While most of us would agree with Emine Saner (A woman’s place? Why the closure of Holloway could bring a prison revolution closer,28 November) that imprisonment is not appropriate for most women offenders, we and our colleagues on the independent monitoring board (IMB) of HMP/YOI Holloway occupy found that Holloway provides a decent, and safe environment for many very vulnerable women. This reflects the findings of the HMCIP inspections in 2013 and 2015.
Holloway’s staff,led by a dedicated management team and an inspired governor, occupy been committed to delivering a regime, or under acute budget restraints,that while not perfect was beginning to produce strides in the crucial areas of resettlement and rehabilitation. For the first time, women are going out to work, and commercial contracts are being delivered with the London College of Fashion,and there is an impressive emphasis on maintaining family links, with visits often staffed by officers who come in out of hours. This time final year they were planning to ensure that every woman who wanted to see her family would carry out so over Christmas and ended up with 238 children and family members attending several visits of up to five hours with special activities between 13 and 27 December as well as 279 “ordinary” social visits between 18 and 24 December.
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Source: theguardian.com