WOMEN IN JAIL: Just 5% of the prison population in the UK are female (Pic: GETTY)
Barry Sheerman, who has been a Labour MP in Huddersfield since 1979, said he does not believe “on the whole” that women should got prison.
Sheerman did however add female offenders should go jail when they are “very violent”.
He called for a reform of the prison system for women.
The MP said the current system leaves women without “no housing, no support, no counselling, and no work".
Women make up just 5% of the prison population in England and Wales.
LABOUR PARTY; Barry Sheerman MP said women should not be sent to prison 'on the whole (Pic: HOC)
“We should not be sending women to prison for not paying television licences, or minor crimes.”
Barry Sheerman MP
Mr Sheerman told the Commons: "This week we have had many big demonstrations, but there was a smaller one from Women in Prison.
"I don't believe, on the whole, that women should go to prison unless they are very violent.
"We should not be sending women to prison for not paying television licences, or minor crimes.
"Can we have a debate on women and prisons, and why can't we have women's centres up and down our country that support women who get into trouble with the law and go to prison because, at the moment, they come out, no housing, no support, no counselling, and no work?"
BEHIND BARS: Government plans were drawn up for five 'community prisons' – but scrapped in 2018 (Pic: GRead More – Source
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