If Helen Titchener is sent to prison for the attempted murder of her husband (‘It is not looking good for Helen’, G2, 6 September) she will find herself among many women she can identify with. More than half of Britain’s female prison population have experienced domestic violence themselves. Three in five have dependent children; 18,000 such children are separated from their mothers by imprisonment every year. A decade after publication of the groundbreaking Corston report into women’s imprisonment, the specific needs of women in prison and their families are still too often overlooked by a system designed for men by men. Every prison recently designated for reform by the government is male. We hope that women’s imprisonment, and its viable non-custodial alternatives, will not escape the attention of the recently appointed justice secretary.
Ben Summerskill
Director, Criminal Justice Alliance
• Yet again I read of women’s refuges facing closure due to threats of housing benefit being withdrawn (Women’s refuges put at risk, 5 September). These refuges are there to protect women and children from abuse at the hands of male partners. When you consider how much public money (probably billions) is spent on the consequences of male violence – courts, police, probation, social services and prisons – it is a disgrace that places of haven from these men are facing closure. In our society violence is perpetuated through the accepted socialisation of males in our mainly patriarchal society. Don’t let half of our population pay the bill.
Peter Stewart
London
• Every day brings yet another account of the harrowing conditions faced by thousands of refugees, many of them unaccompanied children, in Calais (‘It is a disgrace they have done nothing’, G2, 6 September) and elsewhere in Europe. How many more days of abject misery must these children endure before European governments take appropriate action? The Jewish Council for Racial Equality has launched a campaign, called Let The Children In, asking people to take action over a 72-hour period by writing both to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, and to their local MP to ask that our government immediately reunites unaccompanied children in Calais with their families in the UK and honours the commitment, brokered by Alf Dubs, to take a number of unaccompanied minors currently in Europe.
The campaign also urges our government to work with other countries to identify and protect those children; to speed up their safe entry into the UK; and to provide funding for UK local authorities to support their resettlement once they arrive here. A sample letter is available under www.jcore.org.uk/LetTheChildrenIn.
Dr Edie Friedman Executive director Adam Rose Chair
Jewish Council for Racial Equality
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
