BBC news
LONDON — The focus should be on health, housing and treatment for drug addiction to reduce reoffending, its report said. It called for a director of women’s justice to be appointed to provide “clear leadership and accountability.”
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) welcomed the report and said it was carefully considering the recommendations. The taskforce, formed of senior police officers, magistrates, economists and penal reformers, was set up last year by the Prison Reform Trust.
Its report called for the closure of women’s prisons to be accelerated, a cross-government strategy to divert women from crime and greater focus on schemes to tackle mental health needs.
Full Story: Women’s prisons should close, says justice taskforce