The Female Of The Species Is...

Women prisoners should only spend time in custody at weekends and in the evening so that they can spend more time with their children, an influential group of lawyers will say this week.

Say what? What 'influential group of lawyers' would come up with such a hair-brained ide...

Oh:

The Association of Women Barristers...

Say no more!

The reason for this? Well, it's to stop them self-harming, apparently:

...such "intermittent" sentences will help cut down the disproportionate rates of self-harm among women inmates.

Kim Hollis QC, the chairwoman of the AWB, added that they could also help curb the number of prisoners' children who fall into criminal behaviour. "If a single mother is sent to prison she will, at least temporarily, lose her children," she said. "It punishes the children... Intermittent sentences would see women serving their sentences at evenings and weekends, so they could continue to be primary carers for their children. They could also be used for women offenders who don't pose a threat to the public."

What about the male prisoners who don't pose a threat to the public and have children?

Mind you, you know you are on a hiding to nothing when even the do-goodest of do-gooders says 'Oooh, no, that's a step too far':

The plans were condemned as "absurd", however, by the Howard League for Penal Reform, which campaigns for prisoners' rights.

But wait:

Its director, Frances Crook, said the proposal was "the wrong way round". She added: "Most of the women in prison aren't in employment, and most childcare takes place in the evening and at weekends. We shouldn't send women to prison. [They] are not dangerous; they are sentenced to short periods because they commit less serious offences."

Not all of them, Frances. Not by a long chalk...