“…Unfortunately, these sentiments shared over a decade ago are still as relevant today (Women in Prison (WiP), 2017). Many have also argued that the overuse of short sentences for non-violent female offenders, be that on sentence or remand, serves little purpose, especially when removing women from the community (and, importantly, often from their children) for a short period of time (Baldwin and Epstein, 2017; Masson, 2014, forthcoming). This has continued despite repeated calls for better use of ‘alternatives’, for example, most recently the current Secretary of State for Justice, David Gauke, acknowledged how ‘diversion, restorative justice and community sentences continue to be underused’ ( The Times , May 2018).…”