ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the rise and consolidation of women's imprisonment in UK jurisdictions, drawing brief comparison with other advanced democratic states. It focuses on the decarceration and abolition of women's imprisonment via alternatives to custody. Historically, however, criminological research and criminal justice policymaking neglected the regulation, punishment and incarceration of women and girl 'offenders'. The Scotland Act created a devolved government incorporating responsibility for criminal justice. Scotland's only women's prison and young offenders' unit, Cornton Vale, opened in 1975. A Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) investigation confirmed a deteriorating regime, the neglect of women's needs, the punishment through isolation of vulnerable women, and staff disinterest and hostility. Responding to spiralling rates of women's imprisonment, and compelling evidence of the harms of incarceration, gender-specific initiatives have developed across jurisdictions. Gender-specific programmes operate on the premise that services should take account of the context of women's lives and their relationships and social networks.
