Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 8 June 2022.
Thank you. Diolch yn fawr, Rhys ab Owen. This is a major step forward, isn't it, to have that transformation. It can't come too soon as far as I'm concerned—2024 feels a long way off, and it cannot be then just waiting to see how this works. It is being planned so that it will work; it will offer all those services that I have described. And we need to start the pressure—thank you for the question and making the point—now to extend this provision, because I think what's going to be so important about this is it's an investment in the women and their families, and in the community, because it's going to improve their skills, their health and relationships, and they will look forward to their prospects as they leave the women's residential centre. And it's very much part of the women pathfinder approach.
But I would also say that this is something where, in terms of the unjust way women are treated in the criminal justice system—. I spoke at a virtual summit at the end of March, where I heard that at least 57 per cent of women currently coming into contact with the criminal justice system are victims of domestic abuse. Sixty-three per cent of girls and young women serving sentences in the community have experienced rape or domestic abuse in an intimate partner relationship. I've met women in prison outside of Wales who are there basically because of poverty and austerity and domestic abuse. And, actually, at this event, I have to say that I heard from a young woman—and I'm meeting with her, Ellie Anderson—who shared her childhood experience of being a child of a woman who'd been in prison several times. Ellie grew up in Wales, and her mother was in prison outside of Wales, and I'm meeting her shortly.
So, together, and with your support, we will press for this provision to be extended, not just in five years' time, but as soon as possible.