Womens Health in Prison in the Northern Dimension Area

1
Womens Health in Prison in the Northern
Dimension Area

• Thematic Report
• NDPHS Expert Group on
• Prison Health

2
Preparation

• Editorial Group Meetings/ Oslo-Karlstad
• E-mail communication
• Questionnaire for data collection (feedback from
  the EG PH members)
• Desktop and archive research
• Contact to photographers
• Maps and graphs
• Proof reading by a native speaker
• Timeframe kept October 2007-February 2008

3
Why Womens Health in Prison?

• Minority group special needs often neglected
• An extremely vulnerable group
• Lack in documentation, data and research
  regarding living conditions and health status
• Gender inequality in prison settings
• More complex, interlinked health issues and
  social well-being needs different from men
• Female imprisonment affects children and the
  dependend family -gt related consequences

4
Legal Background

• Regulations on legal background to health
  services in prison, womens
• health in prison (incl. rights of children) and
  regulations to work and
• education in prison
• The European Convention on Human Rights
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of
  the Child
• The United Nations Convention on the Elimination
  of All forms of Discrimination Against Women
• The United Nations Body of Principles for the
  Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of
  Detention or Imprisonment
• The International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights
• The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
  Prisoners
• The European Prison Rules, revised version
  (2006)
• Recommendation 1469 (2000) on Mothers and Babies
  in Prison, adopted by the Council of Europes
  Parliamentary Assembly
• The Council of Europes Committee for the
  Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Degrading
  Treatment or Punishment The CPT standards.
• Status of implementation in the ND countries?

5
Female prisoners in the ND area

• 5 of prison population in ND area is female
• Organisation of medical health services differs
  throughout the region
• HIV/ Aids
• Pregnant HIV prisoners
• Tuberculosis
• Best practice models from the region

6
Female population in prison
418 (2007)
341 (2007)
209
293 (Oct.2006)
4.061
2.720
6
245
2.144
1.700
60.668
211 (2008)
total numbers of total prison population by 1
September 2006, if not indicated differently,
also including pre-trial detainees.
7
Pregnant women and mothers in prison

• Women pregnant or accompanied by children
  extremely vulnerable
• Little awareness in public
• Should not be imprisoned if not necessary
• In practice from the region Mother and Baby
  Units (MBUs)
• Visiting regulations and best practice for visits
  from outside
• Side view Criminial behavior in youth
  imprisonment as a family vicious circle

8
Number of MBUs in countries in the ND area
2
1
1
1
8
50
9
Social rehabilitation

• Education and vocational training major
  challenges for women High unemployment rate
  before imprisonment, insufficient level of
  education, servere health problems
• High rate of illiteracy
• Inequality in access offers to trainings and
  education programmes
• Education as part of social rehabilitation
  -gtinvolvement of the family needed
• Improvement of key competences endogenous,
  technical, social, risk and cognitive behavior
• Best practice focus Estonia
• NGOs involvement essential for the succes of the
  social rehabilitation -gt pre- and post release
• Alternative measures for non-violent offences

10
Recommendations I

• Social-economic background screening of every
  women entering the prison for the first time
• Analysis of health-related prison reforms
  underway in prison systems across ND area,
  different types of reform/ types and measures
• Analysis of the implementation of basic human
  rights, specifically in relation to social
  rights, economic rights and cultural rights for
  both genders, also incorporating the right to
  access to health care services
• Study on the living conditions of female
  prisoners in general and the organisation of
  health care services for imprisoned women in
  particular

11
Recommendations II

• Project on birth companions
• Influences on and consequences for the childs
  development (accompanying the mother in prison or
  being outside of the prison)
• Quantitative study across the ND Area and beyond,
  in order to collect quantitative data on womens
  living conditions and their health status in
  prisons
• Project which examines different models of peer
  education
• Post-release study/project following-up on
  womens rehabilitation after their release from
  prison, and especially the provision of health
  care and treatment initiated while in prison

12
Next steps

• Presentation and dicussion of the results EG PH
  meeting 29-30th May in Riga, Latvia
• Preparation for CSR, PAC and related side events
  immersion of recommended project ideas and
  connection to new focus on indigenous people
• -gt Indigenous People in prison?
• Planning of the Thematic Report 2008/ 2009