I feel like I’m a criminal. I feel like I’ve
committed a crime as well.
Mother

I haven’t got a family anymore. My family have turned their back on me.
Wife

I want help but I’m afraid. I’m afraid of people recognising me and I’m
paranoid when I go to the shops, or when I go anywhere. I imagine them looking at me whispering “There’s his mum!”.
Mother

England and Wales has the highest
imprisonment rate in Western Europe at 153
per 100,000 of the population.

The number of prisoners increased by 30%
between 1997 and 2007, in the same period
the female prison population doubled.

Prison population across the UK in November
2008 was over 83,000.