Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of women in prison are there for non-violent offences; and what percentage of those women are mothers of children under the age of 18.

As of 30 September 2017, 73% of all female prisoners (including those held on remand) were held for a non-violent offence (i.e. assuming that a non-violent offence refers to all offence groups besides the ‘Violent Against The Person’ offence group).

Information on the percentage of female prisoners held for a non-violent offence who are mothers of children under the age of 18 is not held centrally.

The average prison sentence length for all sentenced female offenders with a determinate sentence (i.e. including recalls, civil offenders and fine defaulters, but excluding those serving indeterminate sentences) for a non-violent offence was 38.3 months.

The information requested on the percentage of women in prison for non-violent offences who are re-offenders could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.