THE Bishop of Worcester has hit out at plans to make a women's prison into a male-only institution.

The Rt Revd Dr Peter Selby told the House of Lords, that separating mothers from their families by long distances as well as prison bars would only create another generation of prison inmates.

The transformation at HMP Brockhill, near Bromsgrove, would also result in a loss of expertise for those dealing with women prisoners, and increase the pressure on families where the mother is incarcerated a long way from home, he said.

Under the plans, inmates would be transferred to Peterborough - but the Home Office says no decision has been made yet.

The proposals were revealed during the Women in Prison debate last Thursday, when Dr Selby claimed a six-month sentence for a young woman was a different punishment from a six-month sentence for a man.

Punishment

"Families would have much further to travel, and women in prison are often mothers or principal carers within the family - all these things would add a further punishment," he said.

Dr Selby praised staff and the incumbent governor, Barbara Treen, who are working to improve the conditions for inmates after the suicide of 19-year-old Malvern woman, Kathryn Jones, last month.

Dr Selby said the institution had been through a rocky patch, but "re-rolling" it as a male institution after specialising in women was a waste of resources.

"It has been through the most terrible period during which there were numerous instances of self-harm and suicide.

"When I have visited the prison in the context of those suicides, I felt that it was a beleaguered institution in which terrible things were being suffered," said Dr Selby.

"I was filled with a sense of all that work going to waste, not least of which would be the prison health centre which has cost the taxpayer £6m to construct," he added.

A Home Office spokesperson said the number of women prisoners this year had not been as high as expected, and the service needed to cater for increasing numbers of male prisoners.

"We are considering what options are available with regard to Brockhill - but no decisions have been made yet," he said.