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A women’s jail in England or Wales should be closed by diverting offenders to alternative forms of punishment and rehabilitation, the prisons minister, James Timpson has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, the former head of the shoe repair chain said the government planned to reverse the rise in the number of women being sent to jail, around half of whom are mothers.
Instead, hundreds of female offenders could be tagged and sent to addiction and rehabilitation centres, allowing ministers to close at least one of 12 women’s prisons, Lord Timpson said.
“We would like to get to a stage where we can close a women’s prison.
“There are a number of women that need to be there. They’ve done terrible things, they need to be punished, and that’s the best place for them.
“But there are far too many women, in my view, who are very ill. There are far too many women who are victims themselves. There are far too many women who are very, very vulnerable. Half are mothers, and the impact on their kids is massive … We need to do things differently,” he said.
There are more than 3,600 female prisoners in England and Wales, and the Ministry of Justice projects the number of them will rise to 3,900 by November 2027. About two-thirds of women are imprisoned for non-violent offences and most (55%) are victims of domestic abuse.
Timpson made his ambitions clear after meeting female offenders at Willowdene, a rehabilitation centre on a working farm nestled in the Shropshire countryside, where 500 women, usually offenders, are sent every year as an alternative to custody or court.
As well as vocational training, the women are given therapy and offered help so they can break free from domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, addictions and homelessness.
“Many women offenders have suffered huge amounts of trauma. Often the way they mask that is through drugs, alcohol, bad relationships. Places like this can break the cycle,” Timpson said.
Reformers welcomed Timpson’s appointment as the prisons minister in July, when he stepped aside as the chief executive of Timpson. He has spent decades campaigning for changes to the prisons system. One in 10 workers at his former firm were ex-offenders.
Female offenders should be treated differently from men, Timpson said, referring to studies which showed that four out of five female prisoners have a history of significant head injury, with sustained domestic abuse being the most likely cause.
One in three female prisoners had self-harmed over the last year, government statistics disclosed in October.
“We’re dealing with a sort of different kind of cohort than we are with men. And the alternatives to custody can be very, very powerful, in helping them turn their lives around,” he said.
The timing of any prison closure would depend in part upon plans for alternatives to prison put forward by the Women’s Justice Board, a new body of experts to be chaired by Timpson, which will meet for the first time on Tuesday.
As well as looking at alternatives to prison, the board will seek to ensure that offenders’ children are no longer neglected by the criminal justice system. Over half (55%) of female prisoners are mothers.
Timpson, whose mother cared for dozens of babies born to female prisoners, said the escalating costs of incarcerating female offenders would be taken into account.
“It costs around £50,000 a year for a woman in prison, but you have also got all the added-on costs of children in care and the associated costs around that. Having been brought up in a home with foster children, I know there are a lot of people who support those children that people don’t often see,” he said.
The board’s plans would have to show that they saved money in the long run and be within short-term spending targets, the minister said. “There will be a shopping list, and I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to afford all the things that we want, because it’s down to future spending reviews.”
Willowdene claims to have a 20% reoffending rate for women on its course. Laura, 28, who was convicted for driving while drunk, was referred to Willowdene in 2023 by a probation officer and spent 12 weeks on a residential course at the farm. At that point, she was living a chaotic life because of her addiction to alcohol and had lost her job as a nurse, she said.
After attending the course, she realised that her addiction was rooted in severe childhood traumas and undiagnosed ADHD.
“I had a couple of therapy sessions, and I was able to join the dots, put the pieces together. And that’s what worked for me,” she said.
Laura was informed on Wednesday that she could return to nursing after keeping away from alcohol. “I am so much happier. I am not having to think, ‘Where will I get money for my next drink?’ or ‘Where shall I hide it?’ As long as I keep behaving, I will get my licence back and can start in March. Little steps, but I’m moving in the right direction,” she said.
Meanwhile, the prisons watchdog has called for an injection of cash into a failing men’s prison.
Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, found that serious assaults against staff at HMP Winchester were the highest, and serious assaults against prisoners the second highest, of all reception jails.
