Keep Prison Single Sex closing

[TinselAngel]

Just announced on Twitter.

x.com/noxyinxxprisons/status/1798973161276412028?s=46&t=PSGltfjrMyZmBtYq2-AVIQ

"After considerable thought we have decided to close KPSS down. Our last day of operation will be 30th June 2024.

We have agreed that Kate will continue to support and work with the individual prisoners, former offenders, and CJS whistleblowers with whom we have relationships. Kate is contacting everyone individually to advise them of this.

We have some materials still available and can post these out to whomever wants them: our email address will remain live, so please use this to contact us. All reports and leaflets are also available on our website which, together with our Vimeo, we will maintain as a resource, although content will not be updated.

It is no longer possible to make a donation to KPSS and all regular donations have been cancelled - however, please do check your own accounts. Our PayPal account is now closed. Both KPSS shops have been closed.

KPSS USA is unaffected by this decision. Their work will continue. Please give them a follow @NoXY_USA Any funds remaining after closing down KPSS will be transferred to them.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us. Between us we achieved some truly great things, including two Ministry of Justice policy changes that centre the safety and rights of women in prison. Be proud of what you have done, because none of what KPSS achieved would have been possible without you."

I guarantee you it will be her tone; https://archive.ph/M6zen

Funny how a woman on the cutting edge, supporting vulnerable women locked up with violent sex offenders, is condemned because she isn’t polite enough about it. #bekind resulted in those poor women having to shower naked next to men and get punished if they object. I can see why she might not feel inclined to soften her words.

Any woman who speaks her mind in order to get important things done, rather than conforming to middle class politesse should be applauded by feminists not tone policed.

I do think it's short-sighted of SM and WRN though. KPSS did important work and I don't think she will be so easily replaced (as absurdly suggested by a pp upthread).

Much more than that. KPSS shifted the Overton Window. Her presence, because it was blunt and critical, shifted the discourse and made SM and WRN seem much more attractive to politicians and civil servants.

Definitely. Kate Coleman always talks so much sense.
She's definitely one of the women who have influenced my position on this issue.

Having said that I do think that being publicly critical of other organisations does potentially make it tricky when you then want to be included or to collaborate with them at a later date

It does. But also I think there comes a point when one realises one is never going to be included and thinks "Fuck this I'm going to call this out".

Agree. I think it was her on a Sarah Phillimore public zoom meeting some years ago (2018?) which had some "trans women" attendees. The "trans woman" gave a very gentle account of his life experience and KPSS very calmly explained that no matter how much he felt like a woman single sex spaces were for women only.

I was so impressed how she did it because at the time I would have struggled to state that so directly and calmly.

Kate Coleman and Keep Prisons Single Sex have done valuable work.

The rumours that the reason that the Keep Prisons Single Sex campaign is ceasing operations is because I, or Sex Matters, “cold-shouldered” Kate Coleman or arranged for her and her campaign to be excluded from Whitehall or Westminster meeting are false.

https://www.forstater.com/statement-about-rumours/

I've asked for a post of mine to be deleted. I admire both Sex Matters and KPSS as organisations and don't want to inadvertently spread any info that is potentially false.

It Is not about excluding, it is about recognising there are other voices, often more expert on the topic than your own, and actively seeking to include them.

There is no contradiction between admiring the work that an organisation such as SM does, but also be critical of them in some things. Indeed, I think it is important to be able to do both.

Thank you @TinselAngel for starting this thread.

We are indeed closing down.

Although we aren't that active on Mumsnet, MN holds a very special place in my heart: it was a small group of very patient women here who terfed me about decade ago. It was friends I made via MN who encouraged me and supported me when I was thinking of starting up KPSS 4 years ago.

This is a bloody luffly nest of vipers and I am indebted to you all.

Although we are closing down, we remain in operation for the rest of this month. I will be posting on Twitter things you can do to help, whether it is for prisons, for policing, for data collection, for DBS checks, risk assessment & safeguarding, the proposed Equality Act amendment, or against the risks that are inherent in digital identities. Although we began with a focus on women's prisons, we ended up doing much more.

There is so much we were unable to achieve. But we did, with the help of our supporters, achieve amazing things. Two Ministry of Justice policy changes that centre the safety and rights of women in prison and which set global precedents for prisons policy.

Those victories belong to everyone who helped us.

xx

@KeepPrisonsSingleSex

Thank you. You're a huge loss and you've helped me see the issues, and to think hard about them - and what we seek. Thank you once again.

I was going to post a longer, snarkier, response to this. But I can't be bothered.

We've got the gist. The 'it wasn't me' deflecting doesn't quite ring true given what else has been said. This excuses you from things not actually said/happened. Job well done. 👏

There's definitely a career path here that fits with the spin & sleight of hand PR endemic in politics. Good luck with those incremental barely noticeable shifts in policy that do feck all for women, but keep the project going. 👍👍👍

I said I wasn't going to do snark. I let myself down. Tsk.

A lot of the fringe lobby groups will go down soon. There will be too many mouths to feed from the Tufton Street piggy bank so with a change of politics comes a change of funding. What did KPSS achieve? Did they make prisons safer for women in the bigger picture? There is no evidence of any positive outcomes.

You could argue they damaged the discussion about vulnerable women in prison because there were several news reports of prison guards sexually abusing women and other prison workers neglecting the mental health needs of women, but very few people heard about those stories because the media was hyper-focused on trans issues.

Thats the sad reality

You wouldn't know reality if it bit you on the bum, Freda.

They made women in prison safer from men like you.

They made women in prison safer from men like you.

👏

👏👏👏

I'm off to visit Bunbury. Anyone fancy coming?

It might be as well.

Thank you KPSS and do feck off Fred

Been chucked out of any comedy clubs recently Fred? 😂

A lot of the fringe lobby groups will go down soon.

True dat. Stonewall. Mermaids….