‘Hear and Now’: Women in the criminal justice system making changes in their lives.

12th January 2012

This report, ‘Hear and Now’ evaluates the different projects that Women in Prison operates in the UK which offer support to women in prison and also to those who are released from custody. Furthermore, it considers the voices of women supported by these projects, reporting what they had to say about the support provided.

 Projects mentioned in the report include:

• The London Project – this offers one to one outreach support, group support and skills building, and community inclusion and participation. According to the report, most clients had a positive experience with this project which “provided an effective emotional and life supporting service to them”. 256 accessed this project. 
• Women MATTA – This incorporates drop-in support, one-to-one support; group support, family-based interventions and peer mentoring support by trained mentors, providing advocacy, advice and information. 637 women accessed this service and women interviewed fro the evaluation saw the project as rehabilitative as well as informative.
• BAME ‘Through the Gate’ project provided 43 women with intensive one-to-one support. Of these 43, only one had re-offended by the end of the year, a recidivism rate of just 2%, demonstrating the success of these projects. 

Women in Prison argues that with better support services in the community, women can and do address the root cause of their offending behaviour without the need for incarceration. The evaluations and outcomes in this report provide valid evidence supporting the value of women-specific criminal justice responses and services, which may be the way forward in Ireland. 

Read more:

• Read the full report here.