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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for women prisoners
15 results foundAuthor: Dunkel, Frieder Title: International Study on Women’s Imprisonment: Current Situation, Demand Analysis and "Best Practice" Summary: Since women in Europe only constitute an average of roughly 4.5% to 5.0% of the total prison population (from 2.9% in Poland to 7.8 % in Spain), women in European prisons experience specific problems and structural disadvantages. Prisons are geared towards male prisoners and therefore excessive security measures are implemented, women‘s educational and work opportunities are (even) more restricted, and the inmate structure reveals that female prisoners show a high incidence of substance abuse, as well as psychological and psychosomatic complaints. In addition to these problems that occur in all the countries surveyed, some countries experience their own unique problems: ranging from the structure of the criminal offence (e.g. drug couriers in Spain) to the historic-political background of the countries that have joined the EU. There is thus an urgent need to evaluate the current situation of female prisoners and their needs. Under the preconditions of a resource-oriented approach, the ‚healthy prison’ concept as well as theories of work- and organisational psychology, the aim is to examine women‘s prisons from a number of different angles in order to promote designs that meet the women’s needs and thus promote tertiary prevention. The analysis of the specific situation and actual conditions of imprisonment of female prisoners allows, firstly, the identification of what constitutes ‚best practice’ and, secondly, – also in terms of gender mainstreaming – the derivation of measures that can be taken to ensure that imprisonment takes place in accordance with the needs of female prisoners. The current lack of knowledge and cross-border transfer of experiences with regard to female prisoners brings a number of difficulties with it. It is thus more difficult to ensure that penal institutions are properly designed and organised and that the prison officers receive adequate specialised vocational training, which in turn negatively affects the prisoners’ rehabilitation. To counter this difficiency, the following project measures will be taken whereby the sanctioning practices of the participating countries will be taken into account: a) Examination of female prisons at the organisational level (structural conditions): regard of human rights, accommodation (number of occupants, proximity to home, mother-child facilities), educational and work situation of the imprisoned women, treatment (opportunities for substance abusers, opportunities and facilities specifically geared towards women, etc.) qualification of staff, etc. b) Differential analysis of the perceived living conditons and conditions of imprisonment in the participating countries as well as - and with special reference to - the specific needs of imprisoned women: assessment of the quality of life and the climate in each institution, needs, and experience of stress. c) Differential analysis of the subjective concepts of the prison staff regarding imprisoned women, the prison system and in particular their vocational role. Details: Greifswald, Germany: University of Greifswald, Department of Criminology, 2005. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 14, 2011 at: http://www.rsf.uni-greifswald.de/fileadmin/mediapool/lehrstuehle/duenkel/Reader_womeninprison.pdf Year: 2005 Country: Europe URL: http://www.rsf.uni-greifswald.de/fileadmin/mediapool/lehrstuehle/duenkel/Reader_womeninprison.pdf Shelf Number: 121338 Keywords: Correctional InstitutionsCorrectional ProgramsFemale Inmates (Europe)Female OffendersFemale PrisonsWomen Prisoners |
Author: Northern Ireland. Department of Justice Title: Women's Offending Behaviour in Northern Ireland: A Strategy to Manage Women Offenders and Those Vulnerable to Offending Behaviour 2010-2013 Summary: Women make up only a small proportion of those who offend or who exhibit offending behaviour in Northern Ireland. However, their experiences of the criminal justice process, and the interventions and services available, can have a disproportionate impact, particularly on children and families. The problems underlying women’s offending are often complex. Issues such as poverty, homelessness, mental illness, abuse, domestic violence, and addictions are often the prime motivators underlying a woman’s involvement in crime. To reduce offending, ways to address the factors contributing to women’s offending need to be developed, within the community where possible. Details: Belfast: Northern Ireland Department of Justice, 2010. 83p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2012 at: http://www.pbni.org.uk/archive/News%20items/2010%20News/Women%20Strategy%20launch/Final%20-%20A%20Strategy%20to%20Manage%20Women%20Offenders%20291010.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.pbni.org.uk/archive/News%20items/2010%20News/Women%20Strategy%20launch/Final%20-%20A%20Strategy%20to%20Manage%20Women%20Offenders%20291010.pdf Shelf Number: 125615 Keywords: Female InmatesFemale Offenders (Northern Ireland)Women Prisoners |
