Submission to the Welsh Parliament’s Equality and Social Justice Committee inquiry on women’s experiences

“Far from being a Welsh solution to a Welsh problem, the Residential Women’s Centre (RWC) to be opened in Swansea is part of a UK government proposal to build a network of five such centres across England and Wales.

“This is a model which is untried and untested, compared to the already well-established model of women’s centres that operate in the community without a residential requirement.

“Wales should be investing in this model as an effective alternative to custody, rather than pursuing the UK government’s unevidenced experiment in wholly new residential provision.

“Given the residential requirement, it is unclear how a RWC will differ in practice from custody – even if women are placed there as part of a community sentence.”

Read the full submission