Story of a female offender...

(Broadcast on BBC Radio Stoke, December 2014)

Over the last 20 years the number of female prisoners in England and Wales has DOUBLED.

This year an estimated four thousand woman will spend Christmas behind bars -- with around 1 in 10 of those detained in Drake Hall near Eccleshall.

When they're released more than half (51%) of female offenders go on to commit another crime.

BBC Radio Stoke's EMMA THOMAS has been to Brighter Futures in Hanley -- a project aimed at stopping women re-offending when they leave prison.

She met a 40-year-old woman called Sue -- who was released from jail this year after spending eight months inside...