In 2009, the Ministry of Justice allocated over £15m to develop a range of services to divert women from custody – that is welcome (if funding is sustained) but it is loose change compared with the cost of keeping a growing number incarcerated at a price of £41,00 per year, per prisoner. If community-based punishment and a reduction in recidivism is to be achieved, that requires a proper investment with a view to the long-term savings not a cheap-rate move driven by cuts. Reducing the prison-building programme while offering inadequate community punishments and insufficient support to step through a door to a different life may put the public at risk, while exacerbating reoffending and setting penal reform back even further.

The Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition is an alliance of charitable trusts and foundations working together to reduce the numbers of non-violent women in prison. The members of the Coalition are all grant-makers, with years of experience of working in the criminal justice system.

The Women’s Diversionary Fund will be used to provide grants to third sector organisations to support further growth in community services for women and contribute to building the confidence of courts in alternatives to custody.

The Women’s Diversionary Fund builds on the substantial progress already being made to divert women away from crime. In 2009 the MoJ announced £15.6 million of new funding over two years to invest in women’s community projects delivered by the third sector and other specialist provision for women in the community. These projects provide services for female offenders who are not a danger to the public, and for women who are at risk of offending.

Maria Eagle MP and Ministerial Champion for Women and Criminal Justice Matters said:

“This exciting partnership between the Ministry of Justice and the alliance of charitable trusts forming the Coalition represents a commitment on both sides to transform further the way women are treated by the criminal justice system. By working together in this exceptional way we will build on the initiatives already announced.

We have already made good progress in taking forward our strategy to divert women from crime. Over the last two years I have ensured there is a specific push to direct resources to stop vulnerable women from becoming trapped in a cycle of crime. Women’s offending is a complex phenomenon which burdens society, damages children and families, and creates misery for the women themselves.”

Georgina Nayler, Director of the Pilgrim Trust, and chair of the grants panel of the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition, said:
“The Coalition is delighted to be working with the Ministry of Justice on this groundbreaking initiative. Every year charitable trusts and foundations invest millions of pounds in supporting charities working with offenders – and this experience gives us a real insight into what works to reduce women’s offending. Supporting alternatives to custody takes us one step closer to the vision laid out in the Corston Report where community solutions for non-violent women offenders become the norm.”

Further information about the Women’s Diversionary Fund is available here.

The written ministerial statement announcing the Fund is here.

They are not a “soft option”. Attendance is mandatory and backed up with sanctions; there is routine drug testing; and some of those attending are electronically monitored and subject to curfews. They have reduced demand on prisons by more than seven million cell-nights per annum, saving US taxpayers a third of a billion dollars a year. People stay in the community, get help with their problems, gain qualifications, prepare for jobs, and interact with families and friends who can help them go straight.

The authors of the piece make a clear case for how reducing custody helps offenders, cuts re-offending and saves the taxpayer money. Whilst they don’t specifically mention women offenders, increasing community sentences would have huge benefits for the women’s criminal justice system, helping women keep ties with their children and families and maintain their homes. Given that every pound spent on community provision saves £14 to the public purse through the reduced costs vs sending a woman to prison and the consequent social services and health costs, one understands why Baroness Corston recommended the model. Getting a sustainable network of one-stop-shop women’s centres all over the country is a crucial part of transforming the criminal justice system for the better.

“Seeking to press for full implementation of the Corston recommendations, 19 independent foundations, including the Diana Memorial Fund and the Bromley Trust, have joined forces – in an effort that they claim is unprecedented – to hire a full-time advocate to press for Corston’s agenda.
Antonia Bance, a former Oxfam campaigner who started in the advocate’s post this month, says the new funds demonstrate real commitment. However, she warns: “A two-year pot of money isn’t going to achieve systemic change.” “

Journalist Beth Gardiner met Antonia Bance, Teresa Elwes from the Bromley Trust, Samantha Rennie from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Peter Kilgarriff from LankellyChase Foundation a couple of weeks ago. We had a good conversation with her about our hopes for the Coalition, and about the situation of women in the criminal justice system more broadly. Read the whole piece here.