women in london

Join the SWAP Campaign in calling on all parties to commit to halving the number of women in prison.

SWAP (Supporting Women – Against Prison) is led by a coalition of organisations (including Women in Prison) working with women in the criminal justice system. Together we have written a manifesto to reduce the number of women in prison, outlining how we believe this can be achieved based on our experience of supporting women everyday.

A Manifesto to Reduce the Number of Women Needlessly Imprisoned

We are calling on all Parties to commit to halving the number of women received into prison each year. Based on our experience of providing direct services to women in prison and in the community we believe the following measures would lead to this reduction:

• Provide women-centred community sentences. Non-custodial sentences designed for women must be available to all sentencers across the country.
• Provide women only support services for women on community sentences and women in and leaving prison.
• Support must be holistic, individualised, separate from enforcement and focussed on empowerment.
• Stop criminalising women for non-criminal actions through the use of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.
• Provide women-specific bail support and timely mental health assessments to enable a reduction in the use of remand.
• Stop incarcerating women for breach. Women must not be set up to fail on community sentences that are designed for men. Breach procedures need to be examined to reduce the number of women being imprisoned for non-compliance.
• Ensure the rights of children are considered in remand and sentencing decisions

All Parties should commit to establishing the small custodial units for those few women for whom custody may be appropriate recommended in the Corston Review on vulnerable women in the criminal justice system.

To add your voice to the campaign read the Manifesto, email Laurel at laurel@womeninprison.org.uk and she will list supporting organisations on the website.

The Manifesto will be used before the election to encourage all parties to commit to halving the number of women in prison as part of their election promises and will be used after the election to demand action for women in the criminal justice system.

We are asking individuals to vote to keep women out of prison – votes are already coming in thick and fast from women inside. To add your voice to theirs download the vote, sign and return it.

Please spread the word and help make sure that over 4,000 women denied their vote because they are in prison are not forgotten.

Thank you for your support.

SWAP Campaign Site: http://womenswap.blogspot.com/

SWAP Campaign Vote: http://www.womeninprison.org.uk/userfiles/file/Web%20Vote.pdf

Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/womenSWAP