Older women in prison

The Corston Report (Corston, 2007: 79) outlined ‘the need for a distinct, radically different, visibly-led, strategic, proportionate, holistic, woman-centred, integrated approach’ for female offenders. These recommendations related to all women within the criminal justice system but have particular resonance with respect to older women prisoners because of their relative invisibility (Wahidin, 2004). This chapter explores the situation with regard to older women prisoners and, in particular, turns the spotlight onto The Rubies, a project which runs for older women within Eastwood Park, a closed women's prison in south-west England.

A descriptive overview of older women in the prison system in England and Wales

In terms of statistics, women represent a small proportion – around 5% – of the overall prison population in the UK (Women in Prison, 2014). The 2013 figures show that out of the 3,807 women in custody in the prison estate in England and Wales, 360 were aged between 50 and 59 years, while 99 were aged 60 and older (Ministry of Justice (MoJ), 2014).

As far as the types of offences are concerned, Wahidin and Aday (2013: 66) commented that the crimes committed by older women ‘mirror those of young women’, with a more detailed summary indicating that:

In 2013, there were 13 women's prisons in the whole of England – there are no women's prisons in the NOMS South Central region or in Wales (Robinson, 2013). Following an announcement in October 2013 by Justice Minister Lord McNally, this number was reduced to 12, with plans for two further women's prisons (Askham Grange and East Sutton Park) to close, as part of plans to develop resettlement prisons (NOMS, 2013; MoJ, 2013a; MoJ, 2013b).