Responsibility for prison deaths rests with ministers

After the initial shock of the death of someone close to you, it is the little things that remind you of the loss, daily. I have resisted taking Pauline’s phone number off my mobile, so everytime I scroll through my contacts, she is there. A reminder of her as a person, but also her media and public campaign.

Two things have brought home to me how much we will miss her energy and passion. The Government announced that it is not going to implement Baroness Corston’s recommendations for reducing the use of custody for women and having small local units for the few who might require security. This, despite promising that most of the recommendations were being implemented.

The resignation of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman as head of the right to life Public Inquiry into the treatment of SP whilst in prison. It is my humble opinion that the role of government is to create the framework that helps and guides citizens towards safe, healthy, happy and creative lives. This is critical when it affects people who are fragile. So, it is absolutely bloody appalling that the the Ministry of Justice has resiled from its promise to find better ways of responding to women who have offended, and that they have allowed the Prison Service to try to bully an independent inquiry.

Unless they do something to change fundamentally the way women and young women are dealt with, the responsibility for the next death (and there will be more) rests very firmly on the head of the political leaders. That is you Minister.