Ms Anne Costello:

On the issue of reoffending, we do not have those figures. I have come across numerous Travellers who have been in and out of the prison system and we use the term "revolving door" because those were the words they used. They leave prison without supports and they are back in again and do not get the support they need while they are in prison. Those supports would include trauma-informed therapies, skills that could help them to earn a living when they come out of prison, addiction services and so on. If the data are analysed, we can look at issues around reoffending. That data could be extracted.

As regards crimes for women, according to the research we did a lot of them were minor enough. They were imprisoned for driving offences, shoplifting or a number of crimes linked to addiction. When women described their stories, they spoke about the level of trauma around close family members and suicide, all their bereavements, moving on to prescribed drugs and then that leading into harder drugs. That was the story we got generally from the women. A lot of these issues could be dealt with-----