Written submission from Drake Hall Prison Reform Group (SPP0094)

Sexual Harassment in Public Places

We are pursuing a Public Health approach to dealing with sexual harassment in public places. We are asking that the criminal justice system which is a public place where sexual harassment is virulent, should be treated with a Public Health approach.

This would entail the same measures as are applied in a disease control situation- target the source of the disease and contamination, contain then control it in order to eliminate it. Then inoculate the rest of the organism for the future. In practical terms this would mean rooting out and reforming old attitudes of sexual harassment and discrimination in the criminal justice system by removing people and divisions where sexual harassment is the most contagious. This could mean performance managing out destructive people in the judiciary, in the CPS and also in the court service as well as the police and inculcating new values, to future proof the institutions against recontamination. We ask that mandatory training to prevent and protect women from sexual harassment should be introduced, as soon as possible. At present the judiciary and the police in particular have no training around sexual harassment.

This may sound idealistic or impractical but it is the only way to remove sexual harassment—by making the very act of degrading women by humiliating or denigrating us—taboo. Real, powerful and positive role models, men who actively encourage women's equality and empowerment must be nurtured and allowed to thrive so that the Old Boys' Network in which sexual harassment is rife, withers and dies.

In a recent debate in the House of Lords, concerning the Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill, Baroness Donaghy asked HM Government, "Whether the proposed domestic violence and Abuse Bill will include measures to prevent violence against women and girls as well as criminal justice measures to deal with perpetrators?"

Baroness Williams of Trafford responded that a consultation document would soon be published and that all the relevant groups and women's charities that were best placed to inform the consultation would be invited to participate.

Baroness Newlove the Victims' Commissioner asked "Whether the Bill will include statutory provisions to prevent perpetrators of abuse pursuing their victims through the family courts?"

This is a recognised pathway for perpetrators but now, with the force of the police and the courts enjoined in their criminality, men (mostly) who are committing acts of coercive control have found the criminal courts an easy route to continue to harass and torment women they wish to punish or destroy. The court becomes an echo chamber for the abuse.

Baroness Williams of Trafford responded, "My noble friend makes a very good point about victims of domestic violence who quite often face further intimidation and, I would say, abuse as perpetrators seek to pursue them through the family courts. Certainly the MoJ is considering this issue in relation to victims of domestic violence in the family courts."

We ask the Committee to consider the effects and prevalence of coercive control, a type of sexual harassment, is ubiquitous in the criminal justice system and to call on H M Government to address these issues in the upcoming Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill, shortly to go through parliament.

Sexual harassment in Public Places—The Criminal Justice System

Sexual harassment is defined as "unwanted contact of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. " The Equality Act 2010

"The legal profession creates a sanctuary for men like Harvey Weinstein, powerful and wealthy men who are predators and abusers." Zelda Perkins, Whistle-blower on Harvey Weinstein

Imprisonment is the ultimate act of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. This submission to the Women and Equalities Select Committee represents the experiences of some of the 130 women in prison across the English prison estate which forms the Drake Hall Prison Reform Group. We are in the process of forming a prison council to incorporate user voice into the design and delivery of the custody of women, which is failing. We are campaigning for a radical reform of the criminal justice system and the way women are treated. We believe the state's·conduct towards women in the criminal justice system amounts to sexual harassment.

Coercive Control is defined as one person's attempt to take away the freedoms and the liberty of another, usually in an intimate relationship. For decades men have been doing this to women through the Family Courts, using proceedings and custody battles as a means to intimidate and create fear and control. Increasingly, women are being incarcerated for crimes they have not committed, in state enjoined acts of coercive control. Women who are victims of domestic violence are treated as criminals and incarceration is an easy option for disposing of us, as human waste.

