The next No Males in Female Jails protest

Women's Rights Network North East organised a third Prison's Protest on 26 Feb, a silent vigil at Low Newton Women's Prison in Co Durham:

mobile.twitter.com/NorthernWomens1/status/1497835860498259968

There is also a day of Global Prison Protests on Sunday 6th March for International Women's Day, mainly in the USA, Canada and Australia.

www.northernradfemnetwork.org/

Northern Radfem Network are working with KPSS and have a sister demo planned at Styal Women's prison on Saturday 26th at 12. Styal is near Mcr Airport. NRN have protested outside Styal recently and got a lot of local support. Speeches and clip can be seen on NRN website which I will try and link to (I'm a bit shite at tech)

Thanks @EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn, will do!

I'm thinking of joining the protest on Saturday @KeepPrisonsSingleSex, do I just show up? Thanks

It makes absolutely no sense.

Why are not more prison officers querying this? I appreciate some are but how on earth could two girls be housed with boys?

The MoJ decided that the prisoners on E Wing have to be allowed to associate with the women in the main prison in order to 'foster good relations' between these two groups.

That's the bit that I was also the most JFC about.

Jfc

I am appalled that E Wing has been removed as a resource for women & girls that desperately needed it & sickened that males convicted of sexual assaults against women are serving their sentence in womens prisons. How anyone can justify this is beyond me.

In 2021 Richard Garside tweeted about women being housed in mens prisons;

Richard Garside
I have heard that at least two female child prisoners are currently being held at the male young offender institution at Wetherby.
It follows the removal of child prisoners from Rainsbrook secure training centre because of safety and welfare concerns.
This is unacceptable.
7:34 AM · Jul 29, 2021
twitter.com/RichardJGarside/status/1420648792433569795

Richard Garside
Had the prison service not decided to turn the Josephine Butler Unit at Downview into a unit to hold male prisoners, it could have been an option to house young female prisoners. But instead they are being housed in a male young offender institution.
Makes no sense at all.
10:02 AM · Jul 29, 2021·
twitter.com/RichardJGarside/status/1420671069221007363

There was a recent newsletter, probably from WOLF about the dormitory style of rooms housing 15 women I think it was, that had to be cleared out and presumably the women reshuffled to crowded facilities to accommodate one man. Apologies for lack of specificity.

Are there protests planned further out west?

Saturday is a good day for protests, I'd like to go to Newport tomorrow but I'm working. Is anyone going?

The MoJ decided that the prisoners on E Wing have to be allowed to associate with the women in the main prison in order to 'foster good relations' between these two groups.

Jesus wept, it's positively mediaeval. Women are being served up as fodder for these violent male criminals.

Women everywhere are being used as a resource for the worst possible men. Misogyny doesn't get lower.

Thank you EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn and KeepPrisonsSingleSex for this!

Hi,
Apologies that the link didn't work for some of you and thank you for posting the text here (all with full permission!).

Yes, prisoners who are held on E Wing still share facilities with the women held in the wider prison at Downview. This will be to access things like gym, library, education, pharmacy. These are considered to be the most dangerous male prisoners in the female estate who, absent a GRC, would either not have been allocated to the female estate in the first place, or would have been transferred back to the male estate.

The MoJ decided that the prisoners on E Wing have to be allowed to associate with the women in the main prison in order to 'foster good relations' between these two groups.

At best, continuing to permit the prisoners held at E Wing to access facilities in the main estate is disruptive to the women (it may mean things like their regime has to start later or finish earlier so E Wing prisoners can access whatever they need to) and takes away resources, including staffing, in order to supervise these prisoners whilst they are in the main estate. At worst, it leaves women still in a position of risk from prisoners who have been proved to present a level of risk to women that is too high to be safely managed in a normal prison environment.

I'd be interested to know how this separate wing works in practice. Do it's inmates still share faculties with the female prisoners?

It's too far for me but wishing everyone well for the protest and look forward to hearing about it.

In consideration of the options available to house male prisoners with a GRC, the perceived necessity for these prisoners to continue to associate with female prisoners, to have ‘equality of opportunity’ compared to female prisoners

Dear Goddess! The priority is to give some male prisoners equality of opportunity compared to female prisoners? How about giving these male prisoners equality of opportunity compared to other male prisoners?

And as for changing the purpose of E wing from helping women to reintegrate into society, to helping males get access to them - that is positively punitive!

Thanks!