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The Debate: should we release female prisoners to make space for men?
Wednesday 05 August 2026 5:29 am | Updated: Tuesday 04 August 2026 4:50 pm
The Debate: should we release female prisoners to make space for men?
By: Alys Denby, Lucy Russell and Ian Acheson
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Add as a preferred source on GoogleLONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 6: Cell windows are pictured at HMP Wandsworth on November 6, 2025 in the Wandsworth area of London, England. Yesterday, the prison announced that it accidentally released two prisoners in recent days. One of those prisoners, William "Billy" Smith, turned himself in earlier today but the police are continuing to search for the second, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Could an answer to the prison overcrowding crisis be to let out women offenders? Two writers go head to head
Yes: We are locking up women who’ve been failed by the system
Right now, prisons contain women who shouldn’t be there. Prison doesn’t work and it harms women. Almost 70 per cent of women in prison have experienced domestic abuse, and our research tells us that many of those women were forced or coerced into offending. Many women are very mentally unwell and the self-harm rates in prisons are shockingly high. Others are there because poverty, substance misuse and homelessness led them into offending.
Most women entering prison to serve a sentence (63 per cent) have committed a non-violent offence. About 900 women are in prison on remand (meaning they haven’t been sentenced). Around two thirds of women remanded at Magistrates’ Courts end up not........
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