This research explores the lived experiences of resettlement for street sex-working women alongside the views of professionals from community-based projects that have supported this group in their transitions from custody to the community. The study considers the challenges facing women on the day they leave prison and also the wider resettlement process: what preparation and planning takes place prior to release and the experiences and difficulties encountered by women once they have returned to life in the community.

Sex workers present a complex and unique footprint of needs and behaviour patterns. This is especially the case when those women also have drug and alcohol issues. Yet, when many of these women enter drug treatment system, their histories of sex work and the complex patterns of needs that such histories generate are often overlooked. This is not surprising. In comparison to dealing with the immediate needs subsequent to drug and alcohol issues, tackling the needs arising from sex work can seem less urgent. Drug treatment is a momentous process of change, but the background question to this research report is whether just dealing with the drug and alcohol issues is enough or whether it is also necessary for a woman who has sex-worked to create an ex-sex worker role, and what stands in the way of or promotes that?

The focus of this research is on sex workers and the residential drug rehabilitation – a setting wherein they are attempting to produce momentous change in their lives. I interviewed street sex workers, escorts and parlour workers. The aim was to contextualise the meanings sex workers placed on sharing their internal world with others and the powerful impact of disclosure of sex work in relation to their treatment.

The purpose of this research was to explore how and why women get into sex work and the factors which lead them to continue. The research looked at the issues for women wanting to exit sex work - and considered, in particular, homelessness and how this impacts upon the choices available. The research was undertaken using qualitative methods comprising interviews with women working in the industry and with accommodation providers.

The aim of this research project was to assess the considerations and measures employed by the judiciary when sentencing women who sell sex — and to make recommendations about legislative and policy change that could advance the application of justice in this area. The specific objectives were: to identify and explore the
range of factors that judges take into account when sentencing women who sell sex; to consider the nature and depth of judicial awareness regarding the backgrounds and
circumstances of women who commit offences in relation to selling sex; to gather evidence about sentences, legislation and sentencing; and to gather evidence from researchers or practitioners who work with women who sell sex. To obtain detailed attitudinal data a qualitative approach was adopted — and the field research consisted of twelve semi-structured interviews with fourteen respondents – seven judicial respondents and seven other stakeholders.

This research sought to address the following questions:
• How do voluntary sector agencies working with women offenders currently perceive partnership work?
• What is the current and emerging National and Statutory policy with regards to working with women offenders, and how does that impact on the partnerships in Bradford District?
• What barriers are there to successful partnership work?
• What impact does the contracting of services have on partnership activity for women offenders?
• How can partnerships sustain and develop in future to improve outcomes for women offenders?
The approach to this research combined both qualitative and quantitative data.

The aim of the research was to look at what specialist support services exist in prison for street-based sex workers. The main objectives were: to ascertain what specialist services exist in prison for sex workers; to explore how the services are accessed and delivered; to assess the awareness amongst prison based staff of the needs of sex workers in their care; and to examine prison-based strategies for supporting the needs of sex workers in prison.