The Bishop of Gloucester, Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, is to go to prison for three days this week.

She will visit Eastwood Park Women's Prison in Falfield, Gloucestershire and spend time with the staff and women prisoners to learn more about the life of the prison and the realities of what it's like to be a female prisoner.

Treweek will shadow the prison chaplain, attend prison focus groups and also lead special services.

Among them will be a Maundy Thursday service at which she will wash the women's feet. She will also lead Good Friday reflections.

According to the institute for Criminal Policy Research, more than 700,000 women and girls are held in penal institutions throughout the world. The analysis indicates that the number of women and girls in prison has increased by 50 per cent in the past 15 years.

Across the UK, more than 13,500 women are imprisoned each year. The Prison Reform Trust says women entering prison are more likely to have been imprisoned for non-violent offences and are highly likely to be victims as well as offenders. More than half (53 per cent) report having experienced emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child.

Treweek said: "In Holy Week, Christians recall Jesus Christ's death, the brokenness of the world and our part in it; and yet we celebrate God's immense love and new life revealed in Christ's resurrection. It will therefore be very poignant to spend time with the women in Eastwood Park in this special week in which the focus is one of hope and new possibility."