To expand on Zelda Perkins' comments about how the legal profession offered sanctuary to Harvey Weinstein and others like him, we wish to bring to the attention of the Committee, the treatment of women in the criminal justice system and in particular prisons and courts. Sexual harassment appears to be written into the code of conduct of the judiciary, it is both institutional and instructional. The language—we are described as offenders—is designed to humiliate and subjugate. How can we be heard, if we are deemed offensive? What about #MeToo, do our voices not count?

We are women who have and continue to experience sexual harassment but our voices remain unheard because of the stigma of incarceration and because the prison system would have us believe that we lose our identity, our civic and human rights and our dignity once our liberty is taken away.

The agencies that are meant to be there for us, Justice for Women, the women's unit at the Centre for Criminal Appeals, The Women's Justice Centre and many justice charities that are supposed to aid women in prison fight for justice collect vast sums of money from the public and government but they don't help us, when it comes to fighting our corner, tooth and nail. They have an icy approach to women in prison, it is very hard to approach them, responses are rarer and there are many hurdles to jump through before they will offer assistance. We do not fit the profile; we all have messy lives and are real humans, not the angelic, no previous history clients they want to assist. The Centre for Criminal Appeals is supposed to run a Women's Sentencing Project, looking at disparity in the sentences given to women defendants. It has not had a solicitor for many months, to run it, yet it continues to advertise for clients and to raise funds, pretending that it is providing a service.

We are asking the Women and Equalities Committee to consider our submission and consider what might be put in place to restrict access to predators and perpetrators of violence and sexual harassment to inform the better treatment of those who will be imprisoned after us. The sexual harassment we face on a daily basis scars us and is causing mental and emotional distress. While women account for 5% of the prison population, the number of incidents of self-harm committed by women is about 60%. 12 women killed themselves in custody in the year 2015–2016 and another 8 in 2017 although the Ministry of Justice will say that these figures are to be confirmed as suicide. The cost of reoffending to society is estimated to be approx. £16bn. We can't go on, in terms of financial and societal cost, our reputation as a democracy or England's record as a custodian of human rights.

Over 80% of women in prison say they have been the victims of domestic violence in the year prior to incarceration (Women in Prison 2012). Almost 40% of women and girls in prison are care leavers and the local authority has been their corporate parent. These women are vulnerable to abuse. Yet when. they come before the criminal justice system, we are just troublemakers, not to be believed. Everything we say must be disregarded, so when we are abused, raped or seriously taken advantage of, because we do not know our rights, and these same rights are not properly enshrined, how do we turn to the system that is abusing us, the machinery of the State, to protect us?

These are our stories of sexual harassment and violence that is perpetrated by the agencies of the State; The Government's published Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016–2020 specifically deals with the predicament of women "offenders." For the first time, there is a woman in the Courts Minister's position, Lucy Frazer who also has experience in the criminal justice system; we are hopeful change can happen under her watch.

Supporting women offenders affected by violence and abuse

We know that many victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse can also be drawn into offending behaviour[i]. The proportion of female prisoners that report experiencing some form of abuse during their childhood is twice as high as among male prisoners with many reporting that their offending was to support their partner or someone else's substance misuse.

We are working with regional areas- to encourage a more effective joined up approach to addressing these complex needs. Different models are under development in Greater Manchester, Wales and London. These models aim to develop a whole system approach to managing female offenders which can help improve victim outcomes as well as create cost savings.

The National Offender Management Service published[ii] "Better Outcomes for Women"[iii] earlier this year which sets out the commissioning principles for developing services for women in the criminal justice system. We will also be rolling out a new helpline for female offenders so they can obtain support whilst in custody and on release. This follows a pilot helpline set up at HMP Holloway by Women's Aid and Refuge. We will continue to build on this work to ensure that female offenders who are also victims of abuse can access the help they need to rebuild their lives and the (sic) break the cycle of offending."

Sadly the helpline does not work. The funding for the visionary work in Wales Greater Manchester and London has been pulled. Plans for five small community prisons for women have been put on hold, following the caravanserai of Justice Secretaries and Prison and Probation Ministers.

