Mr. Gary Broderick:

We have been talking about women in addiction. One of the things that happens is that someone might start a process of a recovery journey and then, due to a past arrest, has to go to court, the charge goes through and they get a sentence. When talking about women, not only are they focusing on the impact on themselves when they have to be in custody for three or six months, but there is also the utter destruction that causes to the family unit, given that women are still more responsible for the family unit.

That is where it is most visible for us. It is seeing almost the complete undermining of that family unit - the impact on the children and the family - and that sets everything back. The effort of trying to stabilise drug use or becoming drug free is very difficult for people, particularly when it is linked with other ongoing issues. For example, a woman in recovery will be managing her trauma and that will be rising for her as her drug use is falling, so she will be trying to manage those two things together. When society says it does not really care what she is doing, it will put her in prison anyway, it just throws a lot of that up. A lot of the motivation and the hope just dissipates. You undo loads of work that way.