Prisonomics (31 page)

So, coordination is an issue. No one any longer
seems to care about the overall impact of policy outside their tight departmental budgets. However difficult they were, I long for the return of a system of cross-departmental policy targets that force
departments
to work together – and for the targets to be better enforced than before so they aren’t ignored. During the last parliament under Labour the
government
introduced a series of thirty public service agreements (PSAs) in their manifesto, which were meant to define the overall targets of the government during a single parliament, though some were meant to be achieved over the longer term – such as child poverty and energy – but with intermediate targets set along the way. When it came to power, however, the coalition government did away with this process.

In my view the removal of these PSAs accounts for some of the lack of coordination between
departments
, which has an effect upon the policies geared towards offenders. PSAs required close cooperation across departments, each one having to deliver part of the PSA target so that it could be achieved. It brought in some collective responsibility, in theory at least and in many cases also in practice. And the
cooperation
and achievements were in fact monitored by a division within the Treasury run by an ex-private sector senior official.

Each PSA was given to a director general who had to put together a board with similarly highly graded DGs from other contributory departments which had a stake in that target. This has now been lost and one of the problems when making the overall case for prison reform more generally and for women in particular, which is indisputable in terms of the wider benefits it might bring, is that there is no longer any
real incentive for, say, the Department of Health to think about the impact of their actions on crime rates as this does not form part of their direct responsibility.

PSA 24 was to ‘deliver a more effective,
transparent
and responsive criminal justice system for victims and the public’.
177
I wonder how many people knew this and what difference it actually made in the end. But whatever the PSA framework achieved, it must be better than no coordination at all, which is the
impression
one gets at times now. And it shows. The July 2013 justice select committee report on the progress on women issues since the Corston Report confirmed the need for coordination when it said:

I am completely in agreement with this. Everything I have seen and heard tells me that women are regarded as a minority that has to be dealt with but that the decision makers have little understanding of how to address the issues that affect women to ensure less cost to society in the wider sense. It isn’t just a
question
of empathy or moral prerogative – although these things matter. What we need is a thorough look at the facts and, as it emerges, ensure that wherever
possible any good practice also applies to men too where the gains might be even greater in terms of
overall
numbers. But unless there is a drive from the top the current structure of responsibilities for our prison system will fail to address women’s needs properly. Lord Ramsbotham spoke to me of the need to create a Women’s Justice Board along the lines of what he perceives as a very effective Youth Justice Board for young offenders to drive change. In his view, ‘much misery for women would have been avoided’ if such a board had been set up. He is encouraged, however, by the fact that after twelve to fourteen wasted years, during which little progress has been made, Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice minister, has finally called for such a board to be set up. I must admit I was never a great believer that just getting the right structure to deal with an issue is the answer as often bodies are formed to placate campaigners. They tend to create bureaucracy but no real intelligent action. But better to have tried and failed than not tried at all. And the issue is too big and the cost to society too large for things to be left as they are.

My journey into the world of women in prison was never intended. But what happened happened. I have learned far more about how the state apparatus works than I knew from my time in government. Sadly the higher up the hierarchy you go the more uncaring powerful people can be. I found those at the bottom, the prisoners, the prison staff, the marvellous people who campaign for reform and help with reintegration, to have warmth, humanity and sheer British decency that reminds me why I love my adopted country. This book is a modest contribution to a bigger debate. If it helps persuade one person in power to understand
why sending so many women to prison is a
counterproductive
waste it will have served its purpose. If the book encourages one employer to hire a woman who has left prison, I will be delighted. The book places on record my admiration for those who work in the world of prison reform and who help women enjoy fulfilled lives after prison. The criminal justice and prison system is devised by men, run by men and does a great disservice to British women. One day the other half of the population will have prosecutors, judges and a sentencing and prison regime that moves beyond retribution and contributes to rather than subtracts from society.

I
n the process of writing this I have been particularly lucky to have spoken to Jenny Earle at the Prison Reform Trust; Deborah Coles from Inquest; Rachel Halford from Women in Prison; Yvonne Roberts, trustee of Women in Prison; Roma Hooper at Make Justice Work; Jackie Russell at Women’s Breakout; Debbie Cowley and Clare Dean at Action for Prisoners’ Families; Rod Clark and Nina Champion at the Prison Education Trust; Frances Crook at the Howard League for Penal Reform; Sir Gerry Acher, previously with the KPMG Foundation; Matthew Taylor and Rachel O’Brien at the RSA; Liz Padmore of the Hampshire Hospital NHS Trust; David Elliott and Gill Arupke at Penrose; ex-Holloway probation officer Liz Hogarth; ex-Chief Inspector of Prisons Lord Ramsbotham; the current Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick; Baroness Corston, who produced the seminal Corston Report on Women in the Judicial System; Baroness Whitaker of the Design Commission, who introduced us and sent me the Corston Report to whet my appetite for all this while I was in prison; Tony Hassall, ex-governor of Holloway; Clive Chatterton, ex-governor of Styal
prison; ex-offenders Mark Leech and Erwin James, both now celebrated writers and commentators who were extremely kind to me and encouraging on release.

