The Holloway Prison site

• MANY people in the local community have told us they support a women’s building that can provide the services that women need to keep them out of the criminal justice system and avoid the destruction of lives – theirs and their children’s – that comes with prison sentences.

This is particularly poignant when you read that 49 per cent of female offenders have been victims of domestic abuse and more than 50 per cent report experiencing sexual abuse as children.

So it was shocking to read that, according to the Prison Service, if a judge wants to help a woman, he or she has to send her to prison.

The Ministry of Justice sold the Holloway Prison site – public land – to Peabody Housing Association for £82million.

But when a Prison Service spokesperson was asked to respond to a request from the community to contribute just £10million from its vast profit on the sale of Holloway women’s prison, they said: “Money from the sale of Holloway is being reinvested into the prison estate and will help fund 500 new female prison places – giving women greater access to education, health care and employment and support them to turn their backs on crime.”

In fact, many judges have commented that the only way for female offenders to access mental health care is by being sentenced to prison because of the dramatic decrease in services for mental health, addiction, and psychological difficulties available to them in the community.

We want a new women’s building for the vital services that were lost when the prison closed, rather than more prison places for women. Women need training, health care, and opportunities, but they shouldn’t have to go to prison to get them.

THE WOMEN’S BUILDING WORKING GROUP, COMMUNITY PLAN FOR HOLLOWAY