I am a womens campaigner, I do know it is true women are more likely to be sent to prison for a first time offence, because I have met many that have been. I myself have never been to prison or in any kind of trouble, but I have been kept from my natural children for 10 years for no reason and when this decision was taken I could have no further children. I loved being a mother and I have written a book and made DVD every year for my children so they know the truth. I do not beleave that their arnt bad women,but most women who are bad have had a bad man somewhere down the line, either father, Husband,partner, or Brother, or other male known to them. Counceling should also be given at the time of trauma not several weeks,months,or years later. Services for all prisons have been very bad and definately need some form of humane restructuring, and the only person who can help with this is someone like Sally Clarke who was imprisoned for no wrongdoing? I may not have been to prison but may

Fiona McCormick, Cyprus,

"Every study undertaken shows that women are more likley to be sent to prison for a first offence"
Helen - what a load of rubbish as are your other comments suggesting discrimination against women. Women are jailed less than blokes. Most women have the ultimate "bargaining chip" for getting out of prison ... children. It is not unheard of for them to get pregnant in order to have increase their "bargaining chips" and avoid a custodial. Women get less of a sentence than blokes.
I notice in this report there is no mention of closing down male prisoners and treating them with "kid gloves".... apart from the blatant sexism...this highlights that women get the better deal.

Richard Garland, Manchester, Greater Manchester

"Building a few more prisons" is not the answer (Mr Garland, Manchester). The priority should be to deal with prison overcrowding by dealing with the causes of overcrowding: prison overcrowding has been caused by an overuse of prison, not by an increase in crime. (Overall crime has fallen significantly in the last decade.)

This is nothing to do with the "women's movement", but it is about dealing with the injustice whereby women are an invisible issue in the prison population & are treated like second-class citizens (women make up just 6% of the prison population). In fact, the number of women in prison has increased far more rapidly than the number of men: over the past decade there has been a 126% increase in the number of women in prison, compared with a 46% rise in men in jail. This iniquity must be addressed.

Pauline Campbell, Malpas, England

Women are good.

Men are bad.

Male criminals are "evil".

Female criminals are "victims".

Only men should go to prison.

That's feminist "equality" for you, and that is what you get with NuLab.

Welcome to the feminist Gulag.

Chris, Wokingham, England

If the Government can't get the courts to stop sending women to prison, then close the prisons!

Chris, Wokingham, England

Single by any chance, Charles? Every study undertaken shows that women are more likley to be sent to prison for a first offence, more likely to be sent to prison for a non-violent offence, and more likely to be given longer sentences than men for the exact same crimes. They have been being dealt with differently from men by the criminal justice system for years.

The consequences of custody are also more severe -they are more likley to lose their children and their home when they go into prison (while men simply pick up where they left off when they get out having had a woman to maintain the home) and at higher risk of self harm. It's about time the balance was redressed and women were given a fair hearing and a chance to rebuild their lives after things go wrong. That would benefit all of us.

Helen, Liverpool,

There we go, the wimmin's movement continues inexorably towards its goal of getting anything bad that women do to be described as an illness, and anything bad than men do to be described as a crime.

It's impossible to demonise one sex when the other behaves exactly the same way. Hey presto, redefine the legal terms of the behaviour with respect to gender.

Charles, London,

Don't tell the government are going to have mixed jails the same as they initiated mixed hospital wards? Would make a bit more sense.

Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Japan

Building a few more prisons should be the priority - not all this rearrangement

Richard Garland, Manchester, Greater Manchester

The low risk case criminals (ask their victims) don't cause
much harm so let them slide.
Boy is the UK headed for La La Land if they do this.

Jerry Scroggin, Phoenix, Arizona/USA