PRISON is not working for female offenders according to a report.

The study, carried out by an independent inquiry into women's experience of the criminal justice system, said that the number of women in prison is soaring and that the majority of women who left prison re-offended within two years.

It also said that female offenders were shoe-horned into a system that was designed for men.

It comes only days after prison reformers called for the closure of the North-East's most notorious women's wing after the eighth suspected suicide in two years.

The Howard League for Penal Reform demanded the closure of the Durham Prison's Women's Centre, dubbed She Wing, following the death of Wendy Booth.

Booth, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a friend, was found hanged in her single cell last week.

Redcar MP Vera Baird QC, who is chairwoman of the Fawcett Society's Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System which released the report, said: "An urgent Government re-think is needed to tackle women's offending.

"The majority of women in prison have mental health problems, drug and alcohol problems and have been abused.

"These are all factors related to offending which the criminal justice system needs to address if we are to tackle the growing number of women who re-offend after leaving prison."

Ten years ago, there were 1,560 women in prison, but today there are 4,461.

According to the report, between 2001 and 2002, the number of women in prison increased by 15 per cent compared with a six per cent increase for men.

Julie Mellor, chairwoman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said: "The commission's findings provide compelling evidence that Britain's criminal justice system is failing vulnerable women."

But Muriel Blythman, chairwoman of the Independent Monitoring Board HM Prison Holme House, Stockton, believes prisons cater for the needs of women.

She said: "Prisons are very much geared around women. There are facilities for women that men would never get, such as childcare.

"Women in prison in the UK are looked after much better and humanely than in many countries.

"Resettlement and rehabilitation care is available, with good facilities for health and baby care.

"The likelihood of women reoffending is mostly due to returning to their original environment."