3 March 2020updated 09 Sep 2021 3:45pm

Short prison sentences fail vulnerable women. It’s time for reform

Eight women died in prison last year, five of them by suicide. We need a rethink on sentencing to prevent more of these tragedies.

By Daisy Cooper

LONDON - MAY 19: (FILE PHOTO) A prison guard at HMP (Her Majesty's Prison) Pentonville stands behind a locked gate May 19, 2003 in London. A new report from the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) says overcrowding in Britain's prisons has been caused by tougher sentencing rather than an increase in crime. Since 1991, offenders of petty crimes are three times more likely to be imprisoned. (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

As we approach International Women’s Day, I am introducing a Bill in the House of Commons that focuses on a group of women who are too often neglected: the 7,000 women who are sent to prison each year, most of them on short sentences for non-violent offences.

Sentences of less than a year don’t work to prevent crime. The Government’s own analysis shows that they lead to higher rates of reoffending than community sentences, and the President of the Prison Governors Association has described them as “pointless”. They need to end for both men and women.