Bullwood prison change made in haste, says Bishop

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Revd John Gladwin, has raised with Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Minister of State, Home Office the disruptive effects of the hasty decision to transfer women prisoners from Bullwood Hall prison at Hockley on the local community.

The Bishop was speaking in a debate in the House of Lords on July 4 about the decision that was announced in late May to move the female prisoners out of Bullwood Hall and replace them with male prisoners.  A new woman chaplain had been appointed with a view to serving the prison as it was and dozens of people had been preparing themselves as volunteers to work in the visit centre. He asked whether she would accept that decisions, made in such haste, can undermine the confidence of the local community in its local prison.

The Minister accepted that there is a great deal of work to be done with offenders in the community and in the prisons and expressed the hopes that the community would not be undermined and that good work could be done with volunteers better to support offenders when they come out into the community and better to support the men who will be going to Bullwood Hall and their families.

The Diocese of Chelmsford has confirmed that it will continue to be very active inside Bullwood Hall.

The rationale for the decision to move women prisoners out of Bullwood Hall and move male prisoners in is to address the issue of overcrowding in prisons.

The Bishop of Chelmsford has commented: ‘If we want as a society to tackle prison overcrowding, we need to get out of prison the thousands of people who shouldn’t be there - such as people with mental health problems who with the right support could live in the community – in order to find space for the people who should be inside.’

---