Author: ACT Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner Title: Human Rights Audit on the Conditions of Detention of Women at the Alexander Maconochie Centre Summary: On 30 January 2013, the ACT Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner announced a review of the effect and implementation of Territory laws governing the treatment of women detainees at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) pursuant to s 41 of the Human Rights Act 2004 (HR Act) and her functions under the Discrimination Act 1991 and the Human Rights Commission Act 2005. This Audit was commenced in response to concerns raised with the Commissioner by a number of stakeholders about perceived inequalities faced by the small number of women detained at the AMC compared with the much larger male population in the prison. The Audit assesses the law, policy and practices of the AMC, which has been operational for five years, in relation to the treatment of women detainees against the benchmark of international human rights norms enshrined in the HR Act, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other relevant international standards. These include the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders. Details: Civic, ACT, AUS: ACT Human Rights Commission Commission, 2014. 232p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 31, 2014 at: http://www.hrc.act.gov.au/res/HRC%20Womens%20Audit%202014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Australia URL: http://www.hrc.act.gov.au/res/HRC%20Womens%20Audit%202014.pdf Shelf Number: 132860 Keywords: Female Inmates (Australia) Female Offenders Female Prisons Human Rights Prison Conditions Women Prisoners |
Author: Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission Title: Unfinished business: Koori women and the justice system Summary: It has been 20 years since the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and, sadly, in that time the proportion of Australian prisoners that are Indigenous has almost doubled. In Victoria, the over-representation of Koori people in prison, women in particular, has also increased dramatically in the last few years. Research shows once they have had contact with justice system, they are very likely to reoffend and return to prison. Around 80 per cent of the Koori women in prison are mothers, so their imprisonment not only removes them from the community - it removes their children from them. This increases the likelihood of their children entering out-of-homecare, which is in turn one of the biggest risk factors for them one day coming in contact with the justice system themselves. The longer term effects of this are profound, on the women, their families and their children. In the shorter term they are compounded by the lack of pre-prison diversionary options and support postrelease and in the inability to access employment or education or find safe and affordable housing for themselves and their children. Without these things the risk of re-offending is significantly higher. Details: Carlton, Victoria: Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, 2013. 126p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: https://interactivepdf.uniflip.com/2/87691/311342/pub/document.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: https://interactivepdf.uniflip.com/2/87691/311342/pub/document.pdf Shelf Number: 129679 Keywords: AboriginalsChildren of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale OffendersIndigenous PeoplesWomen Prisoners |
Author: Great Britain. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Title: Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP & YOI Bronzefield Summary: HMP Bronzefield is a complex closed women's local prison run by Sodexo Justice Services. It holds up to 527 women, with all categories represented - those remanded by the courts, those serving short sentences and a number serving life. Ages range from 18 to over 70. It is also one of two prisons in the female estate that holds restricted status women, or women who are deemed to require special management due to the level of risk they present, or the notoriety of their offences. The catchment area of the prison is huge and the mix of women held continues to present an almost unique blend of complexity and vulnerability. Around a third of women reported having a disability and 90% said they arrived with problems, including 44% who felt depressed or suicidal. For over half it was their first time in prison and a similar number had children under the age of 18. Over 40% indicated they had a problem with drugs and 66% said they had emotional wellbeing or mental health problems. The proportion of women reporting these types of problems was significantly higher than at our last inspection. It was encouraging to see, therefore, that despite this increased complexity of the challenge faced, the prison had continued the improvement we reported at the last inspection in April 2013. Arrangements to support women on arrival and during their early days at the prison were good, and for those with substance misuse problems, some of the best we have seen. Processes to keep women safe and to deal with the high levels of self-harm and vulnerability were well developed. There was little violence and few serious incidents, but despite this, many women still complained that they had felt unsafe at some time while at the prison and that they had been victimised by both other prisoners and staff. The reasons for this were not clear but, the complex mix of women held at Bronzefield, a recent tragic self-inflicted death, the first such death at the