The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) is Ireland’s leading non-governmental organisation campaigning for the rights of everyone in the penal system, with prison as a last resort. IPRT is committed to reducing imprisonment and the progressive reform of the penal system based on evidence-led policies. IPRT works to achieve its goals through research, raising awareness, building alliances and growing our organisation. Here, IPRT sets out its position on women in the criminal justice system, and a number of evidence-based recommendations. The past decade has seen dramatic changes in relation to the profile of women in prison in Ireland, one of the most profound being the doubling of the numbers of women imprisoned. Unfortunately, such changes have not been accompanied by advancements in the way in which the criminal justice system deals with women offenders1. On the contrary, the conditions for many women prisoners in Ireland have deteriorated, while community-based alternatives for women offenders remain underexplored.