While most of us would agree with Emine Saner (A woman’s place? Why the closure of Holloway could bring a prison revolution closer, 28 November) that imprisonment is not appropriate for most women offenders, we and our colleagues on the independent monitoring board (IMB) of HMP/YOI Holloway have found that Holloway provides a decent, safe environment for many very vulnerable women. This reflects the findings of the HMCIP inspections in 2013 and 2015.
Holloway’s staff, led by a dedicated management team and an inspired governor, have been committed to delivering a regime, under acute budget restraints, that while not perfect was beginning to make strides in the crucial areas of resettlement and rehabilitation. For the first time, women are going out to work, commercial contracts are being delivered with the London College of Fashion, and there is an impressive emphasis on maintaining family links, with visits often staffed by officers who come in out of hours. This time last year they were planning to ensure that every woman who wanted to see her family would do so over Christmas and ended up with 238 children and family members attending several visits of up to five hours with special activities between 13 and 27 December as well as 279 “ordinary” social visits between 18 and 24 December.
We are concerned that it will be much more difficult for families of prisoners to visit the prisons in Surrey where they will now be located. Likewise, the charities and foundations that support the women, particularly with resettlement, may not have the mandate to operate outside central London.
All of us would agree with Kate Paradine from Women in Prison that “Holloway is full of vulnerable women” – there are many women with severe mental health needs cared for in Holloway, for whom there are few beds available either in hospitals or in the other female establishments. We wonder where they will go and share the concerns raised by the Prison Governors Association over the capacity for female prisoners.
Holloway has received women that the rest of the prison estate is unable to cope with and, in some cases, has managed to reintegrate women who had been subject to prolonged segregation in other prisons. Holloway’s management of women at risk of self-harm has been recognised for its care and effectiveness. For a view of Holloway from independent monitors who talk with women and staff each week, we urge you to read our annual report, on imb.org.uk.
Janet Boston and Laura Menachemson Chair and Vice chair; IMB Holloway
• The Chepstow House day centre in Stoke on Trent offers support for vulnerable women and ex-offenders to find somewhere to live, to sort out benefit and debt issues, to get back on track, and to gain confidence to re-integrate into society and enter or return to work.
If the centre falls victim to severe spending cuts, as seems likely, then rates of re-offending, mental health issues, domestic violence and other crises will rise. There will be added costs for healthcare, the courts, and other local agencies and more children being placed into care.
Caroline Dinenage, minister for women offenders, is quoted as being committed to reducing numbers of women in prison, and Michael Gove a believing in redemption and giving people a second chance. However for these aims to be addressed funding for such projects as Chepstow House needs to continue.
Jane Birdsey
Stoke on Trent
• Amid the accounts of filth, forced feeding and the other horrors of Holloway, may I record one small kindness? Some 60 years ago as a conscientious objector I was slopping the exercise yard of Wormwood Scrubs in shoes that were at least two sizes too big. Then a pair of size 5s arrived from the staff at Holloway, allowing me to serve out the rest of my sentence bunion-free.
Harold Jackson
Woolpit, Suffolk
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