prison, allied to a zero tolerance approach being adopted to tackle poor behaviour when it occurred, were likely to be contributory factors to these perceptions. At the last inspection we were critical of some aspects of the work with the small number of women who had a combination of very challenging and sometimes dangerous behaviour and vulnerabilities, including personality disorder and mental health conditions. Work in this area had improved significantly and while we were still concerned about two women who had been managed in the separation and care unit (SCU) for over two years, the care they were receiving and specialist input to manage their progression and reintegration was good, and would be developed further with soon to be piloted interventions addressing personality disorder. Safeguarding arrangements in general were well developed and fully embedded across the prison. Security was proportionate, including for those women who were restricted status. Work in the SCU had developed since the last inspection and was now much more progressive. Use of force was not excessive, although some aspects of oversight needed attention. Substance misuse support was very good. The general environment was very good and care was taken to keep the prison decent. Staff-prisoner relationships were very good and the custody support officer scheme worked well, including effectively supporting resettlement work. Again, despite some negativity in our surveys, work to support the diverse range of women held, including the quarter who were from black and minority ethnic communities, and the 24% who were foreign nationals, was good. The mother and baby unit provided excellent care and support to those using the facility, and maternity care was very good. Health services were good overall, including for the high number of women with mental health problems. As at the last inspection the weakest outcomes were in the provision of purposeful activity. Time out of cell was reasonable although we found some women locked up during the day who could have been more purposefully occupied. The range of vocational training had improved and there were sufficient activity places for all those held. However, the quality of teaching and learning remained too variable and outcomes in the key area of functional skills needed to be better. Managers had a plan to address these deficiencies but this had not yet come to fruition. In contrast, resettlement work had improved significantly. Excellent support was now provided to women in maintaining contact with their family and friends, and also for those who had been abused, trafficked or who were sex workers. The prison had started to use release on temporary licence to support reintegration work, including for employment and family contact and relationship reasons. Offender management work had been re-organised since the last inspection and was now better than we usually see with evidence of regular and meaningful contact between women and specialist staff. Public protection arrangements were robust. The new community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) were still bedding in and there was confusion about how they worked alongside Sodexo resettlement staff. Nevertheless, support in the reducing reoffending pathways was generally strong although factors outside the control of the prison were resulting in too many women being released without settled accommodation. HMP Bronzefield was a very good and improved prison. Outcomes for the highly complex population were at least reasonably good or better in all our healthy prison tests, with the quality of respect and work to resettle prisoners particularly strong. It is a credit to the very capable leadership within the prison, and the committed and motivated staff group that the challenges they face continue to be met in such a positive and caring way. Details: London: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons, 2015. 119p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 26, 2016 at: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/04/Bronzefield-web2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/04/Bronzefield-web2015.pdf Shelf Number: 138822 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsFemale InmatesFemale OffendersPrisoner ReentryWomen Prisoners |
Author: Baker, Jo Title: Conditions for Women in Detention in Zambia: Needs, Vulnerabilities and Good Practices Summary: While conditions for women in Zambia's under-resourced prison system are largely considered better than those for men, a closer look tells a different story. As a minority, it may be that various women's facilities suffer from less (yet still chronic) congestion, are subject to lighter security restrictions, and allow more flexibility, at the discretion of the warden. Yet as revealed by this study, there is a broad, acute and harmful lack of consideration for the special needs of women in detention, in forms acknowledged by and less visible to officials and personnel in the Zambia Prison Service (ZPS or Prison Service). These gaps are detrimental to the dignity and wellbeing of female detainees and breach many of their human rights. Key among these gaps are a lack of basic hygiene provisions and gender-specific healthcare. These present particular risk to the health of inmates, among others, who are pregnant, living with HIV, accompanied by young children or for those who, because of stigma or