Friday, November 21, 2003

Prison system 'failing women' (UK)
Story in The Guardian - "Campaigners have hit out at an increase in the number of women being imprisoned, saying that tougher sentences are failing to cut reoffending and that vulnerable women are being "shoe-horned" into a system designed for men. A report out today from the Fawcett Society shows that the number of women given prison sentences has increased threefold over the past decade - but reoffending rates have also soared. ... Half of women inmates have been victims of domestic abuse, compared with a quarter of women in the general population. And while Home Office figures show that two thirds of women in prison are addicted to drugs or have a history of alcoholism, the report says that there is little treatment available for those on short sentences."