Pubdate: Sun, 20 Feb 2005
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2005 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Martin Bright
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Cited: http://www.drugscope.org.uk/  Drugscope

RADICAL PLEA TO AID WOMEN ADDICTS IN JAIL

Charity Calls For Rethink On Treatment Of Female Addicts Caught In Cycle Of 
Violence

Women who leave prison with drug problems should be relocated to another 
part of the country, with access to all-female treatment to give them the 
best chance of a new life and rehabilitation.

These are the radical findings of a report to be published tomorrow by 
Drugscope, amid growing concerns for the safety of women with drug and 
mental health problems in Britain's overcrowded jails. Last year, 13 women 
killed themselves in prison and this month, 26-year-old Victoria Robinson, 
hanged herself at New Hall prison near Wakefield. Two-thirds of those who 
commit suicide in prison have drug problems.

The report from the drug information charity also urges the introduction of 
a lower sentence for couriers - often women - who operate at the lowest 
level of the drug trade, to distinguish them from the criminals and 
gangsters at the top.

An opinion poll to be published with the report will show that the majority 
of people in Britain believe that sending women to prison does not make 
society safer and jail is not a solution for women with drug problems.

More than 4,100 women are now in prison compared with an average of 1,800 
in 1994. At the same time, the number in prison for drugs offences has 
escalated from 250 at the beginning of the Nineties to just over 1,300 in 2002.

An NOP poll commissioned for Drugscope found that 65 per cent of those 
questioned thought that imprisoning women did not make Britain safer, and 
62 per cent thought that sending women with drug problems to prison was not 
an effective way of addressing their addiction.

Drugscope's Using Women report - the first comprehensive survey of women 
offenders in prison and treatment - found that most female prisoners had a 
history of physical and sexual abuse and that being jailed made their 
problems worse.

The survey's most surprising revelation is that many women believed that 
relocation after release would provide the best chance of staying off 
drugs. The received wisdom is that women need to be as close to their homes 
as possible to give them maximum support. But many female offenders 
reported that they would benefit from making a new start in an area where 
they would not come into contact with dealers or friends and family 
involved with drugs.

Drugscope also urges a priority be given to keeping women in contact with 
their children while in prison and giving them custody when they are 
released. At present, children are often taken into care when women go to 
jail, and remain in the custody of the local authority even when their 
mothers are released. This is often because women who leave prison find it 
difficult to find housing.

The report calls on the government to rethink its drug crime policy to 
address the crisis in women's prisons and urges ministers and the courts to 
take the radical step of giving women non-custodial sentences except in the 
most extreme cases.

Many of the former prisoners interviewed for the report said they only 
became involved in crime to fund a drug habit and, even then, only after 
serious intimidation or violence from a male partner. The vicious circle of 
drug abuse was compounded by the fact that women often took drugs to forget 
the abuse they had suffered, or the subsequent guilt from crimes they had 
committed.

Although most offenders responded to women-only residential treatment, the 
report found that almost all drug rehabilitation was carried out in a mixed 
environment. According to the National Treatment Agency, the number of beds 
available for female-only residential rehabilitation is just 18.

'Vicky', who has not used drugs for more than three years, said she had 
benefited from treatment at an all-female residential unit: 'Most of us 
have been dogged all our lives by men. We have been told we are worth 
nothing. You need to have a place that breaks all that down, doesn't have 
men around so we can get the confidence back that we need.'

'Jackie', another former prisoner, said she believed that offenders were 
desperate to be sent into rehab: 'There are a lot of people dying to have 
treatment. I think it is about time that something was done about it. 
Instead of building more prisons, I believe that they should be building 
more rehabs.'

Natasha Vromen, co-ordinator of Drugscope's Using Women campaign, said: 
'The public clearly understands that too many women are being given prison 
sentences and that prison does not help women with drug problems. It is 
about time politicians and the sentencing authorities woke up to the truth 
on this issue.'

She said the report put forward a clear argument for a special case to be 
made for women prisoners with drug problems.

'Our interviews show that a history of abuse and violence lay behind their 
drug addiction and that drugs provided a means of escape. No one is making 
excuses for women who commit crimes, but we need to find ways of stopping 
these women relapsing and returning to crime.'
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