At the Business Meeting on Wednesday 12 June, members enjoyed an interesting talk by Amanda Antcliffe, a Soroptimist from Burton-upon-Trent. Amanda has been employed within the criminal justice system for 25 years, including the Police Service, Witness Care and Foston Hall, a Closed Female prison in Derby. She is currently employed as a Cluster Manager by Milton Keynes College, who provide education in adult men’s and women’s prisons and young offender institutes.
After an introduction by Amanda, club members filled in a quiz sheet which revealed some startling facts. From research carried out in 2010/11, 17,240 children were separated from their mothers due to their mother’s imprisonment. Of this number only 9% were cared for by their fathers in their mothers absence. Even more disturbing was that 81% of the women sentenced to prison had committed non-violent crimes and a high percentage of the violent crimes were committed in self defence. In December 2011 the Soroptimist International UK Programme Action Committee took the decision to mount a campaign, in partnership with the Prison Reforms Trust, to reduce women’s imprisonment across the UK. An Action Pack was issued to all UK Clubs. The Official launch of the Action Pack was held at the House of Commons on 25 April 2013.
Amanda’s talk summarised the plight of some of these women and the steps that can be taken to not only reduce women’s imprisonment but, through education, to reduce the likelihood of prisoners re-offending. President Donna thanked Amanda for a very enlightening presentation.