Cassie Edmiston, Head of Fundraising and External Affairs | 24 September 2024
I was keen to attend following the recent publication of our research exploring the educational experiences of young women in prison. Inevitably the themes of the research went far beyond education and work, touching on structural inequalities, mental health, domestic abuse, neurodiversity and family to name just a few. I was interested to see if and how these threads would come out during the day.
This report, written by research and policy consultant Katy Swaine Williams, draws together the experiences of eight young women - aged 18 to 24 - who have spent time in prison and explores their relationship with education and work. It demonstrates the powerful role education plays for young women in prison and on release.
The summit was beautifully and caringly curated. One of the shared agreements for the discussions was to “speak for the I”, meaning to speak for yourself and not for others. In that spirit I can’t talk for all attendees, but it seemed to me an inclusive and non-judgemental day.
Space was made for difficult conversations and hard realities but, following an important reminder to us all to breathe, there was also time to visualise a different future.
As anticipated, many of the themes we saw in our research came up throughout the day. The lack of mental health support and services was repeated, along with a broader concern about the sweeping shift from early to late interventions.
I was staggered to learn about a Children At The Table report which found that in local authority children’s services, “spending on late intervention services increased by 57% while expenditure on early interventions has fallen by 44%.” My sense is that this is a common pattern. We know effective early interventions can be transformative, so it seems ill-judged and, in the long term, a more costly approach.
The need for access to meaningful and relevant education and training also came up repeatedly throughout the day.
One of the recommendations from our young women’s research is for more investment in a wider range of education and employment opportunities for young women in prison. We see this in the demand for our distance learning courses. Women currently account for 4% of the prison population but last year 8% of the courses funded by PET were for women.
There is obviously an interest and a desire to study different subjects and at higher levels. It is interesting to see what women in prison wanted to study last year alongside the equivalent list for men:
| Top five courses in 2023 | ||
| Women (all ages) | Women (aged 18-25) | Men (all ages) |
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Despite the high initial engagement however, our data shows women are less likely to complete their courses. This means women are not achieving the qualifications they set out to attain and may not experience the full benefit of participating in distance learning.
It’s likely that many of the issues which came out in our young women’s research and which were reinforced at the summit impact their chances of completion. This is something we would like to explore more by developing more tailored support for women who are studying in prison.
The summit was held down the road from Tate Britain so at the end of the day I took the opportunity to visit their Now You See Us exhibition. The exhibition shines a light on women artists, the challenges they faced and their courage to challenge the status quo. But it also highlights the many voices which have been lost or erased due to the societal and gendered expectations of the time.
For those affected by or working in the criminal justice system today, it can still be hard to be heard. The summit created a space for voices not only to be heard but also, importantly, amplified. It was an opportunity to listen to and learn from people with experience and expertise from all areas of the criminal justice system.
And it was a reminder to make the effort to actively seek those system-wide connections. There is power in all our voices together.
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© Prisoners' Education Trust 2024