A report by the Sentencing Project highlighted how the female prison population in the US has increased by 700 per cent over the past quarter of a century, while Prison Policy Initiative's report noted that the US' incarceration rate of women remains the highest in the world. The number of female prisoners in Iran has reached double the country's prison capacity, while a New South Wales prison in Australia has had to add 500 additional beds to accommodate the rise in the female prison population. In New Zealand, the number of women in prison has increased more than 56 per cent in just five years. In Northern Ireland, the number of women sentenced to short prison terms of three months or less has doubled in the last 12 months. 

The state of Maharashtra, India, has starting installing vending machines for sanitary towels in all of the state's prisons, while in the UK new rules have been proposed that would ensure that all female detainees can access sanitary products free of charge. Data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and the US Department of Justice found that female prisoners in the US are nine times more likely to have HIV than non-incarcerated women. 'Glaring failures' were responsible for the deaths of almost 100 women in custody in the UK over the past 11 years, with at least 37 deaths self-inflicted. Analysis by Guardian Australia found that half of Indigenous women who died in custody since 2008 did not receive appropriate medical care and were more likely than Indigenous men to be injured in custody. 

95% of children are forced to leave the family home when their mothers go to prison in the UK. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Justice has announced that pregnant women and women with children under 12 years are not allowed to be imprisoned. In the US, the state of Missouri passed a bill banning correction officers from shackling pregnant prisoners through their third trimester, during labour and two days after delivery. The return of a woman to prison immediately after giving birth violated laws on imprisonment in Turkey. A new amnesty in the UAE could result in women jailed for having illegitimate children while working in the country being freed and allowed to return home. Restrictive abortion laws in Senegal have led to infanticide, the second most common cause of female incarceration. 

Female prisoners in Victoria, Australia, are still subject to 'abusive' routine strip searches. Sexual assaults in a women's prison in the UK have reignited debate over transgender inmates, while a transgender woman in the US has filed a claim against the Illinois Department of Corrections stating that she was sexually and physically assaulted by inmates and prison guards and requesting a transfer to a women's prison. Court documents show a 'culture of systematic sexual harassment and abuse' of female correctional officers at an Edmonton, Canada prison, while the US Department of Justice has launched a federal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by correctional officers in a Florida prison.

In the UK, hundreds of women have been sent to prison to serve short sentences for minor offences like shoplifting, while in Kenya alcohol offences (such as brewing and selling alcohol without a licence) continue to be the main reason for women receiving a prison term. Two thirds of women entering a UK prison had experienced domestic violence. A female offender strategy released by the UK government aims to place community services at the heart of responses to women's offending. In India, female prisoners struggle to get free legal aid, leading to delays in securing bail and justice. In the UK, a study on risk factors for criminal behaviour in men and women found that binge drinking is a previously unidentified and crucial factor in women's reoffending, while a report showed that the majority of women's crimes in London are linked to poverty and mental health. Harm reduction services in Indonesia are failing women who use drugs, with increased stigma, threats of violence, social exclusion and gender discrimination.

Female prisoners in New Zealand are leaving prison without the necessary tools to function in society, such as medication, contraception or bank accounts. In the UK, 60 per cent of women do not have homes to go to upon release, while a housing shortage is pushing female offenders back into prison. Women in Syria face stigma and abandonment by spouses and families when they are released from detention. In India, women who have been in prison for at least 12 years will now be eligible for transfer to a semi-open jail in Delhi. Targeted, gender-specific rehabilitation programmes at a women's prison in Singapore are helping to reduce re-offending rates, while women prisoners at Vanaja prison in Finland have choreographed and filmed a dance routine as part of a rehabilitative theatre project. An Indigenous healing lodge for women in Canada is helping to reintegrate women back into society.