'Mini-brothels'
allowed for prostitutes' safety
By Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent
The Independent
Published: 18 January 2006
Two or three prostitutes will be allowed to work together in
"mini-brothels" for their own safety in an attempt to force the vice
trade off the streets.
Tough action against kerb-crawlers will be combined with a drive to
help prostitutes beat addiction to drugs and drink.
But ministers have ruled out the creation of licensed "red-light
districts", arguing they would not tackle crime or increase the safety
of call girls.
With an estimated 80,000 people selling sex in Britain, the Government
set out its strategy for reducing the number of prostitutes. Most
controversial was a plan to change the law to allow two or three
prostitutes - possibly supported by a receptionist or "maid" - to work
together in a flat without fear of prosecution for brothel-keeping.
Only prostitutes working on their own are allowed to sell sex without
committing an offence.
Publishing the plans, which cover England and Wales, Fiona Mactaggart,
the Home Office minister, denied the Government was "encouraging the
commercial sale of women's bodies". But she added: "I think the
evidence that women working on their own are putting themselves in
danger is powerful."
She insisted that "very small-scale operations" such as "mini-brothels"
could be run without offending neighbours. Ministers will press police
and local authorities to "rigorously prosecute" kerb-crawlers, pointing
out they can lose their driving licences. They could also be forced, at
their own expense, to take courses designed to correct their behaviour.
More than 300 kerb-crawlers have taken such a course in Hampshire and
only four have reoffended.
Warning signs to motorists could be put up in red-light districts
telling them that the area was being monitored by closed-circuit
television cameras.
The Government will also create a new penalty so magistrates can divert
prostitutes towards help for drug or alcohol abuse instead of forcing
them back on to the streets to pay fines.
It will tighten guidance for social workers and teachers to help them
spot signs of teenagers being tempted into prostitution.
Ministers have backed off from plans floated by David Blunkett, the
former home secretary, to allow councils to designate "managed
prostitution zones". The idea has been championed by Liverpool City
Council, which wants to set up such a district away from residental
areas.
But Ms Mactaggart said: "I can't accept we should turn a blind eye to a
problem that causes misery for people living in, or near, red-light
areas."
The Government plans were welcomed by police chiefs but Mark Oaten, the
Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman, said: "It will do very little
to reduce the number of prostitutes on the street, improve the
appalling conditions they work in or tackle health problems."
The Tories said more needed to be done to tackle the underlying social
problems which caused prostitution.
Niki Adams, from the English Collective of Prostitutes, said: "I can't
count how many crackdowns on clients they have promoted over the past
20 to 30 years. The effect has always been to make it more dangerous
for women to work.
"It will give them less time to check out clients and women will be
forced into working in more remote and dangerous areas because the
clients won't want to be caught by the police."
'I get a few moments to judge people and decide if it's safe'
Jenny, 54, a single mother from the North of England, earns £30
to £35 per client but has to pay a medical expert £40 an
hour to care for her disabled daughter while she is working. She has
paid about 10 police fines for soliciting.
She believes the Government's recommendation to prevent kerb-crawling
and street work will only heighten dangers for women. "As street
workers, you get a little bit of time to judge the people stopping. I
get a few moments to judge each person and decide if I feel safe. If I
think they're OK, I get in the car, if not, I send them on."
Jenny welcomed the move to allow "mini-brothels" but said the rental
costs of an office would force her to work even harder.
She added: "No woman I know has chosen prostitution as a career. It is
because there is no alternative. They are girls running away from abuse
at home who have no accommodation, or those in care suffering abuse,
those who can't get any benefits because they're under-age or those who
are alcoholics or drug addicts and turn to prostitution to feed their
habits. It is because there's a lack of resources in other areas that
many women get into this situation."