A specialist centre providing accommodation and support to female offenders is to open in Wales as part of the government’s strategy to send fewer women to prison, the Ministry of Justice has said. The first residential women’s centre will help women who otherwise would have been sent to jail by providing services that deal with underlying causes of offending, such as substance misuse and mental health problems. It is understood the centre would not be a secure site but some restrictions such as curfew times for the residents as part of licence conditions could be observed. The Ministry of Justice will work with the Welsh government and partners in Wales to identify a provider and site for the centre with the aim of opening by the end of 2021. The announcement comes as the government faces calls to release more pregnant prisoners and women held in mother and baby units (MBUs) to protect them during the coronavirus crisis. The number of pregnant prisoners plus inmates in MBUs was about 70 at the time the justice secretary announced plans to release the majority from prison in late March, but by late April fewer than half had been released. The government’s female offenders strategy, published in June 2018 when David Gauke was justice secretary, included plans to develop a pilot for at least five residential women’s centres across England and Wales. There are 3,400 women in custody in England and Wales – 4% of the total prison population. There is a high prevalence of vulnerability among female offenders, which evidence shows can drive criminal behaviour and reoffending. Almost 60% of female offenders have experienced domestic abuse, and more than two-thirds of adult women released after jail sentences of less than 12 months reoffend within a year. The plans to open a residential women’s centre come as the government released £2.5m of funding for community services across England and Wales, which support women at risk of being drawn into crime. The funding, which will be awarded later this year, will help cover core costs such as wages, rent and bills to services that could include domestic abuse support, drug and alcohol rehabilitation or work with a particular group such as women from minority ethnic communities. The support is on top of the £750m coronavirus crisis package for charities announced by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor.