Women In and Out of Prison
| Published date | 01 December 1996 |
| Date | 01 December 1996 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455059604300422 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
232
Women In and
Out of Prison
Women
Prisoners:
Towards
a
New
Millennium
(November
1996)
identifies
how
changes
to
housing
benefit
entitlement
for
prisoners
in
1995,
cutting
entitlement
from 52
weeks
to
13
has
forced
many
women
leaving
prison
into
homelessness
and
poverty.
Those
affected
risk
losing
their
possessions
if
they
are
unable
to
arrange
safe
keeping
or
pay
expensive
storage
charges.
On
release,
some
are
obliged
to
bring
up
children
in
unsuitable
temporary
accommodation
or
cope
with
extended
separation
from
their
children
while
they
find
adequate
accommodation.
The
report
is
based
on
a
series
of
seminars
held
in
Askham
Grange,
Drake
Hall,
East
Sutton
Park
and
Winchester
prisons,
giving
an
overview
of
problems
affecting
women
prisoners.
More
than
200
women
participated,
identifying
as
their
most
pressing
problems
in
the
prison
system:
0
overcrowding,
doubling
up
and
excessive
use
of
dormitory
accommodation;
0
handcuffing
while
on
temporary
release
for
family
court
hearings,
hospital
appointments
and
compassionate
visits;
.
undignified
drug
testing
procedures;
~
inconsistencies
in
training
provision
between
different
prisons.
From
NACRO,
169
Clapham
Road,
London
SW9
OPU,
€3.
Housing
Benefit
changes
affecting
prisoners
are
also
addressed
by
the
Penal
Affairs
Consortium
in
Housing
Benefit
and
Prisoners
(November
1996).
Under
the
new
regulations,
local
authorities
have
no
discretion
to
pay
for
the
first
13
3
weeks
of
a
longer
stay
in
prison
or
to
pay
for
a
few
weeks
while
prisoners
make
arrangements
to
terminate
their
tenancies
or
leases.
As
some
local
authorities
insist
on
four
weeks
notice
to
terminate
a
tenancy,
four
weeks
arrears
will
accrue
even
if
the
prisoner
gives
notice
promptly
and
must
be
cleared
before
re-
housing
can
be
considered
on
release.
Free
from
PAC
(address
as
fox
NACRO).
,
~; , ~ . , ~
~
Emil=
On
secondment
to
the
probation
team
in
Wakefield
Prison,
David
Potts
developed
a
12
session
groupwork
programme
addressing
masculinity,
gender
awareness
and
male
violence
for
men
’who
have
begun
to
take
responsibility
for
their
behaviour’.
Word
got
around
and he
received
calls
from
colleagues
seeking
more
information,
reflecting
the
lack
of
published
and
accessible
information
about
this
kind
of
work.
As
a
contribution
to
this
expanding
area
of
work,
David
Potts
has
written
a
’descriptive
evaluation’
of
the
programme
as
an
encouragement
to
other
practitioners:
Why
Do
Men
Commit
Most
Crime?
(1996)
published
by
West
Yorkshire
Probation
Service,
£4.95.
Though
his
title
poses
a
macro-
question,
Potts
cautions
that
this
is
not
an
analysis
of
patriarchy,
so-called
domestic
violence
or
men’s
abuse,
nor
a
literature
review
or
even
a
starter
pack
for
aspiring
group
leaders.
He
primarily
supplies
the
ingredients
and
materials
used
in
the
programme
with
a
brief
commentary
on
how
these
worked,
together
with
notes
on
the
prison
context
for
practice
and
co-
leadership
issues.
’It
assumes
some
experience
of
groupwork
and
some
knowledge
of
and
sympathy
with
a
broadly
pro-feminist
approach
to
gender
relations’,
which
may
beg
some
important
theoretical
questions,
but
it
is
a
practical,
accessible
and
all
too
uncommon
glimpse
of
contemporary
practice.
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