women penal policy

Closure of Turning Point 218

As previously advised, on 14 February 2024, Turning Point’s 218 service for women closed its doors. The 218 service operated eight residential beds for women with a criminal justice background and complex needs. It offered an alternative to custody for women in the justice system, helping up to 50 women a year. We fed a number of MSPs information on this and its important part in preventing the 'revolving door' of women's short-term offending was repeatedly raised in Parliament to little or no avail. We highlighted that there were some very worrying statements being made in Parliament – even from the First Minister – which seemed to conflate the 218 service with the Lilias Centre. The fact that the former is/was a women’s residential drug rehabilitation centre (as an alternative to custody) and the latter is a women’s prison (the definition of custody) appeared to be lost on far too many people. 

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