Treatment of women in the Scottish prison system is "discriminatory", according to expert evidence which is being presented at Holyrood today.

Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini will face hard questions about the doubling within a decade of the number of women in a prison system which experts say is designed mainly to deal with men.

The evidence is that women suffer most from the prison experience, have least chance of rehabilitation and face devastating family consequences.

Several leading academics will give evidence to Holyrood's equal opportunities committee today, followed by the Lord Advocate and the governor of Cornton Vale Prison.

Experts claim prisons have been designed for people who are a danger to the public and in the case of many female offenders, prison is being used for people who are a danger to themselves.

Baroness Stern, convener of the Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice, writes: "The increased sentencing of women to imprisonment may be well-intentioned but in our view it can be inappropriate and could be unintentionally discriminatory."

Women are rarely in prison for violent offences but their incarceration is devastating for those with children.