Vulnerable UK women choosing prison over ‘bleak’ life on the outside

Last Updated: December 24, 2016By

An increasing number of women leaving prison are struggling to find accommodation because of cuts to support services [Image: Andrew Aitchison/Corbis via Getty Images].

Didn’t This Blog suggest, years ago, that people would commit crimes in order to receive prison sentences, because life in the UK is becoming too difficult to handle?

I think so.

I seem to recall writing that the oppressive nature of a system that actively tries to push people into the gutter – denying housing benefit via the Bedroom Tax; denying unemployment benefits via the Work Capability Assessment and the ever-more-bizarre conditionality of Jobseekers’ Allowance – would convince people that it was better to be a convict than a citizen.

My only surprise now is that honest people aren’t commiting crimes and confessing to them, in order to get the same treatment.

It is only a matter of time.

Charities working with women released from prison say that some are breaching their parole conditions or committing further crimes so that they will be returned to jail – because their lives on the outside are so bleak.

Many of the women seek a return to prison because they have nowhere to live, fear an abusive partner or have unmet mental health needs.

The trend – which is particularly notable around Christmas – highlights what campaigners say is a chronic lack of concern for the women’s welfare upon release.

Source: Vulnerable UK women choosing prison over life on the outside | Society | The Guardian

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4 Comments

  1. Roland Laycock December 25, 2016 at 9:24 am - Reply

    I don’t blame them one bit

  2. Barry Davies December 25, 2016 at 3:06 pm - Reply

    There has been a culture of old lags committing criminal offences to get into prison for decades, also the mentally ill used to have episodes just before christmas.

    • Mike Sivier December 26, 2016 at 12:31 pm - Reply

      I think the point of the story is, that culture is spreading.

  3. Henrietta Sandwich December 25, 2016 at 8:15 pm - Reply

    People in Victorian workhouses used to commit crimes, purely to get sent to prison, because it wasn’t quite as bad as the workhouse. They’re really dragging us back to the past now.

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