Mary Wrenn points out that women given custodial sentences in Wales are sent to prisons in England, which has a negative impact on families

Simon Hattenstone, quoting Ministry of Justice figures, says “the self-harm rate in women’s prisons in England and Wales was at a record high” (Report, 3 December). It is worth remembering that Wales does not have a women’s prison. Women given custodial sentences in Wales are sent to prisons in England (Cheshire or Gloucestershire, for example). This clearly has a negative impact on families, especially children.

The Welsh government’s preventive and trauma-informed approach favours the creation of residential women’s centres as a community-based alternative to short prison sentences. A pioneering project in Swansea, in development with the Ministry of Justice, is shockingly delayed. It can’t come soon enough for the hundreds of Welsh women (the majority of whom are themselves victims of domestic abuse or trauma) currently serving sentences several hours away from their families.
Mary Wrenn
Llandenny, Monmouthshire