Women in Prison

1
Women in Prison

• A Review of the Conditions in Member States of
  the Council of Europe

2
Why women in prison?

• Who we are
• Statement at the 12th Meeting of the United
  Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
  Commission
• In general, prison regimes are devised for male
  prisoners and tend to ignore the particular
  problems of women prisoners

3
Our Report

• Purpose
• Information
• Identify interesting practices, highlight
  problems
• Raise awareness at European level, change prison
  policy according to findings
• Methodology
• Desktop research, questionnaires, fact-finding
  visits, publication of reports

4
General Findings

• Lack of data availability
• Small number of women prisoners (lt10)
• Women awaiting trial face harder regimes
• Proportion of foreign nationals (0 - 75)
• Female juveniles imprisoned with adults
• Most common crimes (property, homicide, drugs)
• Women serve short sentences
• Few womens prisons, far from home

5
Health Issues (1)

• Pregnancy and birth
• Special needs for pregnant prisoners
• Baths/showers
• Missed meals, missed sleep
• Exercise regimes, ante-natal care
• Birth should take place in a normal hospital
• Occasionally women cuffed during gynaecological
  examinations/birth
• Relatives not always informed

6
Health Issues (2)

• Babies in prison
• No consensus on age limit for babies in prison
• Conditions for mothers and babies vary
• Children on the outside
• Disruption to family life
• Prisons generally further from home
• Lack of information on children/dependents

7
Health Issues (3)

• Health care delivery
• A trend to streamline prison health care with
  national health care e.g. France, Spain, Estonia,
  UK
• Stigmatising attitudes/behaviour can lead to
  refusal of care
• Conditions of prison hospitals (e.g. Latvia)
• Confidentiality
• Right to confidentiality
• Health risked if guards see records/are present

8
Some thoughts for discussion

• Preventative health care in prisons
• Health care choices (during the menopause or when
  giving birth)
• Exercise regimes sometimes neglected