Women's prisons in England and Wales are undergoing an "epidemic of self-mutilation", with one in four female prisoners having self-harmed, according to a new Oxford University study.
*yawns*
Fazel said while self-harm was a substantial problem across the board, it was a particularly serious issue for women in prison who made up 5% of the prison population but accounted for half of all self-harm incidents: "Moreover, now we know the extent to which the risk of subsequent suicide in prisoners who self-harm is greater than the general prison population, suicide prevention initiatives should be changed to include a focus on prisoners who are self-harming, especially repeatedly," she added.
Naturally, this is grist to the mill for those who don’t believe in prison at all, and especially not for the wimminz…
Frances Crook of the Howard League for Penal Reform said the Lancet figures showed there was "an epidemic of self-mutilation by women in prison".
She said it was another sign prisons were unable to cope and stressed the importance of a forthcoming public inquiry into the case of a 17-year-old in custody who nearly died because of repeated cutting and self-injury.
Prisons are ‘coping’ quite well, actually, Frances. If a few criminals can’t cope with the regime, well, they could always try
not committing crime, couldn’t they?
"The vast majority of women are either remanded or have committed nonviolent offences and should be given a community sentence focused on the roots of their criminal behaviour," said Crook
"For those who require custody, small secure centres should be set up that help these women away from crime while keeping the public safe."
And if Frances gets her way with female offenders, it won’t be long before she’s finding excuses why
men should be imprisoned either…
Bunny
ReplyDeleteI remember the case of a young girl who committed suicide in prison, her mother was obviously upset. It transpired she and a friend had driven an old man to suicide by their actions. My thoughts at the time were oh dear what a pity never mind.
They need to ask the question of why are these people i prison in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThen, they need to speak to the victims.
I think this will help to get a better picture of the problem.
Too much attention on the criminal and not enough on the victims of the crime.
" My thoughts at the time were oh dear what a pity never mind."
ReplyDeleteMine would have been too...
"Then, they need to speak to the victims.
I think this will help to get a better picture of the problem."
To these people, they ARE the 'victims'..!
So are they saying women are weaker than men and can't cope with prison? Seeexxxxxiiiisssstt
ReplyDeleteWhy pick on violent and sex offenders, that is discrimination. An anger management course and a few counselling sessions will sort them out.
Campaign for equality....jail more women.
women want equal rights. Equal prison sentences. Is that not fair. Pussy pas gets away with much to much!
ReplyDeleteVery few people, men or women, go to jail for a first offence. All sorts of pathetic weak sentences have gone before they eventually get locked up.
ReplyDelete