Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, Mark Isherwood AM has welcomed the announcement that Wales has been chosen as the location for the UK Government’s first Residential Women’s Centre.
As part of its Female Offender Strategy, the UK Government will be making £2.5m available for community services across England and Wales which divert women at risk away from crime.
Residential Women’s Centres will provide an alternative to short prison sentences that is focused on rehabilitation for women convicted of any low-level crime, tackling the issues which often underlie offending, like substance misuse and mental health problems.
Mr Isherwood said: “I warmly welcome the UK Government’s announcement that Wales will be home to the first Residential Women’s Centre. This is something I have been calling for ever since the UK Government first announced that it had rejected community prisons for women in England and Wales, and would instead trial five residential centres to help women offenders with issues such as drug rehabilitation and finding work.
“The Welsh Government has been demanding that one of these should be in Wales. The UK Government has now gone one better by locating the first centre here.
“The Welsh Government has been calling for the devolution of justice and policing on the grounds that they want to do things ‘differently’ here in Wales, but the UK Government is delivering the different approach across England and Wales that they say they wanted.
“As I have warned, these calls fail to acknowledge that criminal activity does not recognise national and regional boundaries, with 48% of people in Wales living within 25 miles of the border with England. Quite frankly, their calls should be ignored.”
ENDS