Worrying increase in female prisoners in Greater Manchester

Women in Greater Manchester are around three times as likely to be jailed as those in the area of England with the lowest rate of female imprisonment, new analysis reveals.
Shocking figuresShocking figures
Shocking figures

The Prison Reform Trust said the unnecessary imprisonment of women remained a “postcode lottery” across the two nations, with a significant north-south divide clear in the figures. Analysis of local court data by the charity found 251 prison sentences were given to women in our area last year – equal to 23 per 100,000 who live in the area.

This was an increase on the rate of 20 per 100,000 in 2018 and much higher than elsewhere in England and Wales.

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The 10 areas with the highest rates of female imprisonment were in the north of England, the Midlands or in Wales, with almost all the lowest 10 in the south of England.

Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said progress is being made to reduce the unnecessary imprisonment of women, but described the statistics as evidence of a “postcode lottery”.

He added: “The majority of women sent to prison are still being sent there for non-violent offences for less than one year.

“These sentences can have a devastating impact on women and their children without doing anything to address the causes of offending. Worryingly, the latest projections suggest that recent progress could be undone with numbers of women in prison predicted to rise by 1,300 within six years.”

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