“Women are forced to prioritise between showering or queuing up to use the communal phone.” This is the reality of

Two Government reports – the Corston Report in 2007 and the Ministry of Justice Female Offender Strategy in 2018 – have revealed that short-term custodial sentences do not work for women. 73% of women sentenced to less than a year reoffend. Despite this the number of short sentences have risen according to the charity Women in Prison. Mancunian Matters spoke to three women on the issues surrounding female sentencing.