... of imprisonment as a form of punishment can be analysed to see if it is an effective service or not, and if there are any real problems that exist, what possible alternatives there are to replace its existence. The current patterns of imprisonment show that the average prison population in the year 2000 was 64, 600. The estimated trends show that even if the custody rates and sentence lengths remain at 2002 levels, which are doubtful the prison population will be at an estimated 91, 400 in June 2009. The average female prison population increased by 3% to 3, 350 reaching its highest level since 1901. There were a record number of prisoners (492) that were received into custody for life in 2000. The number of prisoners in England and Wales expressed as a rate per 100,000 populations was the second highest in Western Europe. There was also evidence that ...

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