PCC funds critical counselling service for women prisoners who are survivors of sexual violence or abuse.

A new counselling service has been funded by Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen to support female prisoners who have experienced sexual violence and abuse as adults or children.

The County Durham and Darlington PCC has commissioned the Rape & Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre (RSACC) to deliver the new programme from HMP Low Newton for the next 12 months.

The project has seen the placement of a specialist sexual violence counsellor with expert knowledge and experience of supporting survivors in a prison setting based at HMP Low Newton for three days a week.

Survivors will have access to 20 weeks of confidential counselling and the scheme is set to benefit a total of 40 survivors.

According to research undertaken by national charity Women in Prison in 2020, 79 per cent of women in prison have experienced sexual violence and abuse as adults. More than half (53 per cent) will have experienced emotional, physical and sexual abuse as a child.

Despite this, specialist sexual violence support for women is not yet widely available in a prison setting.

RSACC’s programme draws on Rape Crisis’s expert model of support for survivors in a prison setting and on release in the community.

The counselling allows clients to explore issues, alleviate feelings of guilt and build confidence to help them move on from trauma.

Commissioner Allen has pledged to fund high-quality services so that victims have access to a range of specialist support at any point of their recovery as part of the ‘Safer People’ priority of her Police and Crime Plan.

She said: “Survivors of sexual violence and abuse deserve high-quality, specialist care to cope and manage their feelings and symptoms of trauma. This should be available at any stage of the recovery journey and in any setting.

“As previous research has shown, there is a gap in the availability of this support in our prisons and that is something I am determined to change. By addressing vulnerability and helping women who have suffered these terrible crimes to understand their feelings and regain control of their emotions, we will develop greater resilience in our communities and help to protect women from future victimisation.”

Isabel Owens, RSACC Chief Executive Officer, added: “A high proportion of the women's prison population has experienced sexual violence and abuse either as children or adults. Such violence can seriously impact a survivors mental and physical health for decades. It can be helped with the specialist sexual violence counselling that we offer to survivors across County Durham.  However, generally this type of counselling is not available to those in prison.

“Research we have previously conducted on survivors within the women's prison system at HMP Low Newton clearly demonstrated the wide-ranging benefits of this counselling. Therefore, we are really pleased that Durham's Police and Crime Commissioner is supporting us to deliver our expert model of counselling that will help sexual violence survivors in prison and on their release in the community.”

RSACC said consistent and long-term support from specialist services that understand the impact of rape and abuse is vital to work through the trauma of sexual violence.

Currently, access to long-term counselling either in the community or with the prison estate is very limited. Delivering long-term counselling to women who have experienced sexual violence allows them to work through their trauma in a safe and confidential space and empowers them to achieve better outcomes.