The Debate: should we release female prisoners to make space for men? (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)Could an answer to the prison overcrowding crisis be to let out women offenders? When in prison, women lose their homes, their jobs and nine times out of ten their children will have to leave home. If we are to contemplate early release, it must be tightly targeted and explicitly rooted in risk, not panic. Using women as the “easy” cohort to clear space buys a little time at the cost of further eroding confidence.