distance from family (which are both, in many cases, worse for men than women), have no outside assistance at all. Although the Prison Service should be commended for the continued opening of prisons to outside support and a human rights approach, it must observe its State responsibility to meet detainees' basic needs. Female inmates were largely found to be isolated from family, including children, and from other forms of outside support, which research has indicated is likely to be more harmful to women than men, in general, from a psychological and material perspective. For the women interviewed in Zambia, this was often the greatest cause of anxiety and despair (as summarized in the section, What Matters Most). Female inmates lack access to vocational, educational and recreational activities that are made available to men; they are also unremunerated, even though many women face extreme anxiety about supporting themselves and any dependents on release, in the context of rejection from their husbands, families and communities. Key, also, are discriminatory barriers to complaint and information that place them at risk. The Offender Management role has been seen to fill critical gaps in admissions screenings and orientation for female inmates, in identifying special needs and connecting them with needed services and counseling, but it is under resourced and under supported institutionally. Men and women are separated in law and to a great extent, in practice, and inmates were protected from gender-based violence and harassment by men in the facilities visited by DIGNITY, according to our research. In contrast to reports of police custody, a sharp decline in the use of physical violence and torture against women by prison staff has also been reported in recent years, among other improvements. Yet DIGNITY is concerned that sexual relationships with male staff are not fully and effectively prevented in some facilities, and degrading and harmful disciplinary measures were also found to be used by female staff, including body searching practices. Attention to staff training, gender awareness and attitudes would make a great difference - particularly among female staff -- as would measures to encourage free, regular and dignified contact with family and children; structured activities to engage and empower women (personally and economically); and greater attention to sanitation and health provisions, particularly for pregnant women, new mothers, and children. While these may be most important for women with long sentences, they are also urgently needed in small rural prisons, where women may have very little. The role of the Offender Managers, if adequately resourced, gender trained and institutionally supported, could be one of the most effective ways to ensure the well-being and dignity of women in detention in Zambia. Details: Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY), 2015. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: DIGNITY Publication Series on Torture and Organised Violence no. 12: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2066110/pubserieswid12.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Zambia URL: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2066110/pubserieswid12.pdf Shelf Number: 139426 Keywords: Female InmatesFemale OffendersFemale PrisonersPrisonsWomen Prisoners |
Author: Baker, Jo Title: Conditions for Women in Detention in the Philippines: Needs, Vulnerabilities and Good Practices Summary: What are the particular needs, issues, risks and vulnerabilities that face imprisoned women across the world? What challenges and promising practices are common in their management? And where do these practices fall in relation to international standards? These questions lie at the heart of DIGNITY's research into conditions for women in detention in four countries - of which this Philippines country study is one part. The management of women in the Philippines' vast and fragmented penal system demonstrates a broad spectrum of approaches. In some smaller, provincial facilities women are reportedly detained with minimal or no attention to their human rights or particular needs, including the right to be held separately from male inmates, causing strong concern for their safety and wellbeing. In other women-only prisons and pre-trial facilities, visited by DIGNITY in 2013, close attention is given to inmates' welfare, and good practices can be found for other resource-constrained countries - particularly in the management of visits and the use of structured activity to keep inmates active and motivated. In speaking to detainees (as summarized in the section, What Matters Most), DIGNITY has been able to understand the critical importance of ties to the outside world, particularly to children and lawyers, of dignified spaces in which to meet visitors, and of opportunities to take on responsibility, and stay busy. We have been told of the acute need for gender-sensitive healthcare, particularly in areas of reproductive and sexual health, and for survivors of gender-based violence, and substance abusers. Women have spoken of gendered risks and dangers that they face while in detention, including sexual exploitation, mental health risks and harmful forms of misinformation. They have also shared their experiences of abandonment and stigma, which many believe are experienced differently and disproportionately by women. Yet in only one