During Chris' time in prison, a woman died after setting fire to her own cell.

Chris saw that the specific needs of women in prison and the damaging effect prison sentences were having on women were completely missing in public and political discussions. So, in 1983, alongside international criminologist Pat Carlen, Chris founded Women in Prison, and pushed hard to expose this scandal and campaigned for change. Our founders wanted to increase awareness of the lives of women behind the gates of our prisons - lives marked by sexual abuse, poverty and violence.

In the early 1990s, WIP was able to expand beyond campaigning to begin delivering direct support to women affected by the criminal justice system. We started off by focusing on providing support in prison and then developed our support for women in the community after release.

Chris passed away in 2002 but WIP continues to build on the legacy of our visionary founder. Read more about The life of Chris Tchaikovsky by WIP's Former Chair of Trustees, Yvonne Roberts.

