WOMEN in Hampshire are a lot much less prone to be jailed than these in some elements of England and Wales, new evaluation reveals.
However the Jail Reform Belief mentioned the pointless imprisonment of ladies remained a “postcode lottery” with a big north-south divide clear within the figures.
Evaluation of court docket information by the charity discovered 126 jail sentences got to ladies in Hampshire final 12 months – equal to 16 per 100,000 who reside within the space.
This was a lower on the speed of 20 per 100,000 in 2018 and was a lot decrease than elsewhere in England and Wales.
The speed of feminine imprisonment in South Wales was 62 per 100,000 inhabitants, that means ladies there are round 4 occasions as prone to be in jail as in Hampshire.
Surrey had the bottom charge, with simply 9 ladies in jail for each 100,000.
The ten areas with the best charges of feminine imprisonment have been within the north of England, the Midlands or in Wales, with virtually all of the lowest 10 within the south.
Peter Dawson, director of the Jail Reform Belief, described the statistics as proof of a “postcode lottery”.
He added: “Nearly all of ladies despatched to jail are nonetheless being despatched there for non-violent offences to serve sentences of lower than one 12 months. These sentences can have a devastating influence on ladies and their youngsters with out doing something to handle the causes of offending.
“Worryingly, the most recent jail inhabitants projections counsel that current progress could possibly be undone with numbers of ladies in jail predicted to rise by 1,300 inside six years.
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Total, the speed of ladies’s imprisonment in England and Wales fell from 32 per 100,000 in 2014, to 25 per 100,000 in 2019.
And between 2018 and 2019, the variety of jail sentences for ladies fell by 9% – from 6,464 to five,876 – however it was not evenly unfold between native areas.
Of the 42 police power areas, round a 3rd (13) noticed a rise in ladies sentenced to jail.
In Hampshire, the variety of speedy jail sentences for ladies fell from 158 to 126 over this time.
The Jail Reform Belief mentioned newest projections counsel that the variety of ladies in jail nationally will climb from simply over 3,200 at current to 4,500 by 2026.
However the Ministry of Justice mentioned this forecast improve is because of the recruitment of 20,000 law enforcement officials.
A spokeswoman added: “Whereas sentencing is a matter for the impartial judiciary, we stay dedicated to seeing fewer ladies getting into the prison justice system.
“That’s why we’ve invested £7.6 million within the Feminine Offender Technique, which presents options to jail, and seen the quantity in custody fall by 23% within the final 10 years.”