of the country's penal systems, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), is the operational approach gender responsive - and comprehensively so. A series of operational guidelines circulated among staff of the Correctional institute for Women in 2013 has integrated the recently elaborated United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules) into the management of the prisons. This has ensured that a broad range of measures respond to the special needs and common histories of women, both generally and as members of particular groups, to help protect their rights and ensure their wellbeing. These measures include the development of alternative screening methods to strip searches and invasive body searches, and the recognition that disciplinary sanctions for inmates must never include a prohibition of family contact, especially with children. They ensure that a portion of inmates' earnings are placed in a savings fund to be made available on release, and include the development of strategies to provide gender-specific and individualized psychosocial and psychiatric support, and prevent suicide and self-harm. The memorandum also commendably requires that: "The treatment of prisoners should emphasize not their exclusion from the community, but their continuing part in it," and urges flexibility and assistance for visiting friends and relatives, where needed. In order to ensure that these commendable guidelines offer effective and sustainable protection for BuCor detainees, the next step must be to make them legally binding. Meanwhile, as welfare programmes and guidelines are being championed and developed across this vast penal network, and steps to centralize its procedures are taken, the chance to mainstream gender in policy, operational guidelines and training is being missed. As the number of female detainees continues to grow, it is critical that their needs and human rights are adequately reflected in these processes, in accordance with international standards. Given the positive practices found in visits to both BuCor and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facilities, it is clear that coordination and lesson sharing between staff across these systems could go a long way in achieving this. Details: Copenhagen: Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY), 2015. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: DIGNITY Publication Series on Torture and Organised Violence no. 11: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2066109/pubserieswid11.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Philippines URL: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2066109/pubserieswid11.pdf Shelf Number: 139427 Keywords: Female InmatesFemale OffendersFemale PrisonersPrisonsWomen Prisoners |
Author: Baker, Jo Title: Conditions for Women in Detention in Albania: Needs, Vulnerabilities and Good Practices Summary: What are the particular needs, issues, risks and vulnerabilities that face imprisoned women across the world? What challenges and promising practices are common in their management? And where do these practices fall in relation to international standards? These questions lie at the heart of DIGNITY's research into conditions for women in detention in four countries - of which this Albania country study is one part. The management of women in Albania's prison system has shown growing consideration for their special needs. Until recently this was not systematic, but reflected in the work of enlightened officials in the prison system, and NGOs. However in 2014 the State made a commendable series of gender-sensitive amendments to the prison law, and transferred all female detainees permanently from a substandard and much-criticised pre-detention facility to the country's only prison facility for women. DIGNITY's visit to this prison in 2013, governed by its former director, revealed good practices. Findings here suggest that when gender-sensitive staff can support female inmates emotionally, reduce trauma and stigma, treat health issues, and connect inmates with their families and special services, then morale will likely be higher, rights better protected, and the chances of rehabilitation greater. Importantly, DIGNITY found outreach efforts being made by staff to the families of inmates, which responds to the often-greater need and challenge of detained women to contact the outside world, particularly their children. We found preventive healthcare and education that addressed the often-lower levels of health knowledge and access to care in women's backgrounds. Other significant findings included willingness by the administration to open the prison to the community outside of its walls in order to help combat the harmful effects of stigma, isolation and abandonment among detainees (as summarized in the section, What Matters Most). Each of these responses addresses an important provision in the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), although they were not all implemented systematically or protected as law or policy. However, the facility faces significant infrastructure and resource challenges, particularly now that it also houses pre-trial detainees, and in this respect it is considered by staff and NGOs to be among the worst in the penal system in certain respects. Hygiene facilities are inadequate, and living quarters are run-down and lack the space, ventilation and heat required by international standards. Although inmates can train and work, they are not equally remunerated, and the very low rates of pay place them and their dependents in a vulnerable position on release. The over-use of pre-trial detention for low-risk offenders, which often stretches to months if not years, is also of serious concern. Finally, the practice of regularly redistributing or removing prison staff, at all levels, as happened after the 2013 General Election, arbitrarily interrupts relationships, trainings and programmes that have been tailored to a particularly vulnerable population, and may well as a result, do harm. This requires further consideration. Details: Copenhagen: Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY), 2015. