7. Statement by the Minister for Social Justice: Women’s Justice and Youth Justice Blueprints: Progress report and next steps

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:41 pm on 22 November 2022.

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Photo of Sarah Murphy Sarah Murphy Labour 4:41, 22 November 2022

With the very short time, Minister, I just wanted to say thank you for bringing this today. I would say that, on the whole, the response that I have heard, anyway, to the women's justice blueprint has been positive, as well as the Visiting Mums project. But I just wanted to build, really, on what my colleague Sioned Williams has said. When we visited HMP Eastwood Park recently, we were told that 100 per cent of the women in there were victims before they got caught up in the criminal justice system; 60 per cent of them, at the moment, are Welsh women.

So, there are just three things that I wanted to raise really quickly. We were told by the women that they have no access to an elected representative. They have no way of e-mailing out; you can only e-mail in. So, if that can be looked into urgently, I think that that would make a tremendous difference to them. They have no access either to Buvidal; they have to have methadone every day, it makes them very sick and it's much more difficult for them to stay clean. They are told that they can't get that, unlike the English prisoners in there, because they are Welsh. They also cannot get access to residential units immediately after they come out of prison, like women in England do, which has prevented them from reoffending.

Finally, housing and accommodation are probably the main anxiety that they have. I spoke to one woman who was due to be released from HMP Eastwood Park on 21 December. My initial reaction was, like, 'Oh.' And she was, like, 'Yeah, you'd think I'd be happy about going home at Christmas.' But, she said, 'I have no housing lined up. I have to get myself from here to Swansea, to the council offices, a couple of days before Christmas and beg them for accommodation.' Only four of the 22 local authorities now receive—[Inaudible.]—funding; the others have to be signed up to it as soon as possible. So, if that could be looked into, that would be wonderful. Thank you, Minister.