With a ratio of 20 male inmates to every one female, we can expect that in every single one of the categories in your article (domestic and childhood abuse victims, inmates with drug and alcohol dependency, those with mental health problems, inmates who will lose their homes and families ? anything really that's not gender-exclusive) there will be numerically more affected male inmates than female (Girl in the corner: A 'beyond bars' approach to jailing women, Society, 25 April).

It doesn't matter that vulnerable male prisoners are a lower proportion, relative to females, of their respective prison population. In terms of absolute numbers, they are the larger population.

This is not a gender issue but an issue of sentencing policies for vulnerable people. Why then is the Guardian so ambivalent towards those vulnerable people who are male? The vast majority of men, especially non-violent ones, would find prison a terrifying experience.
Darren Ball
London