent on them.
However, it was quickly made clear to us that the effect of opening new prisons for women in Wales would be to reduce the reluctance of magistrates and judges to pass custodial sentences on women. It would increase the prison population and reduce, rather than improve, the opportunities for rehabilitation.
Now it seems the Westminster government is trying a third way.
The 12-bed Residential Women’s Centre in Swansea will open its doors in 2024 for around 50 offenders a year who would have otherwise been handed a prison sentence of 12 months or less.
The £10 million centre is a key part of the government’s plan to minimise the number of women sent to prison in England and Wales.
There are signs that under cover of the red meat being thrown to hard-line Tory voters, progress is finally being made towards a more progressive penal system in England and Wales. May it continue.
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