Katie Piper says women ‘shouldn’t be jailed’ as ITV Loose Women star calls for huge change to justice system

Speaking to The Times, she expressed a deep connection with female prisoners serving life sentences, adding: “I felt close to a lot of the women lifers in prison.

“I really believe that all of us are one bad decision or one bad day away from that happening to us.”

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Ms Piper highlighted that many incarcerated women were victims of domestic abuse who had no prior criminal history.

“Often women are defending themselves in domestic violence situations; they have no previous criminal record and in a moment of self-defence they commit murder or serious assault,” she said.

Ms Piper’s views have been shaped by her work on two Channel 4 documentaries. Namely, Katie Piper’s Jailhouse Mums in 2023 and Katie Piper: Locked Up in Louisiana last year.

During filming at New Orleans Parish Prison, she disclosed that inmates ridiculed her facial scars.

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Some prisoners told her to “lay off the Botox,” while others suggested her injuries were the result of a methamphetamine cooking accident.

It was only after she shared the true story behind her appearance that the mockery ceased.

The presenter, who has become an outspoken advocate for prison reform since making the programmes, developed her stance on women’s incarceration through direct engagement with female inmates during the filming process.

Ms Piper herself is a survivor of a horrific acid attack that took place in London in March 2008.

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Her former boyfriend Daniel Lynch orchestrated the assault, which was carried out by his accomplice Stefan Sylvestre, who hurled industrial-strength sulfuric acid directly at her face on a public street.

The attack left her with severe third-degree burns across her face, neck, chest and arms, and cost her the sight in one eye. It followed a violent and abusive relationship during which Lynch had raped and severely beaten her.

Both men were sentenced in 2009, with Lynch receiving 16 years and Sylvestre six years.

Sylvestre was released on licence in 2018 but was subsequently recalled to prison in 2022 after breaching the terms of his release.

Since completing her documentaries, Ms Piper has continued working within the prison system as a volunteer.

In a conversation with Prison Radio in May, she reflected on how this experience had transformed her understanding of inmates.

“My time in prisons as a volunteer has made me realise there is a huge misconception around the residents,” she said. She noted that for many women, arriving in prison represents the first occasion they have been offered or been able to access support services.

“For a lot of women it’s the first time they’ve felt safe and felt protected,” she added, before calling on the wider public to challenge its assumptions, arguing that society “has a lot of work to do to get rid of some of the prejudgment and misconceptions about the population here.”