11/01/2012 00:01:00
Too many vulnerable foreign national women are locked up for non-violent crimes and have often been trafficked or coerced into offending, according to a joint briefing by the Prison Reform Trust and Hibiscus.
Women from foreign countries are one of the fastest growing groups in the female prison population and represent one in seven of all the women held in custody in England and Wales. Drawing on the experience and work of Hibiscus with foreign national women in prison and kindly supported by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, the briefing reveals that coercion, intimidation, misinformation and threats are frequent factors behind the offending of this group.