In the decade since the start of 2000 the number of women in prison had risen by 60%. Most served ineffective and wasteful short sentences of six months or less. With many having experienced high rates of mental health problems, sexual abuse, domestic violence and substance misuse, custodial sentences were increasingly seen to be adding to the trauma, chaos and disruption to the lives of the women and their children.

In an unprecedented move, during June 2008, concerned that their grant-making investments in this field were being applied to a failing system, more than 20 independent philanthropic foundations formed the CIFC to challenge the government to implement the Corston Report. This called for an end to putting non-violent women offenders in jail and moves towards placing them in far more effective community solutions.

The full evaluation can be downloaded below:

Today, 11 May 2011, the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition and the Ministry of Justice have announced a joint £3.2m fund to maintain the current sector of women's community justice services.

The full Ministry of Justice press release is here.

The Coalition is delighted to have played a role in securing the future of the women’s community justice sector, after mainstream funding ended on 31 March 2011. We are particularly pleased that NOMS have committed to continue funding projects with a proven track record of tackling offending behaviour amongst women from 2012-13 onwards.

The funding available has been allocated to the following organisations:
Anawim, Birmingham
Evolve, WomenCentre Ltd, Calderdale & Kirklees
Together Women Project, Leeds & Bradford
Together Women Project, Hull
Escape, Northumberland
WoW, The Cyrenians, Newcastle
Chepstow House, Brighter Futures, Stoke
Asha Women’s Centre, Worcester
Women Ahead, Jagonari Women’s Resource Centre, Tower Hamlets
Minerva, Advance Advocacy, Hammersmith & Fulham
women@thewell, Kings Cross
ISIS Women’s Centre, The Nelson Trust, Gloucester
Chrysalis, Platform 51, Truro
Inspire, Brighton Women’s Centre
Alana House, Reading
Just Women, Turning Point Women’s Centre, Leicester
Women’s Work, Derby
Dawn Project, Peterborough & Cambridge Women’s Centres
Blackpool Women’s Centre
Together Women, Salford Foundation
Eve’s Space, Urban Outreach, Bolton
Women Matta, Women in Prison and Pankhurst Centre, Manchester
The Cambridge Centre, Scarborough
Missing Link, Bristol
4women, Stonham, Norwich
PROMISe, Stonham, Plymouth

The Corston Coalition have responded to this Green Paper. Our full response is here.

In summary, we believe that the proposals in the Green Paper need to be brought together in a clear action plan for women offenders. This action plan should include:

A recommitment to the principle that community penalties should be the norm for women offenders
Guaranteed visible senior leadership for the programme, supported by dedicated women’s operational team and local champions for women offenders. This senior leadership role or mechanism should be accountable for the transformation of justice for women and should lead cross-governmental efforts to reduce women’s offending and ensure the needs of women with multiple needs and chaotic lives are met
A timetable to reduce the capacity of the women’s prison estate, and to re-direct this funding into provision for women offenders in the community
A commitment to ensuring that all payment by results commissioned contracts for the delivery of community sentences, resettlement of short-sentenced prisoners and drug rehabilitation will specify women-specific outcomes and will require a women-specific work stream. This should build on the knowledge gained from the women’s community projects programme funded by the Ministry of Justice since 2009.
National work plans to improve support for women in the criminal justice system who have experienced domestic or sexual violence or who have been involved in prostitution
A commitment to ensuring that all mental health liaison and diversion services have specialist services for women, building on the best practice in the sector

We also believe that, in pursuit of the public service reform objectives which are part of the Big Society, the Government should develop payment by results commissioning that explicitly facilitates the engagement of the voluntary and community sector, including small and specialist charities. We recommend the creation of specific support programmes to enable charities to compete for commissioned contracts, and for further attention to be paid to financing models for charitable providers.

In February 2010, the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition and the Ministry of Justice announced the creation of a joint £2m fund to divert women from custody.

The Women’s Diversionary Fund focuses on:
- Supporting organisations to develop new community diversionary services for women offenders and women at risk of offending
- Building the capacity of existing women’s community diversionary services further
- Building the capacity of the women’s community diversionary sector

Grants made in the first round of the Women’s Diversionary Fund, in April 2010, can be accessed here. Grants made in the second round, in August 2010, can be accessed here.

In the final round of awards, the projects supported, by theme, were:

Service development
Ormiston Children and Families Trust – to develop an early intervention service and one-stop-shop for women offenders and their children in Ipswich
Tees Valley Women’s Centre – a small grant to enable the centre to develop a proposal for a one-stop-shop service, Teeside
Female Prisoners’ Welfare Project (Hibiscus) – to develop a service for Roma women in London

Building the capacity of organisations delivering women’s community diversionary services
New Economics Foundation (NEF), Brighton Women’s Centre, Escape Family Support, Women@theWell, The Trust Women’s Project and Turning Point Women’s Centre – to enable five one-stop-shop centres to carry out a Social Return on Investment (SROI) study of their work, supported by NEF

Building the capacity of the women’s community diversionary sector
Women’s Centres Forum – two grants to enable the project to begin to realise its role at the centre of the agenda for women in the criminal justice system or at risk of offending, representing and supporting women-centred community-based provision

Please contact Antonia Bance at the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition with any queries about the Women’s Diversionary Fund. Please note that the fund is not accepting applications, so please do not contact us seeking funding.

In February 2010, the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition and the Ministry of Justice announced the creation of a joint £2m fund to divert women from custody.
The Women’s Diversionary Fund focuses on:
- Supporting organisations to develop new one-stop-shop services for women offenders
- Developing existing one-stop-shop services further
- Building the capacity of the women’s offending sector

Grants made in the first round of the Women’s Diversionary Fund, in April 2010, can be accessed here.

In the second round of grants in July 2010, the projects supported, by theme, were:

New one-stop-shop services
Safe Exit Toynbee Hall – to provide a supportive alternative to the criminal justice system for women involved in prostitution in the Olympic Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Greenwich and Waltham Forest
Together Working for Wellbeing – to provide a women-specific Forensic Mental Health Practitioner service at Thames Magistrates Court serving the London boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, to help reduce the use of custody for vulnerable women offenders with mental health needs.
Together Women Yorkshire and Humberside – to support the newly opened Women’s Centre in Sheffield, a venture developed in collaboration with South Yorkshire Probation and the police.

Development and capacity-building of existing one-stop-shop services
Derby Women’s Work – towards the costs of a business development manager and casework database
Turning Point Women’s Centre, Leicester – towards the costs of evaluation and demonstration of impact
The Trust Women’s Project, Lambeth – towards the costs of workforce development, data gathering and financial planning
Women@theWell, Camden – towards the costs of consultancy to develop a three-year business plan and funding strategy
Escape Family Support, Northumberland – towards the costs of an external evaluation and for consultancy to support the Support for Women Around Northumberland (SWAN) partners to develop a 3-5 year business plan
Brighton Women’s Centre – towards the costs of consultancy support to develop a sustainability strategy, to implement a quality assurance system and to develop relationships with local commissioners
Anawim, Birmingham – towards the costs of quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation and infrastructure development
Asha, Worcester – towards the costs of consultancy support to review governance and strategic development plans and for fundraising training and support

Building the capacity of the women offenders’ sector
Homeless Link – to set-up and maintain for three years a UK-wide database of women offenders’ provision

Please contact Antonia Bance at the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition with any queries about the Women’s Diversionary Fund. Please note that the fund is not accepting applications, so please do not contact us seeking funding.