The majority of women are sent to prison for shoplifting offences with an average stay of 39 days - but it is enough to trigger a depressing cycle of crime. Women's Editor Lindsay Jennings looks at a new campaign to find alternatives to jailing women.

WHEN Jane Woodall first smoked heroin she hated it. Whenever she took it, she would end up cold and shivering on the bathroom floor, as her heaving body tried to reject the drug. But it did not take long for her body to succumb.

"Before I knew it I was waking up with proper stomach cramps because I was craving it," she says. "It just seemed to take them away."

Jane was 16 years old and had a six month old baby. Heroin would go on to take over her life for the next eight years. She started with shoplifting, not only to feed her own habit, but also her boyfriend's. He would lie on the sofa all day, drinking cheap cider and waiting for her to come home, then the pair would score with the earnings.

"I wouldn't come home with less than £80, and we would spend all of that on smack," she says matter-of-factly.

It wasn't long before the police were knocking on their door. Her first prison sentence came after her new boyfriend hit and killed a child while driving before fleeing the scene. She was jailed for aiding and abetting. The second and third spells were for driving while banned.

"The first time I went to prison it was a shock, but by the second and third time you got to know lasses in there," she says. "You came out knowing how to do things, like burglaries and robberies. There was nothing to it, it was just like school.

"Lasses would say I'm not going back on smack, but when I came out I said I deserve it, just for being in there. That's what I thought. I even did it in the jail car park." The number of women prisoners has doubled in the last ten years with the main crime being shoplifting. Two thirds of the women going to prison are held on remand before they have been convicted - but only 40 per cent go on to receive a custodial sentence and a fifth are acquitted.

Smart Justice, which is campaigning for alternatives to jailing women, is also concerned about the effects on the children who are left behind while their mums are serving jail terms. It is estimated that more than 17,700 children are separated from their mother by imprisonment every year, with only five per cent staying in their own home once she has been jailed.

Helen Attewell, the North-East campaigns officer for Smart Justice, says: "Imprisoning low level women offenders does not make sense, when 81 per cent of women shoplifters are back inside within two years of their release from prison. We're concerned that a spell in prison does nothing to help women sort out their lives and stop offending."

Many of the women who are jailed have suffered some form of sexual abuse in their childhood, and/or domestic violence, which can lead to drug use and then crime, says Helen. Smart Justice argues that these and other underlying causes need treating to have a better chance of changing behaviour.

"We need to put more money into treatment in the community such as better mental health support, more support for women experiencing domestic violence and crime diversion schemes," she says.

"The average length of stay for women in prison is 39 days, so it's not long enough to complete a drugs programme. In terms of rehabilitation, it doesn't work and you end up with a cycle of crime. They end up serving a long sentence by instalments."

One scheme which has proved effective is the Drug Treatment and Testing Order, a 20-hour a week rehabilitation order which was introduced in November 2001. Offenders are drug tested twice a week and have around two to three appointments per day over five days. If they miss more than two appointments they are considered in breach of the order.

It focuses on courses such as addressing drug related offences and drug treatment as well as an holistic side using complementary therapies, opportunities to do the Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme and exercise to boost self-esteem and mood. The latter is a vital part of rehabilitation, say probation bosses.

"A lot of women go into prison to find they have a roof over their head, with three meals a day, no responsibility and no worries about their violent partner or about scoring drugs," says Helen. "It's an easier life in a way and you're not having to confront your own mistakes - but you do have to do that on a DTTO."

After three prison sentences, Jane, of County Durham, was given a DTTO in March last year. She wanted it to work, she says, for the sake of her child and her mum.

"It was really hard but I also found I enjoyed doing things, like the Duke of Edinburgh and camping," she says, her face lighting up. "I never dreamed I'd like going camping. It was the help and support which made a difference. The rattle (withdrawal symptoms) was easier because I knew I could make it. When I went to the gym, I enjoyed feeling that I was like everybody else."

Kelly McKay, 29, went to jail six times before she was offered a DTTO. Like Jane, she fell pregnant when she left school and went into a downward spiral of drugs and serial shoplifting.

"When people got to know that I was on gear and going shoplifting they actually used to come up to me, asking me to get them this and that," she smiles ruefully. "When I went to prison I didn't get any help and I would be just back at square one when I got out. There were drugs inside. But having to come in every day to get help and doing everyday things you would do if you had a normal life, I got to thinking that I wanted to live that life again."

Kelly is painfully aware that she has only made the first tentative steps towards rehabilitation. She is staying with friends who are still using heroin because she is homeless and is on methadone to help her come off the drug. But the dealers still phone her every night, tantalising her with offers of smack.

She is doing yoga, tai chi and relaxation classes and hopes to build up to going to the gym and doing a computer or hair and beauty course at college. Her greatest wish is to have a roof over her head and her 12-year-old son, who lives with her mum, back with her again.

"It's been bad for the bairn," she says quietly. "It's affected him going to school, his friends all know."

Jane's DTTO ended on Friday. She looks young for her 24 years, but her eyes give away a determination which has kept her clean for a year.

"If I had to go back inside now, it would kill me," she says.

"I just want a normal life."

* Smart Justice is organising two conferences in the North-East to look at why women offend and the best crime prevention solutions to stop them. The first event is at South Bank Women's Centre in Middlesbrough, on March 23, and the second at Bridge Women's Centre in Washington, on April 5. Redcar MP Vera Baird has also tabled an Early Day Motion supporting the aims of Smart Justice. For more information, contact Helen Attewell, Smart Justice campaigns officer on 0191-384 8241.