Don’t Jail Female Criminals to Ease up Prison Space, Says Think Tank

Policy Exchange suggests women offenders should be sent to residential centres in the community rather than prison to fix a ‘public safety time bomb.’

A general view through the bars of Birmingham Prison in Winson Green in Birmingham, England, on Aug. 20, 2018. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Women convicts should be sent to residential centres in the community instead of being locked up to ease the prison population crisis, a new report suggests.

Policy Exchange—a British think tank—said sentencing female offenders outside of the prison estate would not only create space for more dangerous criminals, but also lead to higher rehabilitation rates.