Birmingham Women’s Centre chosen for specialist court pilot project

Anawim – Birmingham’s Centre for Women has been picked for a pilot project which has the potential to change how some women are dealt with by the Criminal Justice System.

The project, known as the Intensive Supervision Court (ISC) was designed to be used by women whose offence would normally meet the custody threshold, and who may need intensive support from a range of partner agencies to address multiple and complex unmet needs which often feed into the cycle of reoffending.

Instead of being sent to prison, at a cost to the public of £52,000 per annum, the women will receive a sentence that requires them to work with community partners.

All appointments take place at the women's centre, and the women can then build trust through a dedicated caseworker and Judge who remain with them for the duration of their sentence.

They will have monthly reviews with the judge and their multidisciplinary caseworkers as a chance to review their progress.

The scheme is showing promise with former minister David Gauke, who is leading the Government’s sentencing review, being optimistic in a recent interview.

This comes against a backdrop of statistics showing that when a mother is detained, 19 times out of 20, her children are forced to leave the family home. Additionally, 13 per cent of women are released into homelessness. Despite women comprising just 4 per cent of the prison population, they account for 27 per cent of self-harm incidents.

Anawim CEO Joy Doal said: “We are honoured to be part of this pilot and hope that it will be rolled out after the initial period.

“This approach really does work. Of course, there is still time for people to feed into the sentencing review so please do, so that we can change the criminal justice system and make it work for victims and for those who offend.”