ABSTRACT
The Corston Review revealed starkly the debilitating consequences directly attributable to the institutionalised neglect of women's and girls' incarceration. Baroness Jean Corston's 43 recommendations were directed towards penal reform that would improve prison conditions for women while affirming the importance of keeping them out of prison through gender-appropriate alternatives. This chapter reflects critically on the limited transformative potential of penal reform within a climate of penal expansionism. It draws on recent studies within the USA and Australia, revealing the inter-sections of class, race and gender underpinning the inexorable rise of women's imprisonment. This brings into stark relief the significance of and tension between decarceration, a clear commitment within Corston, and a renewed politics of abolition rejected out of hand by Corston. Revealing persistent deficits within penal reformism, the chapter interrogates the decarceration: abolition agendas and their theoretical foundations, recent advances and future potential.
