Jean Ann Corston, Baroness Corston, PC (born 5 May 1942) is a British Labour politician.

Early life

Jean Ann Parkin went to Yeovil Girls' High School (now the Westfield Community School) on Stiby Road in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

and the

Somerset College of Arts and Technology Bridgwater and Taunton College is a further education college based in the heart of Somerset, England, with main centres in Bridgwater, Taunton and Cannington. It educates approximately 3000 students between the ages of 16–18 in academic and ...

. She worked at the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation t ...

. At the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

, she gained an

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

in 1989. From 1989–90, she studied at the

Inns of Court School of Law The City Law School is one of the five schools of City, University of London. In 2001, the Inns of Court School of Law became part of City, and is now known as the City Law School. Until 1997, the ICSL had a monopoly on the provision of the Bar ...

. She also studied with the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. She became a barrister.

Parliamentary career

Corston was Member of Parliament (MP) for

Bristol East Bristol East is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency recreated in 1983 covering the eastern part of the City of Bristol, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of ...

from April 1992 to 2005. Until stepping down at the 2005 general election, she was chair of the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...

, the first woman ever to hold that position. On 13 May 2005 it was announced that she would be created a life peer, and on 29 June 2005 she was created Baroness Corston, of St George in the County and City of Bristol. She was commissioned by the Home Office, to conduct a report into vulnerable women in the criminal justice system of the United Kingdom, published in March 2007. It explores the idea that if a lot of women who are in prison are mentally ill, whether they should be there at all. The report outlines "the need for a distinct radically different, visibly-led, strategic, proportionate, holistic, woman-centred, integrated approach". The report is known as the Corston Report and has largely informed government policy on the matter. Progress and improvements by local probation services, the

National Probation Service The Probation Service (formerly the National Probation Service) for England and Wales is a statutory criminal justice service, mainly responsible for the supervision of offenders in the community and the provision of reports to the criminal cour ...

, Her Majesty's Prison service and the National Offender Management Service ( NOMS) are regularly compared to the recommendations in this report.

Personal life

She married first Christopher Corston in 1961 with whom she had a son and daughter. Her partner from 1980 until he died in 2009 was Peter Townsend, the sociologist. The couple married in Bristol in 1985.

References

External links

*
BBC: City MP to stand down at election

see link from peers' section to biography
The Corston Report: a review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system

''Guardian'' interview by Alison Benjamin, 3 May 2006: "Reasonable redress: Nine out of 10 women prisoners have been convicted of non-violent offences. Most are mothers and many are vulnerable. Will a government review urge alternatives to incarceration?" (with Curriculum Vitae). Guardian article on alternatives to prison for women offenders.BBC News article on community sentencing for women instead of prison sentences.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corston, Jean 1942 births Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of the Open University Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Labour Party (UK) life peers Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Parliament for Bristol Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Yeovil Politics of Bristol Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 21st-century English women