WPUK: A Woman’s Place is NOT in prison

[Cwenthryth]

I’m heading town to this meeting in central London tonight. There’s a hashtag #WPUKPrisons to follow for live tweeting and as ever everything will be uploaded as videos later.

Am very interested to learn more about this topic, as it is an area I know little about beyond headlines. Especially interested to see where any commonality may be with those self-proclaimed “intersectional feminists” who say we all have to be “anti-carceral”.

I’m heading down to town for this meeting…..doh!

Hope you have a great time. Please report back x

I served 18 years in the Prison service. I hadn’t heard of this, but I wouldn’t because it’s in London.
Same old same old.

There will be live tweeting using #WPUKPrisons and they'll be posting the recordings to youtube.

https://twitter.com/womansplacee_uk/status/1453410241299820544?s=21

"We are setting up here for A Woman’s Place is NOT in prison. We are looking forward to a brilliant discussion tonight. If you can’t be here in person. you can follow #WPUKPrisons for live tweets. Speakers will be filmed and recordings uploaded to our YouTube channel."

This will be interesting.

Frances Crook.

Keeping an eye out for the #

I so wish I could be there....hope it its a brilliant evening. Many female prisoners are locked up for non violent crimes. Many have mental health issues often caused by abuse at the hands of men, sexual assault in their childhoods/violent abuse by an intimate partner. The fact that they are sent to prison and locked up with males who are convicted of violent sexual offences against women-but identify as women-is truly inhumane. As a society we must get males out of womens prisons and really offer women a more therapeutic pathway to help them. Women make up around 4% of the prison population and many of them could be looked after in a community based open prison-not locked up away from their families.

One of WPUK's tweets in anticipation of tonight.

80% of women have been sentenced for a non-violent offence; 70% women in prison are survivors of domestic abuse; 90% of children of imprisoned mothers have to leave home as a result - Tonight - A Woman’s Place is NOT in prison

twitter.com/Womans_Place_UK/status/1453374227747426305?s=20

WPUK have held events all over the country, they’re really not London-centric, but I believe generally do events when invited by local activists?

There’s a very small band of transactivists outside, most very quiet, being dominated by 2 transwomen with a megaphone who are shouting very aggressively at the queue, particularly singling out women of colour. Apparently the only reason we think they’re men is because they’re stealing our husbands…..go figure that one, gave me a laugh anyway. I’m sure video will surface.

Hope all goes well, I've just read on twitter there's some screeching outside.

shouting very aggressively at the queue, particularly singling out women of colour.

It's not a manner of interaction that I'd have considered adopting but that's why I'm a dinosaur and showcasing my lack of familiarity with contemporary culture and mores.

I hope that they nip into the meeting and listen to the content as it's such an important issue.

I filmed a little, security tried to stop me saying I was provoking them and making his job harder. I said we women put up with this abuse day in day out in our personal lives, he is being paid to manage one event….he said, oh, well fair play, fill your boots then but I actually have quite low battery and need phone for tube home, so conserving for now!

I wish I'd known about this! Have been to other WPUK events but wasn't aware of this one :(

@TheOccupier

I wish I'd known about this! Have been to other WPUK events but wasn't aware of this one :(

Thank goodness there will be recordings. I knew it was on but I had no chance of reaching London in time for the event.

I apologise for sounding snippy.
It’s great that this is being supported and I applaud everyone who has attended.
I do wonder how you are supposed to know about these kind of things, though. It’s as though there is a secret cabal or something.

@frogface69

I apologise for sounding snippy. It’s great that this is being supported and I applaud everyone who has attended. I do wonder how you are supposed to know about these kind of things, though. It’s as though there is a secret cabal or something.

It was posted here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4353595-Womans-Place-UK-meeting-on-Prisons-Wednesday-27-October

But we could do with a calendar app to publicise these events (along with consultations) as it's not practical to keep the threads live so that people can see them.

Apparently the only reason we think they’re men is because they’re stealing our husbands…

🤣🤣🤣

They advertise their meetings on FB https://www.facebook.com/womansplaceuk/

On Insta https://instagram.com/womansplaceuk?utmmedium=copyy_link

On Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/womans-place-uk-15661534662

On Twitter https://twitter.com/womansplacee_uk?s=21

@Melroses

Apparently the only reason we think they’re men is because they’re stealing our husbands…

🤣🤣🤣

Call me old-fashioned (see above dinosaur identity) but I don't perceive DH as property to be acquired/stolen/TWOC'd.

However, undoubtedly, those with more savvy than I have understand these matters differently and I may well be in denial.

Quite right - husbands are not objects or possessions or transferrable assets 🤷‍♀️

The statistics and snippets of stories on this Twitter hashtag are a squeeze to the heart.

And predictably...

TRAs doing that thing they do

twitter.com/bindelj/status/1453440985019654147?s=20

I followed one of the WPUK links to this decent Guardian piece on a report of the costs of imprisoning women and the costs of caring for their children.

A report from UK crime and justice consultancy Crest Advisory, called Counting the Cost of Maternal Imprisonment, has tracked the impact of the imprisonment of mothers on both them and their children and, for the first time, worked out the financial cost.

One of the cases that was tracked involved a mother convicted for drug possession with intent to supply. This led to her child being placed in care in a placement the child is at high risk of absconding from. The cost of imprisoning the mother and providing care for her child while she was incarcerated was almost £265,000.

Along with the devastation felt by mothers about being forcibly separated from their children, the impact on their children can include school exclusion, suicide attempts, increased vulnerability to exploitation, mental health issues and youth crime.

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/25/jailing-of-most-mothers-for-non-violent-crimes-should-stop-says-report

There isn't decent, reliable data collection, of course.

I've no idea what the answers to the above questions would be although I doubt it will be possible to cover them within one meeting such as the one WPUK is staging this evening.

Ironically, one of the reasons that I don't know what the research or thinking there is on this is because activists managed to force the cancellation of previous attempts to have a whole day conference on the topic of non-carceral solutions to imprisonment and related matters.