A WOMEN'S jail near York may make penal history by letting inmates' children stay inside until they are three-and-a-half years old.

Women prisoners at Askham Grange's mother and baby unit are currently separated from their tots when they reach the age of 18 months.

But a steering group has been investigating the feasibility of letting youngsters remain inside the open jail, based at Askham Richard, until they are ready to start school.

Now a pilot project could be staged involving two or three mothers and their tots.

A report on the results of the study has just gone to Prison Service director general Martin Narey, but the Home Office declined to reveal whether it had concluded the pilot project should go ahead.

But a spokeswoman told the Evening Press that the scheme would need the approval of both Mr Narey and Prisons Minister Paul Boateng, and sufficient funding would also have to be available, before it could happen.

If a pilot scheme was launched, the results would be assessed before a decision would be taken on whether to make it a permanent change.

Women inmates often find parting from their 18-month old babies a traumatic experience.

But the spokeswoman said the steering group had been looking primarily at whether it would be in the children's best interests for them to remain with their mothers to an older age.

It is understood that the group has had to balance various pros and cons.

On the one hand, babies may find it traumatic being parted from their mothers at 18 months. Balanced against that is the growing awareness that a child has of its surroundings as it grows older.

The group has also been looking at other factors, such as costs and the extra pressure on places in the mother and baby unit that might be caused by children staying on for longer.

Updated: 11:53 Monday, March 26, 2001