“I’ve never seen so much despair as I did in prison”: a former prisoner on why women’s jails should be abolished

Lilly Lewis spent four years in a women's prison

Credit: Getty

Life


“I’ve never seen so much despair as I did in prison”: a former prisoner on why women’s jails should be abolished

By Lilly Lewis

7 months ago

9 min read

As part of its first slew of announcements, the Labour government has pledged to ease prison overcrowding by temporarily releasing prisoners – except those who have committed domestic violence and sex offences – after 40% of their sentences rather than the current tariff of 50%. However, feminist campaigners have long been calling for women’s prisons to simply be abolished, and not just to ease overcrowding. Here, Lilly Lewis, who served four years in a women’s prison before leaving in 2018, explains why, as told to Sophie Wilkinson


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