TO separate a mother from her 18-month old child is barbaric. The mother's anguish is not lessened because she is a convicted criminal. The child's agony is not moderated because he gets to leave Askham Grange prison. To him, home is with his mum, wherever she is.

The prison's policy of allowing mothers to keep their babies with them is the right one. Mums in the prison talk of how caring for their child has helped them cope with their sentence and given them hope for the future. And the best place for children is with their mother.

But a child has to leave the jail on reaching 18 months old. These forced separations are traumatic. By that time the mother-child bond is fully established. The toddler cannot understand why he is being taken away from his mother. It is a dreadful punishment for a little boy or girl who has done nothing wrong.

The Askham Grange authorities have always demonstrated an enlightened approach to their penal duty. Its multi-agency training courses, which led to the jail's famous fashion shows, have been held up as national models for the Prison Service.

Askham Grange wants to build on its progressive reputation by introducing a pilot scheme that would keep mothers and children together until school age.

There are hurdles to overcome, specifically Government approval and funding. The prison should be able to convince its Whitehall masters to give the go ahead, on the compelling grounds that this is the right thing to do.

In the longer term, ministers must address the fundamental problem: why so many women are jailed. Britain's female prison population has more than doubled in the past six years, with twice as many women as men jailed for a first offence. Teenage girl offenders are also locked up far more often than their male peers.

Our courts are in such a rush to jail mothers and mothers-to-be that no thought is given to the devastating effect this has on families.

Updated: 10:29 Monday, March 26, 2001