Is prison the best place for women offenders?
Women are going to jail in record numbers – a trend that has alarmed some experts and left the prison system struggling to cope. Between 1998 and 2003, Victoria’s female prison population increased by 84 per cent, almost triple the growth of the male prison population over the same time. The increase was related to growth in: The use of remand, particularly for women with complex mental health and drug treatment needs, breaches of non-custodial orders, violent and drug-related offending , the number of women with no prior imprisonment or community corrections history who were sentenced to prison for a short term. In a number of areas imprisonment can often be a much worse punishment for women. Women make up a much smaller percentage of the prison population but women prisoners are among the most vulnerable, unwell and disadvantaged group with the corrections system. Seven per cent of prisoners were women in 2005, up from 4 per cent in 1984.1 From 1991 to 1999 the number of women in pri
