Some 93 per cent of prisoners in the world are male, so it is not surprising that much of the narrative about prisons is male oriented. That is also the case with this book since the bulk of my experience has been in the male prison setting. However, we should not lose sight of the fact that there are over 700,000 women in prisons around the world. The journey which has taken them to prison will often be quite distinct from that of their male counterparts, and their experience of imprisonment will also be different, especially if they are the primary carers of small children or are pregnant when they are sent to prison. In a word, they are the forgotten minority who should be given a voice.

‘Ill-adapted correctional policies borrowed from models designed for men’

In September 1994 and January 1995 two groups of high-security male prisoners escaped from two maximum security prisons in England. Following an inquiry into the operational lapses which had led to these escapes, new security procedures were introduced in all prisons in England and Wales. One of these was that all prisoners who were being escorted to a public hospital for any reason were to be handcuffed and chained at all times. This regulation was interpreted literally and it later transpired that pregnant women prisoners who were taken to hospital to give birth were being restrained in this way.