Introduction

Significant increases to the prison population in England and Wales during the last twenty years have generated concerns about the overuse of imprisonment, particularly for women and those serving a short sentence. In 2010, major changes to the criminal justice system were proposed by the Coalition government, including the introduction of new community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) and a ‘Payment by Results’ (PbR) scheme whereby financial rewards are given for reducing levels of reoffending (Ministry of Justice (MoJ), 2010; MoJ, 2013h; MoJ, 2013i). Other significant developments in the new Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) agenda (MoJ, 2013h; MoJ, 2013i) include the introduction of resettlement prisons, ‘through the gate’ services and statutory supervision for short sentence prisoners after release. Drawing from the findings of an interview survey of 25 short sentence women prisoners and prison staff, this chapter provides an overview of the short-term imprisonment of women in England and Wales. Key areas of the TR reforms are explored, and the chapter concludes by considering the risks and opportunities they may present for women sentenced to, or eligible for, a short prison sentence.

The short-term imprisonment of women in England and Wales

Every year over 60,000 adults receive a short prison sentence of less than 12 months. Under the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, this group will be subject to statutory supervision after release. Historically this group usually served half their sentence in custody and the remainder in the community on licence, with no post-release supervision or intervention from probation (unless they were aged between 18 and 21 years). This is despite the fact that short sentence prisoners have the highest reconviction rates among adult prisoners (MoJ, 2013a), and the cost of crime committed following release from a short prison sentence is estimated to be between £7 billion and £10 billion each year (National Audit Office (NAO), 2010).

On 27 June 2014, a total of 3,935 women were in prison in England and Wales, 88 more than on the same day in 2013 (MoJ, 2014c) and 135 in excess of the highest projection for this date (MoJ, 2013d). While prosecution rates for men and young people have been falling since 2004, the numbers of women subject to prosecution have remained stable (MoJ, 2014a).