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: DIGNITY Publication Series on Torture and Organised Violence no. 10: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2066108/pubserieswid10.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Albania URL: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2066108/pubserieswid10.pdf Shelf Number: 139428 Keywords: Female InmatesFemale OffendersFemale PrisonersPrisonsWomen Prisoners |
Author: Baker, Jo Title: Conditions for Women in Detention in Jordan: Needs, Vulnerabilities and Good Practices Summary: What are the particular needs, issues, risks and vulnerabilities that face imprisoned women across the world? What challenges and promising practices are common in their management? And where do these practices fall in relation to international standards? These questions lie at the heart of DIGNITY's research into conditions for women in detention in four countries - of which this Jordan country study is one part. The strong social norms and forms of discrimination that women face in Jordan reach deep into places of detention, and their experience of being detained. To be a detained woman here, in many cases, is to lose touch with the majority of your family members and your children despite an acute need for intimate and social contact, and to feel isolated from the outside world. It is often to be heavily stigmatized by your own community, and by prison staff. It is to have likely experienced forms of gender-based violence before entering prison - some physically and mentally debilitating in the name of honour - and to not receive the help that you need in order to recover. And it is to have many of your other needs and human rights go largely unmet and unprotected, including the right to rehabilitation. In its management of women there are some areas in which Jordan's Public Security Directorate (PSD) complies with core human rights treaties and other international standards. Detained women are commendably well-protected from gender-based violence by men in most cases because of the strict segregation by sex that takes place between inmates and DIGNITY's research among women's prisons and prison communities staff from the moment of arrest. Torture of women is also rarely reported. Some physical conditions in the main prison for women in Amman comply with basic minimum rules. However in many other ways, Jordan fails to meet the gender-specific needs and human rights of its female judicial and administrative detainees. The most serious violations reported during this study were the inhuman and degrading treatment of female inmates by prison officers, particularly during admissions processes, and inadequate staff intervention in violence between inmates in the Juweida Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center (JWC or 'Juweida') that included cases of threats, sexual molestation, beating and burnings. Gender-specific healthcare was largely absent, including mental healthcare, and some basic sanitary products are not provided for free. No structured rehabilitation programme is offered, and attempts to provide vocational and educational training or work, are minimal and insufficient. Although DIGNITY is informed that children under the age of three may live with their mothers in prisons, there are some unanswered questions about the extent to which this option is provided, both generally, and in regard to children who are born outside of marriage - including those born as a result of rape. Detainees feel profoundly isolated, struggle to access information and outside contact - particularly those with children - and can face disrespectful and harsh attitudes from female frontline staff (as summarized in the section What Matters Most. These factors in particular appear to account for a low general morale. Levels of depression appear high and incidents of self-harm, including hunger strikes, are not uncommon. This environment is particularly harmful for those who have experienced extreme violence, those who have been separated from their babies or young children, and those who are detained indefinitely, involuntarily and without due process under the 1954 Crime Prevention Law, for the ostensible purpose of their own protection (known also as 'protective', 'preventive' or 'precautionary' detention), including foreign migrants and/or rape victims. The situation of foreign migrants, many of whom lack proper identification or residency documents (often as victims of labour rights violations) and have very little contact with their families and lawyers, is also of particular concern. These women are often held in temporary detention, where information about them and their conditions is difficult to obtain. Combinations of these factors above intersect in detention among both Jordanian and foreign women, creating an axis of tremendous harm and vulnerability. As Jordan enters a phase in which it is amending key legislation related to the criminal procedure, drafting a new national human rights plan, and engaging in dialogue under the review of key UN bodies, it is hoped that the situation of this group receive the attention it so urgently requires. Details: Copenhagen: Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY), 2015. