Ministers are set to seriously consider converting parts of the female prison estate to safely house male prisoners, as the government seeks to reduce the number of women in custody and alleviate significant pressure on the wider system.
Prisons Minister Catherine McKinnell will spend the coming months evaluating the practicalities of repurposing female prison spaces for male inmates. The initiative follows warnings from governors and other experts regarding the substantial challenges such a conversion would entail.
The proposal forms part of broader efforts to tackle a national prison capacity crisis, particularly within the male estate. Earlier in the summer, Andy Burnham had indicated that the government was keen to explore reducing the female prison population as a means to create additional capacity and prevent the early release of more dangerous male offenders.
Details released this week outlining government strategies to free up more prison space have also emphasised the deportation of foreign offenders and a reduction in the number of individuals serving controversial imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences, which can lead to indefinite detention.
Separately, plans for the early release of certain prisoners, designed to ease overcrowding, were revised by Andy Burnham following a backlash from victims and their families. These revisions prevented the early release of offenders convicted of all forms of manslaughter, as well as those found guilty of rape, child sexual abuse, and grooming offences.
Under the revised plans, approximately 4,500 prisoners are scheduled for early release in ten tranches from October, a reduction of 1,500 compared to initial proposals before Burnham’s interventions. Former Justice Secretary David Gauke is among those who have cautioned that operating prisons so close to their maximum capacity poses considerable risks.
However, officials have reportedly informed ministers that any significant reduction in the number of female prisoners would require much longer-term planning. Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the penal reform charity the Howard League, welcomed a genuine decrease in the female prison population but argued that simply freeing up space for men would not address fundamental issues.
“It does nothing to fix a prison system that is fundamentally too full – it just moves the crisis from one part of the estate to another,” Ms Coomber stated. She added, “Without real investment in women’s centres and community alternatives, women risk being sacrificed to the scramble for more beds for men.”
Women currently constitute less than 5 per cent of the total prison population in Britain, with 12 dedicated facilities. Government sources have also indicated that those most likely to be released would include women from mother and baby units, where male prisoners cannot be housed as replacements.
Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones affirmed the government’s belief that a “vast majority of women who are in prison, many of whom are mothers and have young children, shouldn’t necessarily be there.” She suggested that such women “are victims in their own right, and they can be appropriately managed in the community through women’s centres.”
Speaking to LBC, Ms Davies-Jones cautioned against a “one-size-fits-all approach” to converting female prisons. She acknowledged that “there are some women who absolutely should be in prison, and they will remain there.” However, she stressed that where there is an opportunity to “re-purpose the female estate, because we know the prison capacity problem is in our male estate, 98% at capacity in the male estate, then we will look to re-purpose to see what we can do to free up capacity and move the estates around.”
Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, commented that a smaller women’s prison estate could represent a positive development if it led to a genuine reduction in the number of women incarcerated and an increase in community-based support services for women who often have complex and unmet needs.
“Any decision about the future of the women’s estate must recognise this reality,” Ms Sinha stated. She urged that instead of viewing a women’s prison as merely a solution to overcrowding in the men’s estate, the government’s priority should be to implement the recommendations of the Women’s Justice Board and enhance community support. This, she argued, would deliver better outcomes for women and safely reduce the number of women in custody in the first instance.
