Tina was 16 years old when she says she was forced to get married.

She describes what followed as decades of “relentless” abuse, including being “punched in the face a few times…[and] an incident where my head was smashed into a wall”.

It culminated in divorce – after which her family cut her off – and a downward spiral into drug and alcohol abuse and depression.

Now in her 40s, Tina – not her real name – is serving a six-year sentence for importing class A drugs.

“I did make bad choices and I regret the choices I made,” she says, “but in all honesty I feel like I’m grateful that I got arrested when I did.”

Tina is one of 243 women jailed at HMP Send – a women’s prison nestled in rural Surrey.

Most of the women here are doing time for non-violent offences, and staff say it is likely the majority have experienced domestic violence at some point in their lives.

Tina says staff at HMP Send have helped her “become a better version” of herself.

But she believes a lot of what she has done in prison could have taken place in the community.

“I just feel like maybe my punishment was more than it needed to be,” she says.

The government says it wants to send fewer non-violent offenders on short sentences to prison.

Women would appear a prime focus for this, with almost three-quarters of those incarcerated in 2020 being held for non-violent offences, many of whom are vulnerable.

Speaking to the BBC, Prisons Minister Lord Timpson said there were too many women who were victims of domestic abuse in the system.

These women, however, are criminals and some will have little sympathy for their circumstances – they have broken the law.

Read full article: Too many female abuse victims are locked up, says minister as BBC visits women’s prison