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: DIGNITY Publication Series on Torture and Organised Violence no. 9: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2066001/pubseriesno9_wid_jordan.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Jordan URL: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2066001/pubseriesno9_wid_jordan.pdf Shelf Number: 139429 Keywords: Female InmatesFemale OffendersFemale PrisonersPrisonsWomen Prisoners |
Author: Wenke, Daja Title: Marginalized: The Aboriginal Women's experience in Federal Corrections Summary: The story of how so many Aboriginal women came to be locked up within federal penitentiaries is a story filled with a long history of dislocation and isolation, racism, brutal violence as well as enduring a constant state of poverty beyond poor. The aforementioned factors combined have culminated into the current crisis of highly disproportionate rates of Aboriginal women in the Canadian Federal Corrections system. The current state of over-representation is nothing short of a crisis; that being said it has been a crisis for quite some time now1 with reports from as far back as the 1980s identifying the issue and predicting that the numbers would only increase. Given the current state of the system, absent immediate change, the outlook is bleak for Aboriginal women, their families and communities. Aboriginal peoples account for 4% of the Canadian population; however, within the federal corrections population, Aboriginal peoples comprise 20% of the total incarcerated offender population. The over-representation is even more pronounced in terms of Aboriginal women incarceration rates: As of April 2010, Aboriginal women accounted for 32.6% of the total female offender population, this means that one out of every three women federally incarcerated is of Aboriginal descent. The rates at which Aboriginal women are incarcerated have been on the rise for quite some time. Over the past 10 years, the representation of Aboriginal women has increased by nearly 90%; as such they represent the fastest growing offender population. Furthermore, there is no indication of any anticipated decline. As of April 2010, there were 164 Aboriginal women serving federal sentences. Aboriginal women in federal penitentiaries tend to be younger than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. The Aboriginal female offender profile when compared to that of the non-Aboriginal female indicates that there is an age gap of 5 years and 4 months, meaning that the average age of the Aboriginal female inmate is 34 years old. Overall, Aboriginal people have a higher representation in the 21-40 year old age group than non-Aboriginal offenders and the trend is even more pronounced in regard to Aboriginal female offenders - 39% of the total Aboriginal female offender population are within this age group. Furthermore, the face of the new offender population in terms of Aboriginal people is younger than those Aboriginal persons already incarcerated. Given that Aboriginal peoples are the fastest growing population within Canada and that the projected demographics indicate that the over-representation of Aboriginal peoples in the criminal justice system will only continue to grow, aggressive action must be taken now to address the issues of Aboriginal women in federal corrections. However, it is highly unlikely that the issues of such a marginalized population will receive the attention and resources necessary to even begin to address the multitude of issues. Absent political will, fundamental change will not occur within the system. Furthermore, given the political climate of late, there is no indication that effective change for Aboriginal women in Corrections will occur anytime soon. The Federal Government's "Tough on Crime Agenda" does nothing to ameliorate the disproportionate rates at which Aboriginal peoples are incarcerated - quite the opposite, in terms of Aboriginal peoples' over-representation within the justice system, the federal government's current plan will only serve to further increase the numbers and worsen the already staggering injustice experienced by Aboriginal peoples as a whole. Details: Ottawa: Aboriginal Corrections Policy Unit Public Safety Canada, 2012. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 21, 2016 at: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/mrgnlzd/mrgnlzd-eng.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Canada URL: Shelf Number: 131161 Keywords: Aboriginal PeoplesFemale InmatesFemale OffendersWomen Prisoners |