Specific to the Justice Remit within the Government's Strategy we find this table:

Criminal Justice

Women in the criminal justice system face sexual harassment from the moment we are arrested. The language of police stations, of the custody suite and the arrest and detention process creates unwanted sexual tension and harassment. Women are frequently rubbed down for a search by a woman officer but in front of her male colleagues. Most women will not know they have the right to be searched in private, away from the staring male police staff and civilians. This is just one way the justice system ignores the rights of women, and our most fundamental right to be treated with dignity.

The police do not particularly know what to do with allegations of domestic violence, victims of crime who then are accused of committing crimes. HMIP's (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Police) most recent inspection (March 2018) clearly shows that even when a prompt response is called for in response to a domestic violence incident reported to 999, the police take on average 15 hours to respond. The relationship between women who have been victims of crime and who are then accused of crimes is heavily under-researched. They fail to see the relationship between a woman who has committed a crime after years of domestic abuse and sexual harassment who has, until then been a victim. The woman whose complaints have not previously been taken seriously now finds herself a perpetrator of crime and under scrutiny for very different reasons. The criminal justice process is entirely adversarial. Investigating officers in all criminal cases have a duty to disclose everything that will undermine the Crown's case or to assist the defence case, yet they are supposed to put together a case that will survive the rigor of the defence barrister and ultimately, secure a conviction. Numbers trump justice, to obtain conviction targets and there have been repeated problems with disclosure, downloading evidence and the veracity of police's statements and actions when dealing with women defendants.

[personal story]

In Custody

Because the women's estate is not categorised in the same way as the male estate, there are many women in prison who are not violent or serious offenders, however we end up incarcerated with the worst and most dangerous sex offenders. On one house of 19 women, three have been convicted of serious sexual offences.

Sexual harassment by prisoners

[personal story].

There are many women in openly gay relationships, which many others of us find difficult to deal with. There is no control of any of these relationships, these women are allowed to live on the same houses, attend the same workplaces and conduct openly sexual relationships in public. Staff find this titillating and although HMPPS observes a zero tolerance decency policy, this has little effect in the way the women's prisons are run, operationally. In the same way drugs are tolerated because this policy of being blind, gives prison officers an easier life, is now firmly entrenched, these relationships are allowed to flourish. They inevitably end in violence or trauma—unexplained black eyes and broken limbs go unreported.

There is open touching and kissing and where a woman who is gay makes advances to women who are not, there is no protection for the victims. A woman at [prison] is facing fresh charges for putting her hands up women's skirts as they climb the stairs in front of her. These horrific infractions are not dealt with appropriately in the prison setting and so they escalate.

Court Rooms

Although the majority of women may actually be treated more leniently than men by the courts, this is not true for women who commit drug or violent offences. Furthermore, women who are seen as lacking family ties—this discipline- are likely to be punished more severely than both their male and female counterparts. This is likely to be so for women who have been state reared, who live apart from men (possibly due to domestic violence) are homeless or rootless due to poverty, mental illness etc.[vii]

The language of the courts, the ancient protocols and processes are out-dated and heavily weighted against women. There are a tiny number of women solicitors who practise crime let alone women barristers who can articulate sexual harassment in a case, without making a woman sound hysterical or pathological.

Lawyers who work with women prisoners have highlighted the enormously difficult situations faced by women with histories of abuse. If they disclose the abuse they may find that held against them when they want to move to more open conditions or on release.[viii]

Judges are given free rein to run their courtrooms as they wish, with the heavy-handedness of army generals or despots. There are guidelines in place about the treatment of women defendants, vulnerable defendants and people with disabilities. PTSD, anxiety, depression and personality disorders are all recognised disorders under the Mental Health Act, however judges do not abide by the guidelines in the Equal Treatment Bench Handbook or in the Sentencing Guidelines. The Bangkok Rules to which the UK is a signatory describe that custody must be the sentence of last resort and also describe how sentences and those in the criminal justice system can instil decency and equality into the criminal justice system, particularly within the custodial setting. They might as well not exist. CEDAW (Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women) is meant to root out all forms of discrimination (which includes harassment) against women but English justice appears to be blind to the issues concerning gender disparity in the judiciary and the treatment of defendants that it raises.