From the academic side, Nicola Padfield at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge; Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe at the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge; and Lord Stern at the London School of Economics, in many ways an inspiration to me, who helped me in my search for arguments against prison as a deterrent. I am grateful to Sir Brian Bender, Mark Gibson, Ian Jones, Claire Durkin, Richard Price, Carole Willis, Mark Conaty, Jonathan Portes, Andy Ross, Bill Jeffrey and Joan McNaughton, all ex-civil servants who gave me some wonderful insights and also great support. Also, Tory Rothschild at Give a Book; Edwina Grosvenor at Clink; and Antony Oering, now chaplain at Ford Open. And then, of course, James Timpson, who enthused me with his very generous and positive attitude towards employing ex-offenders and who furnished me with a huge number of contacts; and Jocelyn Hillman, Ondine Upton and the entire team at Working Chance, the charity that specialises in finding quality employment for women offenders and ex-offenders, who have not only helped me with the research but also invited me, while I was still in prison, to become their patron – which of course I have accepted.

I am also grateful to the prison staff and the chaplains, in both Holloway and ESP, who made ‘an unbearable situation almost bearable’; my fellow residents for their kindness and friendship; and those friends on the outside who have since helped me return to some sort of ‘normality’
while giving me their unconditional support. George and Ann Courmouzis, and Lydia and Takis Argyropoulos have been a great source of strength for me, as have Stephanie and Philip Maltman; David and Lisa Buchan; Boni Sones; Christos Pitelis; Jenny and Arthur Beesley; Chris Pryce and Janet Payne; Jane and Mike Cooke; David and Jessica Fletcher; Sarah Webb; Ed Beesley; Rob Toogood; Joyce Acher; Kate Barker; Luisa Affuso; Mike Bottomley; Alexandra Shulman; Jane Atkinson; Michael Littlechild; Geik Chew; Martin Deutz; Guy Warrington; Alexis Konstas; Monica Clancy; Elisabeth Kelly; Rupert Dove-Meadows; Merelina Dipack-White; Gil Duff; Catherine Roche; Nick Butler and Rosaleen Hughes; John Gieve; Mike Jeans; Jamie Stevenson; Roger and Belinda Hood; Kitty Ussher; Geoff and Melanie Llewellyn; Peter Bottomley; Gill King; Leslie Johnson; Alan Johnson; Tony Halmos; Alex Kedros; Alex Jan; Nikos Sideris; Kate Winn; Mandy Hutley; Gordon Stoker; Sue Owen; Andrew Hilton; David Marsh; Bronwen Maddox; Patricia Hewitt; Serena Simmons; Yasmin Alibhai-Brown; Satjit Singh; Ian Bonny; Noorzaman Rashid; Alan Broomhead; Patrick Chapman; Liz Walker; David Peregrine-Jones; Barbara Linder; Betty and Chris Sanders; Neil Williamson; Brian Parry; Gordon Dickerson; Phil and Gill Sutcliffe; Nick Talbot; Julia King; Leo Martin; Tay Cheng-Jim; Karen Dunnell; Suzie Funell; Sarah Green; Anthony Elliott; Janet Paraskeva; Jon Duke-Evans; Dan Corry; Rebecca Harding; Stefan Stern; Kathy Newman; Becky Milligan; Neil Sherlock; Romilly Weeks; Tim Leunig; Robert Chote; Richard Portes; Abhinay Muthoo; Flavia Lambert; Natalie Pham; Eleni Meleagrou; Don
Stillman; Paul Lejot; Catherine Donelly; Rosamund Urwin; Guy de Jonquieres; Diane Fortescue; Hamish McRae; Richard Davies; David Campbell; Neil Lerner; Colin MacCabe; Kate Aan de Weil; Martin Donnelly; Alan Budd; Joanna Donaldson; Heather Stewart; Lucy Thomas; Graham Haache; Andy Haldane; David Penfold; Marjan and Robert Johnson; Andrew Smith; Marcus Miller; Costas Meghir; Katerina, Louis, Peter, Melina and Elisabeth Georgantas; Rachel Cable; Pippa Oakeshott; Patty Hemingway; George Houpis; Lina Talka; Simon Walker; Mary Strang; Phil Stephens; Fiona Woolf; Polly Toynbee; Stephen and Celia Glover; David Walker; Steve Jones and Norma Percy; Denise Kingsmill; Dave Ramsden; Debbie Stedman-Scott; Louka Katseli; Tony Burke; Neil Acheson; Marian Bell; Isabel Hilton; Geoff Reid; Ed Mayo; Bridget Rosewell; Daisy Fletcher; Mark Boleat; Alison Sprague; Mike and Jill Toogood; Ava Alleyne; Kristiina Reed and Ed Sankey; and the Biteback team, among many others.

Most importantly my children and their own families, whose love and support were the only thing that kept me (semi) sane throughout. I can only hope that this book gives something back by contributing positively to the debate and helping to ease the condition of so many women – and many men – who should at this moment not be in jail but either at home with their families or being properly looked after by social and health services in their communities.

Last and certainly not least, a big thank-you to Chris Osborne, who trusted me throughout this process, and to Robert Brown, my solicitor.