UK: Plight of women in jail tackled with new policy on sentencing

Article here. Excerpt:

'Courts will be encouraged to hand more community sentences to women offenders – backed by curfews, tagging and unpaid work – in an attempt to reduce the female prison population.

The move, combined with treatment programmes for women with alcohol and drug problems, is designed to reduce the number of families that are broken up when a mother is jailed.

In an interview with The Independent, the Justice Minister, Helen Grant said: “There are some women who are bad and a risk to the public and society and they need to go to prison. But there are other women who are in the system, low-risk women, who would benefit greatly from punitive, credible punishments in the community.”'