In short, judges can behave however they want to and are untouchable. Judges use offensive and derogatory language towards defendants and indeed women barristers during trials to undermine them in the eyes of the jury. Judges across the western world (although not notably in England or Wales) have modernised their approach, they actually get to know the defendant as a person, not as the sum total of the crimes of which she is accused.

They will get to know the defendant's situation, her family life, work circumstances, whether she has been the subject of violence or trauma and therefore he can make an objective determination about how to treat her and ultimately what will be the most successful, appropriate and reformative sentence in her individual case. Judges in England and Wales follow the prosecution line for the most part and receive little or no training in mental health and in domestic violence. We have tried to obtain from the Judicial Training College details of what exactly the training is that judges and magistrates have to undergo in gender and gender violence, mental health and CEDAW (Convention to End Discrimination in all forms Against Women) and we receive fuzzy answers from [name] of the Judicial Training College. To date there has been absolutely no confirmation from the Judicial Training College that judges or magistrates receive any training at all concerning any of the issues we have raised, i.e. mental health, CEDAW, the Bangkok Rules and gender.

[personal story]

Judges in English Courts do not have adequate training in how to deal with cases where women are vulnerable, as defendants or as witnesses. Dr Judith Herman describes the horror felt by those witnessing or having to recount stories of the abuse of women. Our judiciary are not taught how to hold a woman's pain, how to maintain equilibrium and dignity in a balanced courtroom and how to allow her and the court processes to allow for time and safety so she can recount what really happened. They have no resilience training or supervision to relieve secondary trauma or compassion fatigue and they hear trial after harrowing trial. They have become inured to the pain of women and the criminal justice system, designed by men, for men, to punish men in prisons designed by more men. The system is incapable of allowing a woman shaped space for the needs of women who have been abused to be heard in a safe setting. The process of going to court is another act of sexual harassment and violence against already battered and abused women. What makes this morally wrong is that this is state sponsored violence against women.

[personal story]

Change must be effected within the criminal justice system to achieve justice for both genders. At present it is far too easy to label a woman manipulative, controlling, malicious or deviant, rather than to let her voice her pain, and to listen. We are not all Myra Hindley. Judges must receive proper training in how to listen to a woman when she wants to tell the court about domestic violence or coercive control—there is no point in enacting endless laws if judges don't understand how the actions of men will affect the actions of women in court. At present Judges receive no training in sexual harassment or how to deal with complaints concerning sexually harassment of people attending court or court staff.

In the Custodial Setting

When women are imprisoned, the institutional and endemic sexual discrimination that leads to sexual harassment of women in prison is not taken into consideration and not factored into the custodial setting. Women's attitudes and personalities are shaped by the experiences they have had and often, their relationships with both women and men will be transactional, manipulative and unbalanced. Over 90% of women in prison suffer from some form of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). The prevalence of PTSD in under-researched in women in custody. Yet the system is designed to inflict more trauma and emotional abuse and violence on women who have the misfortune to be in the criminal justice system, in any capacity.

