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Prisoners: Mothers

Answer

The Government recognises that there is an impact on families and children when a woman is involved in the criminal justice system and that children of imprisoned mothers may be particularly affected by a custodial sentence. We have commissioned Lord Farmer to continue his work to enable us to understand what specific measures we can take to help women strengthen family ties, especially with their children, whilst serving sentences in the community, in custody and after they are released.

The number of women in each establishment serving sentences for non-violent offences and the average length of those sentences is set out in table one below.

The percentage of women in each establishment recorded as having children is set out in the table two below. The Ministry of Justice does not have this information broken down by type of offence.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the age or the arrangements made for the care of dependent children of women serving custodial sentences. The percentage of women in prison for non-violent offences who are also re-offenders can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Table 1: Female prison population at selected establishments by non-violent offences and average sentence length as at 31 March 2018.

Establishment		Non-violent offences		Average (mean) sentence length (days) for non-violent offences
	Total population	Number	%
Askham Grange	118	81	69%	1411
Bronzefield	517	407	79%	879
Downview	325	248	76%	1596
Drake Hall	319	236	74%	1658
East Sutton Park	87	66	76%	1407
Eastwood Park	361	283	78%	821
Foston Hall	317	222	70%	1006
Low Newton	322	221	69%	1397
New Hall	373	258	69%	1111
Send	270	150	56%	1896
Styal	449	315	70%	1026

Note

1. Total population figures include women serving custodial sentences, those held on remand, non-criminals and fine defaulters.
2. Sentence length figures do not include those held on remand, non-criminals and fine defaulters.

Table 2: Percentage of women recorded as having children by establishment, 26 June 2018

Establishment	Percentage have children
Askham Grange	77%
Bronzefield	52%
Downview	52%
Drake Hall	68%
East Sutton Park	62%
Eastwood Park	71%
Foston Hall	63%
Low Newton	66%
New Hall	68%
Peterborough (female)	60%
Send	55%
Styal	67%

Notes:

1. The number of children field is not a mandatory field within the NOMIS application and about 400 women across these establishments have no entry on the system.
2. There is no functionality to record the age of children on NOMIS.
3. There are likely to be cases where, when entered onto the system, a child was under the age of 18 but has since passed this milestone and is now classed as an adult.

4. The figures relate to all women, not just those in prison for non-violent offences.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

HL8903

Session

2017-19

Grouped for answer

Yes

Subjects

Children Prisoners Mothers

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk