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Following a number of postponements, the long awaited and much needed female offender strategy for England and Wales was finally published in June 2018. The strategy reflects the strong agreement across the sector of the need for a 'distinct' or 'gender specific' approach to respond to the vulnerabilities of women in the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Despite this, the strategy lacks clarity and offers little assurance that the direction taken will result in actual change and positive reform. It is vital that the government's implementation of the female offender strategy provides and demonstrates a genuine commitment to appropriate provision for females in the CJS through ring-fenced permanent funding as well as top-down accountability.

The pain of maternal imprisonment is the focus of Chapter 5 by Lucy Baldwin, with Mary Elwood and Cassie Brown. Maternal imprisonment is a research area that has garnered interest in the twenty-first century, however much of the focus relates to the impact on the child due to separation by maternal imprisonment. What is less well documented, particularly in the mother’s own voice, is the impact prison has on women as mothers, relating to their maternal identity, their self- worth, their maternal role and their journey ‘back to good mothering’ or ‘normality’. Through the narratives of post-prison mothers, the authors explore the pains associated with maternal imprisonment, but significantly also reveal much about their struggle in relation to reintegration into their families once released, and the longer-term impact of having been an imprisoned mother.

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