PRT comment: New intensive supervision courts for women

Commenting on the opening of three new intensive supervision courts for women in the North of England, Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“This is a welcome and important step towards reducing the unnecessary imprisonment of women. We know that many women caught up in the criminal justice system have experienced trauma, abuse and addiction. Prison is rarely the answer to those problems.

“Providing robust supervision, alongside specialist support in the community, offers women a much better opportunity to address the causes of their offending and rebuild their lives. The challenge now is to ensure that women’s centres and other community services have the long-term funding they need to make this approach a success.