A SHOCKING rise in self-harm among female inmates should serve as a stark reminder to ministers to do more to stop women being locked up, campaigners have said.

Figures show that women accounted for 22 per cent of all self-harm incidents in prison in 2021 despite representing only 4 per cent of the total prison population in England and Wales, the Prison Reform Trust says in a report published today.

Cases of self-harm among women inmates rose by 7 per cent in the year to March 2022, the charity said.

Incidents were highest among women remanded in custody: 467 incidents of self-harm for every 100 women compared with an overall rate among women in prison of 370 per 100.

Prison Reform Trust director Peter Dawson said: “The shockingly high number of self-harm incidents by women on remand should be a stark reminder to the government that more must be done to stop women being swept up into the vicious cycle of imprisonment.

“It’s time for the government to stop investing in pointless short spells behind bars. Money designated to increasing women’s prison places should instead be spent on sustainable funding for women’s community solutions.”

Nearly nine in 10 women on remand present a low to medium risk of harm and are unlikely to receive a custodial sentence, the trust points out. 

The government set out a strategy in 2018 to reduce the number of women in prison, but the female prison population is actually predicted to rise, with ministers having pledged to create an extra 500 places in women’s prisons.