LONDON VAUXHALL DEALERS

A few miles up the road, Lord Coe and his team are busy putting the finishing touches to the London 2012 Olympic park in the hope that it will transform east London. But at Thames magistrates' court in Bow, there's no talk of the Olympics, nor much sense of optimism.

With eight courtrooms, Thames Magistrates is a large building which serves four of the most deprived boroughs in the country – Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. As in any court, the bulk of the defendants are men but every now and again a woman appears in the dock. Few of them have been blessed with much luck up until this point, but, perhaps unexpectedly, appearing at Thames magistrates may give them a chance of a better future. In 2009, the mental health charity Together placed its first forensic mental health practitioner here. Thames is currently the only court in London to provide this service, though the charity will roll out practitioners in Westminster and Camberwell Green later this year. The aim is to try to divert these women away from prison and get the help they need. Every woman who comes here on remand is screened and has her needs assessed.

Many of the women who end up in the dock have drug or alcohol problems and lead chaotic, unstable lives which have been blighted since childhood. Today the psychologist, Matina Marougka, has two women to see. Some days there are up to six.

"When I approach the women, I usually ask about them about their practical needs," she explains. "They may live with a violent partner or be homeless. They may need help finding somewhere to live or they're terrified of public transport because they have panic attacks.

"If I decide to write a report on them for the court, I give detailed alternatives to custody so the magistrates or judge know that the woman won't drop off the radar. I sometimes pick women up from their homes and take them to appointments myself."

Between 2000 and 2010, the women's prison population increased by 27% to 4,267. In 2007, a major review by Baroness Corston concluded that most female prisoners shouldn't be there. Researchers found that women in custody often have very poor psychological, physical and social health. Women account for nearly half of self-harm incidents in jail despite making up just 5% of the prison population. And for those who are mothers, research shows that their time in prison has a deeply damaging long-term effect on their children: more than 17,000 children are separated from their mothers by imprisonment.

Both the women today have been arrested and charged in the last few days in unconnected incidents, and are in the cells downstairs. The first is a 22-year-old woman who refuses to speak to Matina. This is not unusual, she says, particularly as she seems to be under the influence of drugs and so isn't in a state to engage with her.

When she is brought before District Judge Alison Rose, we hear she has been charged with theft - stealing cosmetics from Superdrug. She is also accused of breaching a conditional discharge which she was given for theft a month earlier.

Peering out from a thick fringe that almost covers her eyes, she pleads guilty to both charges. She has a history of stealing from shops and has been a drug user since she was 14, after 'getting into the wrong crowd.'

Her lawyer tells the court she refuses to undergo a drug rehabilitation programme. "She's determined to stop the drug use and feels she can do so independently," he says. "She lives with her mum. She has a supporting family and feels she has come to the point in her life where she will do that."

"Well, she's been taking drugs since she was 14 and hasn't done it yet," Judge Rose observes wryly. Giving her bail, she adjourns the case and orders that the woman is seen by the drug intervention team before she is sentenced.

The second woman, a 35-year-old single mother of four, agrees to speak to Matina. She has been charged with assaulting an ex-partner, by whom she is now six weeks pregnant, and breaking his door down. Her solicitor insists she didn't do it.

Matina's report to the magistrates says that she is a vulnerable woman who is on medication and needs to look after her children, aged 16, 13, 12 and 7. A friend has been looking after them since her arrest.

The Crown opposes bail, but her lawyer points out that she has no previous convictions for violence and has four children to care for. "Men who are alleged to have assaulted women are granted conditional bail for more serious offences. This man suffered one small cut to the elbow," he says. "She wanted to collect her belongings and went there by arrangement." He argues that the ex-boyfriend has set her up because she accused him of infidelity.

The chairman of the bench, Helen McLennon, says she has taken into account Together's mental health report and is going to grant the woman conditional bail. The woman, dressed in a deep pink duffel coat, puts her hands up to her face and wipes tears of relief from her eyes. It may be a small step, but at least this is one woman who won't be separated from her children by being remanded in custody until her trial comes to court in six weeks time. Matina can never be sure if it was her report that made the difference, but the result is one of the reasons why she loves her job.