A whole-system approach is a necessary and welcome response for women – but we’ve got to use this momentum to make real change for everyone trapped in crisis.
This week, Lord Chancellor David Lammy outlined plans to transform the women’s justice system and reduce the women’s prison estate. This is a welcome campaign win for third-sector organisations who have long warned about homelessness, substance use, domestic abuse and poor mental health as leading indicators for women coming in to contact with the justice system. But importantly for Revolving Doors, we saw our deliberate wording leading the media release: progress for our long-term aim to elevate those in the ‘revolving door’ group as a specific focus for reimagining effective justice and strategic investment.
The ‘revolving doors’ group typically commit acquisitive crime because they experience overlapping disadvantage: substance use, mental ill-health, neurodivergence, homelessness, domestic abuse and childhood trauma. Many are both offenders and victims, with histories of being victims of abuse and exploitation. Lammy’s media release focuses on women, whilst acknowledging the “revolving door” is perpetuated by life experiences. Both men and women in this mixed group move between police, courts, prison, probation, health and homelessness services while the underlying drivers of their offending remain starkly unaddressed.
“I was in prison eight times in 12 months. Every time I was released homeless with £5 and methadone. The first thing you do is shoplift. The system is not right. It’s pointless putting a homeless man in a cell for a month then releasing him homeless. It leads to death.”
Investments in reducing reoffending by both male and female ‘prolific offenders’ by elevating the impact of prevention and diversion programmes will ensure that the Government is taking their responsibility for those with unmet health and social needs seriously. Without reducing reoffending and tackling the root cause of prolific low-level offending, we are short-changing society.
Around 29,000 people in England and Wales are caught in the cycle of repeat reoffending fuelled by multiple disadvantage. They account for more than 130,000 offences each year, costing an estimated £23 billion annually. Evan just a 1% reduction in reoffending would save approximately £65 million per year.
“There are massive gaps between probation, drug services, mental health and housing. Nobody speaks to each other.”
Whilst much welcome reforms in the Sentencing Act and further investment in the court system announced previously by Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy were welcome, they did not go far enough towards safer streets and justice for victims because there is no plan to reduce reoffending. But Lammy’s announcement of a whole-system approach that tackles the root causes of offending is a bold and insightful investment in a healthier and fairer society.
“When I told a mental health worker I used heroin and crack, she completely shut down. It shows how people fall through the cracks.”
Revolving Doors has repeatedly raised that short custodial sentences disrupt housing and treatment, increasing the likelihood of rapid reoffending, and probation services are too disjointed and slow to address these problems. The presumption against short sentences was welcome, but alone it risked being a delay to custody rather than an alternative if suspended sentences are unable to offer real rehabilitation opportunities.
“They bounce you from pillar to post. Drug services say go to mental health; mental health say go to drug services. It’s impossible.”
Other barriers to supporting those trapped in a cycle of crisis and crime include dealing with unprecedented delays in court and bouncing in and out of prison on ineffective short-term sentences, often unsupported by an overwhelmed, understaffed probation service whilst the root causes of offending go unaddressed.
“My real dad killed himself, my mum was a drinker […] I bounced in and out of care. It should never have taken 46 years for someone to realise I needed mental health support.”
Alongside this, many ‘revolving door offenders’ struggle to reintegrate into society, facing overlapping challenges such as mental health issues, housing instability, poverty, substance use, trauma and late-diagnosed neurodiversity. While the cohort is diverse, consistent patterns emerge. Data analysis and personal accounts show clusters of unmet need and repeated low-impact interventions that often escalate rather than resolve problems.
As an antidote to these problems, we urgently needed investment into specialist third sector services supporting more effective resettlement, reshaping prison release and advocating for community support for not just women, but all those trapped in the revolving door.
“There’s people behind these offences […] If my early experiences had been looked at properly, it could have been arrested at such an earlier stage. I’m not making excuses, but the truth is my mum committed suicide and we were feral […] it took recovery workers to realise I had PTSD and ADHD that nobody ever picked up.”
We write to Prisons Minister Timpson and Lord Chancellor Lammy frequently, advocating for a whole-system approach and an evidence-led focus on prevention and diversion, considering both routes into police interaction and custody and effective prison resettlement in our advocacy. As a pragmatic organisation, Revolving Doors were adamant that acknowledging this cohort and investing in this route forward was the urgent responsibility of the Government, which has repeatedly promised to prioritise this group and reduce the prison estate.
The costs to repeat offending extends beyond public services, affecting victims, families and communities. The evidence is clear: early, person-centred and trauma-informed support is both a human and economic imperative.
A focus on women is welcome, but we want a whole-system approach to be adopted further. The ‘revolving doors’ cohort is identifiable, relatively small and disproportionately costly across services. A cross-Government strategy linking justice, health and housing could reduce crime, relieve pressure on frontline services providing specialist support to many different groups (women, boys, minority groups and the revolving doors group) and deliver measurable fiscal savings.
“I believe I was a product of my environment […] I wasn’t dealt the best hand, and childhood trauma played a big part in how my life went.”
Every day we see headlines about shoplifting and ‘prolific offenders’ which paints them as villains. But the real story is a small group of people, living with deep trauma and ill health, costing the country billions while receiving little meaningful support. The evidence is clear – we can either keep pouring money into crisis responses, or we can break the revolving door through prevention and rehabilitation. The published report from the Women’s Justice Board and announcement from Lord Chancellor Lammy is a welcome step towards this. It feels like there is momentum towards an evidence-led justice system that genuinely breaks the cycle of crisis and crime, but we must make sure this energy for impact acknowledges everyone.
