Prisons minister James Timpson has announced over £30 million to keep women out of prison. No to Hassockfield demands this initative should include women locked up in detention.
“There are many women who are, in my view, in the criminal justice system because they are victims,” Timpson said. “We need to help them.”
Over the past decade, Women for Refugee Women’s (WRW) research on women in immigration detention has shown that the majority of asylum-seeking women detained are survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, forced marriage and sexual exploitation. Locking up women who have already survived serious violence and abuse retraumatises them, causing profound and long-lasting damage to their mental health.
Our March demonstrators outside Derwentside called as ever for the IRC’s closure, and demanded the government resume development of alternatives to detention for the women imprisoned inside its walls – a call even more compelling in the light of the minister’s announcement.
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