Every year prisons process more than 10,000 women every year, some of whom have been convicted, others who are on remand awaiting a court hearing.

The current population of convicted women behind bars stands at 3,391, a third of whom are there for drug offences.

The latest report by Prison Reform Trust says the female prison population has doubled in five years. We now lock up more woman than at any time since the late 1800s.

And 60 per cent are mothers, 45 per cent with dependent children. This means that as many as 8,000 children are deprived of their mothers.

What's more the report found that woman were more likely to be in prisons much further from home than men because there are only 16 women's jails compared with 125 for male offenders.

This means it is harder to keep family ties strong and it is estimated that up to 10 per cent of children are put into care.

The report suggests that if women served short sentences, foreigners were served with deportation orders and women on remand were taken out of the system, it would cut the female prison population by 60 per cent and save £40m a year.

Professor Dorothy Wedderburn, who chaired the inquiry, recommends 'radical reforms' of the criminal justice system for women - arguing that women are being punished for too severely and warned of the hidden impact on society.

In 1998, the Prison Service established a Women's Policy Group - the first time in 25 years that specific provision has been made to consider relevant issues. Since then an operational director for women's prisons has also been appointed.

See also

'I miss my kids terribly'

'I've lost my freedom - but worse, I've lost my children'