The stories of eight women managed by a community rehabilitation company during the Covid-19 pandemic
| Author | Rebecca Woolford |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/02645505211041576 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The stories of eight
women managed by
a community
rehabilitation company
during the COVID-19
pandemic
Rebecca Woolford
Interserve Justice, Cunard Building, Liverpool L3 1DS, UK
Abstract
This study explores the stories of eight womensupervisedbyprobationduringthe
f‌irst national lockdown in the United Kingdom in response to the COVID-19 pan-
demic. Probation quickly implemented an exceptional delivery model to protect
the health and safety of staff and service users. COVID-19 has highlighted societal
disparities across the world, it can be suggested that this has hugely impacted the
lives of women and further extending the gender inequality gap. Although
acknowledging that this is a small-scale study, it does provide a platform for
women to voice and share their experiences of both problematic challenges
encounteredandtheopportunitiesembracedduringthef‌irst national lockdown.
Firstly, the importance of supervisory relationships kept women feeling connected,
emotionally supported and provided a source for practical advice. Secondly, the
experiences of lockdown were felt differently dependant on the vulnerabilities and
complexities of women; in short, the greaterthepriorityneedthemoreissuesand
obstacles women encountered. Thirdly, remote probation supervision was
regarded as the safest and appropriate way to approach the unchartered waters
of COVID-19. And f‌inally, there was shared optimism to return to ‘normal’face-to-
face supervision, re-engage with services that had been paused or interrupted to
aid recovery and rehabilitation.
Corresponding Author:
Rebecca Woolford, Interserve Justice, Cunard Building, Liverpool, L3 1DS, UK.
Email: Rebecca.Woolford@justice.gov.uk
Article The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2022, Vol. 69(1) 6–23
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/02645505211041576
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
Keywords
Women, probation, gender, COVID-19, exceptional delivery model, remote
supervision
Introduction
There has been a surge of interest recently into the impact of COVID-19 ranging from
bio-medical to social behavioural research. It is therefore an optimum time to explore
the impact of COVID-19 in a probation setting. In particular to focus on the experi-
ences of women. This exploratory study has been conducted to provide an
in-depth insight into the journey of eight women supervised by a community rehabi-
litation company (CRC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing a platform for
women to ensure that their voices are heard and listened to by the criminal justice
system. The following literature review summarises the key messages when
working with women in a criminal justice setting, a brief ref‌lection on the
COVID-19 pandemic and the consequential changes it brought to probation practice.
This will highlight the current gaps in our existing knowledge and justify the need for
further research on both women and the impact of COVID-19 on operational practice
in probation. The f‌indings discuss f‌ive emerging themes that outline the stories of
eight women, sharing both the problematic challenges encountered and the oppor-
tunities embraced during the f‌irst national lockdown. This will add to the existing and
growing literature on the impact COVID-19 has had on probation, a service that has
had to rapidly respond and change operational practice over the past year.
Furthermore, it begins to shed some light on essential lessons learnt on remote super-
vision to aid recovery and rehabilitation.
Women in the criminal justice system
There can be few topics that have been so exhaustively researched to such little practi-
cal effect as the plight of women in the criminal justice system (Corston, 2007: 16).
The failings of the criminal justice system to address the needs of women have had
a long and persistent history. Over a decade ago the Corston report (2007) called
for radical changes and highlighted the failings of the criminal justice system in
meeting the specif‌ic and unique needs of women on probation. Key messages
were that ‘equal treatment of men and women does not result in equal outcomes’
and ‘a distinct approach [to women] is required’(Corston, 2007: 16/3). The 43
recommendations the report made remain essential to provide a holistic and indivi-
dualised approach for women on probation (Gilbert and O’Dowd, 2019). In 2017,
‘the Corston report 10 years on’outlined the progress that had been achieved. It
identif‌ied a clear ‘stagnation and loss of momentum in fully implementing the
Corston report’s recommendations’(Women in Prison, 2017: 27). However,
there was recognition that the ‘policy rhetoric surrounding women in the criminal
justice system has remained strong’(Women in Prison, 2017: 27). For example,
in 2018 Corston’s recommendations were incorporated into the ‘female offender
Woolford 7
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