Securing Safety Conference (2006)
- Dates
-
- Venue
- n/a
- Price
- n/a
On 14th November 2006 GLDVP, in
partnership with Women in
Prison, Prison Reform
Trust, Women in Secure
Hospitals and Counselling in Prison, held a conference on
'Supporting women in prison who have experienced violence and
abuse'. Funded by the National
Probation Service London , this high profile conference aimed
to raise awareness among criminal justice agencies and the
voluntary sector of the interlinking nature of work on violence
against women and women's offending, seeking positive and creative
ways for these sectors to work together to improve services for
women who have experienced violence and abuse.
The programme included a research and practice overview, a panel
discussion of the role of NOMS in improving services for women who
have experienced violence and abuse and a series of workshops to
explore these themes.
Aims
- To provide service commissioners with information on minimum
standards and examples of safe practice
- To improve staff training and awareness of abuse and domestic
violence
- To give criminal justice system staff the tools they need to
respond to women with experience of violence and abuse
- To give the violence against women
sector the tools they need to respond to the needs of women in
prison and intersect effectively with prison service provision
- To increase awareness and improve
referrals amongst violence against women and criminal justice
system professionals of the other sectors' issues and
responses
- To emphasise links between
violence and abuse, drugs, alcohol and mental health and provide
examples of safe practice and minimum standards
- To provide recommendations to the
Corston Review of Vulnerable Women in the Criminal Justice
System.
Click here to
download a briefing of the conference recommendations.
SPEAKERS
Welcome and introduction by Chair
Anne Owers, HM
Chief Inspector of Prisons
Research overview: Making the links - victimisation and
offending
Dr Judith Rumgay, Reader in Social
Policy, Department of
Social Policy, London School of Economics
Beyond theory into practice: Delivering services to women
victims who are also offenders
Marai Larasi, Executive Director,
The Nia Project
WOW! Writing on Walls
Introduced by Alison Clarke,
Director, Dramatic
Results
Images and sound track created by women in HMP sent from a
project exploring thoughts and feelings of women inside and sharing
them with women outside, facilitated by Dramatic
Results.
Closing address
Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC,
Minister of State for the Criminal Justice System and Offender
Management.
PANEL DISCUSSION
How will NOMS meet the needs of women offenders who have
experienced violence and abuse?
- Hazel Banks, Head of Women and Young People's Group, HMPS
- Anne Owers, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
- Chris Cawthorne, Director, Asha Centre
- Alethea McIntosh, Head of Equalities and Diversity, London
Probation
- Mitch Egan - North East Regional Offender Manager
WORKSHOPS
A whole prison approach - integrating awareness of violence
against women into regimes
This workshop explored the
different aspects of the regime (reception, induction, discipline,
security, visits, resettlement etc.) experienced by women in prison
and how this may impact on women who have experienced violence and
abuse.
Workshop presenters:
- Chris Holly, Consultant Nurse, Sexual Abuse and Women's Issues,
South Staffordshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Colin Allen (former Governor)
Navigating the commissioning process; minimum standards and
good practice (for commissioners and voluntary sector)
Chaired by Davina James-Hanman,
GLDVP, this workshop took the form of a panel session with the
following objectives:
- To allow the voluntary sector to gain an insight into the
commissioning process
- To facilitate dialogue between the voluntary sector and the
commissioning bodies as to the need for safe minimum standards for
services supporting women who have experienced violence and
abuse
- The impact of the gender duty on commissioning standards.
Workshop presenters:
Safe practice in specialist work with women who have
experienced violence and abuse
This workshop was practice focused
and lead by an agency which delivers front line specialist services
for women in prison who have experienced abuse in their
lifetime. The workshop highlighted safe practice in this area
and the obstacles and opportunities for delivering such services in
a prison environment.
Workshop presenters:
- Marianna Tortell & Dorett Jones, The Nia Project
- Joanne Shaw, Bradford Rape Crisis
Safe working with violence and abuse for generic services-
issues for drug, alcohol, mental health and resettlement
services
This workshop was aimed at
organisations that provide services to women offenders around
issues of substance misuse, mental health, housing etc but whose
service users may present with co-occurring issues of violence and
abuse. Using an interactive format, the workshop explored safe ways
of facilitating discussions of abuse and providing support, advice
and referral.
Workshop presenters·
- Karen Bailey, Stella Project
- Robina Husain-Naviatti, Counselling in Prison
- Rachel Halford & Kelly Minio-Paluello, Women In Prison
Empowering women prisoners
This workshop explored how
institutions can both take power away from women and how they can
support empowerment for women. The workshop explored how
opportunities can be created for women to exercise personal
responsibility and focused on developing empowerment as a process,
strengths-based model for women in prison.
Workshop presenters:
- Jennifer Kavanagh, Prison Reform Trust
Joyce Kallevik, Women in Secure Hospitals
Using theatre as a motivating tool for change
This workshop explored how theatre
and drama-based methods can be used with women offenders to
increase their motivation to change. It was led by two companies,
Geese Theatre Company and Clean Break, both specialising in working
in the criminal justice system. Geese focused on techniques they
use to enable women to process the impact of their own
victimisation on their offending. Clean Break presented their model
of working through theatre and the arts to support women to move
forward in their lives and identify future goals.
Workshop presenters:
- Lou Heywood & Katie Claff, Geese Theatre
- Anna Herman, Clean Break
Working with foreign nationals
This workshop raised awareness to
the situation of foreign national women in prison and the
interlinking nature of drug trafficking, poverty, violence against
women and child exploitation. It will explore effective and
positive ways of addressing these issues both in the UK, Jamaica
and Nigeria.
Workshop presenter:
THE CORSTON REPORT
This report by Baroness Jean Corston is a review of women with
particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system,
outlining the need for a distinct radically different, visibly-led,
strategic, proportionate, holistic, woman-centred, integrated
approach.
To download the report please click here.
To read more about the background for the report please click
here.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Women in
Prison
Prison Reform
Trust
Women in Secure
Hospitals
HM Prison
Service
National Offender
Management Service (NOMS)
National Probation
Service London
Independent Monitoring
Boards
