Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.
support today
Housing

Women are asking to stay in prison beyond their sentence because they don't have a home to go to

The majority of women leaving HMP Bronzefield - Europe's largest women's prison - fall into homelessness, with some preferring prison to the "uncertainties of freedom".

prison

One inmate at HMP Bronzefield even spent two nights sleeping at the prison's gatehouse because she had nowhere else to go. Image: niu niu / Unsplash

Two thirds of inmates leaving Europe’s largest women’s prison are being released into homelessness – and many are reluctant to leave.

An HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) report found “far too many” inmates at HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey – the largest women’s prison in the UK – left without safe and sustainable accommodation available for at least 12 weeks. 

Inspectors discovered that many women said they would prefer to stay inside rather than face the “uncertainties of freedom”. One inmate even slept in the prison’s gatehouse for two nights because she had nowhere to go.

The report concluded finding suitable accommodation alongside support for women with complex needs must be a priority for authorities and probation services and warned staffing cuts in domestic abuse support and the prison’s resettlement team exacerbated the issue. 

Charlie Taylor, HMIP’s chief inspector of prisons, said: “Without stable, safe accommodation many women are liable to have mental health relapses, return to substance misuse and become involved in crime on release, creating more victims and, at great cost to the taxpayer, repeating the cycle and undoing the good work of the prison.”

Overall, inspectors described the prison as “well run” and praised encouraging findings in education. The report found access to the prison’s library was “good” and the provision was “excellent” with a survey of prisoners revealing more prisoners had a positive view of the library than other prisons.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Almost three-quarters of prisoners who were identified as having a mental health condition were being decently cared for, inspectors said, with mental health services described as “responsive” and providing a “good range of interventions”.

HMP Bronzefield prison
The number of inmates at HMP Bronzefield falling into homelessness “let down” the progress prison chiefs had made elsewhere. Image: David Squire / Geograph

But they concluded this progress was undermined by the prison’s release strategy, which left women at risk of reoffending and becoming trapped in a cycle of homelessness.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of social justice charity Nacro, said the findings show HMP Bronzefield is “delaying homelessness, not ending it”.

“The idea that there are women who are reluctant to leave prison due to a lack of safe housing is a heart-breaking failure. Nobody should leave prison without somewhere safe to live,” said Robb.

“The government has committed to finding accommodation for women leaving prison for 12 weeks. But this report shows there needs to be support for long-term move on accommodation or we simply risk delaying homelessness, not ending it.

Robb also questioned short-term prison sentences for women. He added: “When we know short sentences don’t work and the impact of prison on women is so severe, we should be asking why we are locking them up in the first place.”

Meanwhile, Dr Jenny Earle from the Safe Homes for Women Leaving Prison initiative, said the report brings wider systemic failures into focus.

A report published by the Public Accounts Committee last month found the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had failed to prioritise its female offender strategy.

“The issue of women prisoners being released into various kinds of homelessness has been a running sore for years,” said Dr Earle. “The government is presiding over systemic failure which continues to see vulnerable women released from custody with nothing but a small discharge grant and a plastic bag; this ruinous system sets them up for failure and leaves them vulnerable to harm and to reoffending.

“Ministers say they realise that preventing homelessness among prison leavers is the first step to recovery and rehabilitation – when will they actually do something about it?”

A MoJ spokesperson said: “We are preventing homelessness by providing temporary accommodation to prison leavers without a home to go to as part of our £550 million plans to cut crime and we’ve already seen the rate of prisoners homeless on release fall by 28 per cent.”

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

View all
Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali resigns over rent hike row: 'This is the right decision'
Labour homelessness minister Rushanara Ali
Homelessness

Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali resigns over rent hike row: 'This is the right decision'

Calls for homeless minister Rushanara Ali to resign over rent hike row
Labour homelessness minister Rushanara Ali
Politics

Calls for homeless minister Rushanara Ali to resign over rent hike row

Sick gran stuck in bed bug-infested flat nine months after GP ordered her to be moved
Bed bugs

Sick gran stuck in bed bug-infested flat nine months after GP ordered her to be moved

Community housing project offering affordable homes forever up for a prestigious architecture award
Citizens House in Lewisham
Housing

Community housing project offering affordable homes forever up for a prestigious architecture award

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know