In a public lecture delivered at the Centre for Criminology, Oxford University, The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips stated ‘only a fraction of the four and a half thousand women in prison are likely to fit the criteria that government policy says should be in prison, namely “only offenders who have committed violent or serious offences or who constitute any danger to the public”’.

This is the crux of the complex problem surrounding the imprisonment of women: the detriment to the mental health, employment prospects and families of these damaged women coupled with the enormous financial cost of incarceration is weighed against merely the convenience of existing infrastructure and the anachronistic idea that prison is the answer to the problem of crime.

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Take a look around our site to learn more about the plight of women in prison in Australia and how you can help.