“Too many women are given a prison sentence for non-violent crimes, like theft or handling, when they pose no risk of harm to others, only themselves. Short sentences devastate the lives of women and their children as they lose their home, their job and connections with their community and have no time to access support services. A woman is then in a more difficult circumstance than before she went into prison with the additional stigma of having been in prison to manage. In these circumstances it’s no surprise that reoffending rates are so high.”

Read Women in Prison’s full response to the Queen’s speech at http://www.womeninprison.org.uk/news-and-campaigns.php?s=2016-05-18-queens-speech-prison-bill