Birth Companions responds to the Women's Justice Board report

This week we are celebrating what we hope will be a genuine turning point in the long struggle to end the imprisonment of pregnant women and mothers in England and Wales.

The recommendations of the Women's Justice Board -which include legislation to end the use of custody in pregnancy for all but the most exceptional cases, and guidance to severely limit the imprisonment of mothers of children up to the age of two – are quite simply groundbreaking. We pay tribute to the many women with lived experience of pregnancy, birth and early motherhood in prison whose courage and persistence, over many years, have made this moment possible.

Birth Companions has led calls for these changes for thirty years, while providing emotional, practical, and advocacy support to thousands of imprisoned women and their families, and driving real, tangible improvements wherever possible. We helped achieve the first set of mandatory standards of care for pregnant women,women on Mother and Baby Units and mothers separated from their babies in prison, and yet we still witness repeated breaches of these standards, and the life-long impacts of a closed and broken system.

We called for the creation of the Women’s Justice Board, alongside our sisters in the National Women's Justice Coalition, in order to radically reduce the women's prison population, prevent the devastating separation of mothers and children, and place community-based, trauma-informed support at the heart of the criminal justice system's response. This report bears the initial fruits of those long-term, collective efforts. It’s now time to enact these recommendations, with ambition. Support for specialist women’s services is critical to this, and so we also welcome the Government’s announcement of a 50% increase in funding for women’s centres and charities around the country.  

The work ahead

Lord Timpson says the Government will "now consider carefully the recommendations in this report." That consideration must happen swiftly,and shift these recommendations into action with urgency. We need to see a clear plan, with a clear time frame, which explains how these reforms will be woven into other ongoing work, including implementation of the new Sentencing Act and reform of the criminal courts. We need cross-departmental commitments, scrutiny and accountability. The Women's Justice Board and its Partnership Delivery Group have set out a way forward, built on deep expertise and strong collaborative relationships, with significant momentum. This must not be lost.

Our commitment

Birth Companions, with our Lived experience Team, stands ready to work with the Women's Justice Advisory Group, the Ministry of Justice, and across government to help translate these recommendations into reality. The potential for a radically different criminal justice system for women is within reach.

Find out more about Birth Companions’ programme to achieve a new, better approach to pregnancy and early motherhood across the criminal justice system: 1001 Days in the CJS.

For further information, contact Katherine Miller Brunton: katherine@birthcompanions.org.uk

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