[personal story]

There is approximately an equal sum of women and men prison officers, however in countries where gender is considered in the allocation of prisoners and prison officers and where custody and rehabilitation is measured through a gendered lens, reoffending rates are dramatically lower. The opportunity or incidence of misfeasance or sexual abuse in the custodial setting is reduced. At [prison], a women's resettlement prison in closed conditions (high security) there have been a string of allegations of sexual misconduct by men and women prison officers, particularly towards women in the therapeutic community (TC). This is where women with serious mental health disorders and personality disorder diagnosis are housed to undergo a minimum of 18 months of intensive therapy, to address the underlying issues that may have led to their offending behaviour. These women have suffered and often committed terrible crimes. However, in the women's custodial setting, they are further traumatised and abused by sexual approaches and relationships, no less than rape, by those meant to be protecting them, the officers. No less than three and possibly six officers are currently under criminal investigation for Misconduct in Public Office following accusations by women of inappropriate sexual relations;

HMPPS, the newly rebranded but consistently dysfunctional agency of the Ministry of Justice boasts of a trauma informed training given to all members of staff at HMP Send. Lady Edwina Grosvenor funds most of this through her One Small Thing initiative, a trauma informed approach to dealing with incarceration and rehabilitation. The trauma informed program is written by Dr Stephanie Covington, a renowned expert in the subject of trauma and its foundations and its treatment. Dr Covington has spent years of her life dedicated to writing a treatment program, in the prison setting delivered by peer mentors (fellow inmates) but grounded by the presence of officers who have been thoroughly trained and can intervene, where appropriate. HMP Drake Hall, which boasts its Enabling Environment quality assurance mark, delivers this program, too. The Governor, Carl Hardwick, recently held a conference and invited Dr Covington to give the keynote speech. However, in the systematic fashion typical of HMPPS, the prison service has bastardised the program and only prisoners deliver it. This curtails the therapeutic effect because the grounding presence and the layer of trust and security the trauma-trained officers impart is no longer there.

However this training is being delivered, it is clearly not driving home the message that women prisoners are not there to be preyed upon or there for relationships at the hands of the prison officers. At [prison] in the last 18 months, at least 3 officers have been removed from the prison following allegations of inappropriate relationships (rape) with prisoners. As soon as information about these criminal cases reaches the media, it is removed from the internet with D Notices banning publication and avoiding scrutiny.

These interactions are not only acts of sexual abuse and harassment towards the prisoners, they create tensions within the prison setting which has a negative ripple effect on other prisoners and members of staff. These officers are then open to blackmail and corruption, it is thought that many of the mobile phones in prisons are brought in through staff. At present, there is underlying tension to get rid of drugs and phones in prisons because they lead to intimidation and bullying. Until the root causes and imbalances within the institution are dealt with, which means a reset of the way we address the issue of women's offending behaviour, the symptoms (drugs, phones etc.) will not change.

[personal story]

[personal story]

This is not the only instance of sexual harassment of prisoners by officers and governors. Following allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct the Governor of [prison] [name] was removed, because he was going into prisoners' cells, unaccompanied, after the evening lock in.

People outside the prison had complained to the Ministry of Justice about this but these allegations were vehemently denied by the head of the women's unit at the MoJ. Instead of sacking him, he was quietly moved to head office.

Control and Restraint

We believe that there should be less use of control and restraint techniques and only where absolutely necessary in the women's estate. HMPPS are currently running a consultation concerning changing the control and restraint techniques currently deployed, (which are the same as those in the male estate), to those used in the juvenile estate. The holding techniques and language is less aggressive and harmful. We believe that the forceful control of women in the state's custody is an act of violence and a breach of our most basic human rights. It can never be justified. Such intimate and aggressive handling of women by strangers, both men and women is a further act of sexual harassment.

Again, until the root causes of violence and insurrection by the most damaged women are dealt with, violence by prisoners will continue. The number of violent incidents increases yearly and creates an intolerable environment for those of us who are consigned to live in prison. Staff morale must be dealt with, as an urgent issue, staff must be paid properly and according to the First Responder role they play, as active and dutiful public servants and the language within prisons must be moderated, at all levels. An act of insolence or disobedience by a prisoner is dealt with immediately through the Incentive and Earned Privilege System and can lead to demotion to Basic regime which is the equivalent of solitary confinement for 23 ½ hours a day.

