Giving Evidence recently completed a systematic review of what is known (the literature) about women on remand in the UK. We found more than expected, though very little about ‘what works’.

This all happens while UK prisons are full: the prison population in England and Wales has doubled over the last 30 years despite crime rates falling substantially. The prisons crisis is a Government priority, and hence its current review of sentencing.

This work was funded and requested by Firebird Foundation, a UK foundation working on gender justice and equality, and in collaboration with the Howard League for Penal Reform.

What research exists

In short: more than we were expecting. We included documents from the last 10 years, and found 109 relevant documents 🙂 But:

• Only two documents explicitly focus on women on remand. Most have broader focus e.g., remand all prisoners, all prisoners, everything in all prisons, everything in some specific prisons etc.
• Zero robust evaluations: there are seven studies which relate somewhat to the effectiveness of an intervention, but none is a true impact evaluation: rather, they are descriptions of interventions, or use participant-reported effects, author’s interpretations, etc.
• Only two documents relate to cost analyses.

So the literature reveals much about what is happening, but far less about why it is happening, what is effective, or how to implement meaningful change.

The importance of intersections of factors that lead women into remand is highlighted, including systemic inequalities, gender-specific criminogenic needs, and inadequate support mechanisms. Yet very few studies explore how overlapping identities (such as ethnicity, class, age, gender, LGBTQ identity, disability, nationality or immigration status) shape women’s experiences and outcomes. 

The literature focuses on the justice system, with much less attention given to the roles of health, welfare, and housing services.

There is very little material about why remand is used e.g., why judges / magistrates use it: this is discussed in only two documents. (However, there is some material about factors that seem to increase the chance of being remanded, e.g., having complex needs.) 

So there are important gaps around: understanding how overlapping forms of disadvantage or discrimination affect women’s pathways through the criminal justice system; investigation of why women are remanded; and rigorous evaluations to understand what interventions are effective for women on remand in the UK.

What the evidence says 

Our synthesis found that justice system frequently remands into custody (i.e., imprisons) women who do not eventually get convicted (20% are not convicted), and fails to support them properly.

Frequent, disruptive, and often unjustified use of remand

Women are routinely held on remand for relatively short periods – on average for 37 days – which is long enough to “disrupt families, housing, and finances…Even short periods of custody can result in a mother losing her home or her children being taken into care.”

Women on remand have high and unmet mental health needs

Women on remand frequently experience can have mental health issues but are excluded from appropriate care: they may be specifically ineligible for in-prison mental health services or therapeutic interventions. Unsurprisingly, high levels of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress were documented in several studies.

Lack of community-based alternatives drives overuse of remand

The overreliance on custodial remand is often a default response to social problems, rather than to criminal risk. “Women are often remanded because of systemic failures in housing, mental health provision, and trauma-informed bail support—not because they pose a threat to public safety.” Community-based alternatives might solve this and avoid the disruption that remand brings.

Racial disparities and inequities

There are ethnic disparities in remand decisions: it is used more for Black women than for white women. Remand seems to sometimes be used for immigration control, disproportionately targeting foreign nationals, and foreign national women frequently receive more punitive bail decisions.

Exclusion from core services

Remanded women are routinely excluded from key support services, including resettlement, mental health care, housing, and Mother and Baby Units. There was an appalling incident when a pregnant woman on remand gave birth completely alone, was offered no support despite requesting it, and the baby died.

Family separation and child welfare harms

Remand often results in sudden and traumatic separation from children, and criminal courts rarely assess the effect of remand on child welfare. We read of cases where mothers were remanded without time to arrange childcare, leading to informal, unstable care arrangements and housing barriers for extended family.

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All the points above are discussed further in the full report, and the sources detailed there. Appendices to the report are here.

* For explanation of using an interactive EGM like this, see here & scroll down a bit, though the software changed a little in between, sigh.

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Relevant, rather shocking facts: – 85% of women on remand have been charged with a non-violent crime – As of December 2023, 22% of women in prison in the UK were on remand.  – Remand is increasing being used for women – 25% between December 2022 and December 2023. – Remand – and the associated uncertainty – is particularly bad for women, with self-harm being worse amongst women on remand than other women in prison: There were 467 incidents of self-harm for every 100 women on remand compared with an overall rate of self-harm amongst women in prison of 370 per 100.

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