However there is no such reporting or control mechanism in place to moderate or modify the few bad apples within the officer contingent. Complaints are ignored and most women cannot be bothered to complain within the prison system. The Prison and Probation Ombudsman takes a minimum of 6 months to investigate complaints and complaints to the local MP also take a very long time to receive an answer from the appropriate minister. Something has to be done urgently about the level of training and the decency and integrity expected of staff working within the prison system.

Eventually, one day 99.9% of women in prison will be released back into the community. It is for the benefit of society that we are treated decently in prison so that we can return to our lives as decent, contributing citizens.

We have made practical suggestions to Governor Hardwick's recent review of PS01600 (Use of Force) and suggested that the practice of holding a woman in a headlock so her face is at. the same height as the controlling officer's groin must cease immediately. This experience can be retraumatising for women who have suffered domestic violence or been sex workers. Women who have been raped or forced to perform sex acts on their perpetrators might also be triggered.

We have also asked for male officers not to restrain a woman because this disparity in strength and size, for the most part is unjust and causes more physical harm than absolutely necessary. HMPPS staff have given us a bizarre justification about a short woman or male officer having shorter forearms and thus being able to apply more pressure. In any event, the use of force by a man in any situation, particularly in the custodial setting is unwarranted. It must be abolished. This is humiliating and causes distress not just to the victim and the perpetrator but to all those who witness this violence. Violence begets more violence.

The root causes, which lie at the heart of the dysfunctional prison system must be addressed, in order that incidents of violence and fighting, where prisoners are causing real risk of harm to themselves or others must be addressed through an effective, trauma informed, psychotherapeutic environment.

[personal story]

Report after report confirms the failure to recognise and take seriously the tangled relationship between the sexual and physical abuse of women and their subsequent crimes can have a deleterious effect on their progression in the courts, before judges and in prisons.

How to Eliminate Sexual Harassment in the Public Arena of the Criminal Justice System

Frontline Staff

1.              Better training and ongoing personal development for prison officers, probation officers, police and all frontline staff dealing with women in the criminal justice system.

2.              Defined guidelines for safe and appropriate lawful behaviour.

3.              Psychometric testing for all prison officers to ensure they do not exhibit any personality disorders that might be aggravated by immersion into positions of power over women

4.              Degree level qualification minimum for staff employed in prisons or in the police service who are dealing with vulnerable women with additional training concerning vulnerability and trauma

5.              A new offence of Aggravated Misconduct with a minimum prison sentence of 5 years for any law enforcement or prison service employee engaging in sexual misconduct, sexual abuse or inappropriate behaviour with a prisoner

6.              Trauma informed training and regular supervision to counteract secondary trauma

7.              Deployment of female only staff in Therapeutic Communities and PIPE clinics (Mental health and drug awareness units)

The Judiciary

8.              Appropriate training for Judges and Magistrates concerning coercive control and domestic violence and the elimination of sexual harassment through proper training, of women defendants

9.              Vetting of judges' judgements and speeches to ensure that the language used is not discriminatory or derogatory, factual and not malicious or vitriolic

10.              An independent tribunal separate from the Judicial Conduct Investigation Office to investigate sexual harassment by the Judiciary in courts. Removal of judges who continue to abuse women in courts.

11.              Trauma informed training and regular supervision to counteract secondary trauma

The Government

12.              To hold an independent inquiry into the prevalence of sexual harassment in the criminal justice system in order to inform a new approach to women in the system and to promote fairness and justice for women

13.              To ensure statutory protection for women and girls in the criminal justice system who have been victims of domestic violence or other types of abuse is enacted within the upcoming Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill, recently announced by the Home Office

14.              To appoint a woman minister responsible for women in the criminal justice system, women in prison and women under the supervision of the Probation Services

15.              To monitor the prevalence of women who have been victims of DV who end up in prison and to ensure that the best safeguards and mental health and other support is made available to them, whether in prison or when released

May 2018