Author: Rope, Olivia Title: Women in Detention: Putting the UN Bangkok Rules on women prisoners into practice Summary: This training resource has been designed to support stakeholders to put the UN Bangkok Rules on women offenders and prisoners into practice. It draws on global good practice and research findings to provide practical guidance, using exercises and case studies. At the end of the ten modules, you will have the tools and knowledge to design gender-sensitive policies and practices for women offenders and prisoners and apply them in your professional role. The Workbook includes: 10 modules, with clear learning objectives brainstorming to develop new ideas exercises to check your understanding case studies to help you apply international standards good practices to inspire new thinking and provide solutions additional resources to delve deeper into specific topics end-of-module quizzes to assess your understanding. While the Workbook has been designed as a self-learning tool, it can also be used as part of group training sessions. It is designed for prison staff, policy‑makers, healthcare practitioners, representatives of intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, and other interested stakeholders. Details: London: Penal Reform International, 2017. 188p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 2, 2017 at: https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PRI_BR_Workbook_WEB_lowres-1.pdf Year: 2017 Country: International URL: https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PRI_BR_Workbook_WEB_lowres-1.pdf Shelf Number: 141294 Keywords: Bangkok RulesDetention PracticesFemale InmatesFemale OffendersGender-Specific PracticesWomen Prisoners |
Author: Prison Reform Trust Title: Why focus on reducing women's imprisonment? Summary: Key points • The women's prison population in England and Wales more than doubled between 1995 and 2010 - from under 2,000 women to over 4,000. The numbers have since declined by over 10% – from 4,279 women in April 2012 to 3,821 in April 2016. But the UK still has one of the highest rates of women’s imprisonment in Western Europe. • Women are a small minority of those in the criminal justice system, representing less than 5% of the prison population, and are easily overlooked in policy, planning, and services - they have been described as 'correctional afterthoughts'. • The drivers and patterns of women’s offending are generally different from men’s. • Most of the solutions to women's offending lie in improved access to community based support services, including women’s centres. These enable women to address underlying problems which may lead to offending but which the criminal justice system cannot solve. • The impact of imprisonment on women, more than half of whom have themselves been victims of serious crime, is especially damaging and their outcomes are worse than men's. • Most women have neither a home nor a job to go to on release. • Women are much more likely to be primary carers, with children far more directly affected by a prison sentence as a result. Details: London: PRT, 2017. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Prison Reform Trust Briefing: Accessed March @, 2017 at: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Women/whywomen.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Women/whywomen.pdf Shelf Number: 141301 Keywords: Female InmatesFemale OffendersPrison ReformWomen Prisoners |
Author: Swavola, Elizabeth Title: Overlooked: Women and Jails in an Era of Reform Summary: Over the past four decades, there has been a nearly five-fold increase in the number of people in U.S. jails: the approximately 3,000 county or municipality-run detention facilities that primarily hold people arrested but not yet convicted of a crime.1 (See “What is jail?” p. 8). From just 157,000 people held on any given day in 1970, the jail population rose to 745,000 people by 2014.2 Intended to house those deemed to be a danger to society or a flight risk before trial, jails have become massive warehouses primarily for those too poor to post even low amounts of bail or too sick for existing community resources to manage. With more than 11 million admissions annually, the role jails play as a principal driver of mass incarceration is receiving increasing attention from policymakers and the public.3 Despite this scrutiny, one aspect of this growth has received little attention: the precipitous rise in the number of women in jail. Although they generally fare better than men in pretrial decisions, the number of women incarcerated in jails is growing at a faster rate than any other correctional population.4 Since 1970, the number of women in jail nationwide has increased 14-fold—from under 8,000 to nearly 110,000— and now accounts for approximately half of all women behind bars in the United States.5 Once a rarity, women are now held in jails in nearly every county—a stark contrast to 1970, when almost three-quarters of counties held not a single woman in jail.6 Surprisingly, small counties (those with 250,000 people or fewer in 2014) have been the main engine of this growth, with the number of women in small county jails increasing 31-fold from 1970 to 2014.7 Since 2000, jail incarceration rates for women in small counties have increased from 79 per 100,000 women to 140 per 100,000 women. In contrast, mid-sized counties’ jail incarceration rates for women only grew from 80 to 88 per 100,000 women, while rates in large counties actually decreased from 76 to 71 per 100,000 women within that same timeframe (see Figure 1, p. 8). Today, nearly half of all jailed women are in small counties.8 Despite these alarming trends, we lack a complete picture to explain why women are increasingly incarcerated in U.S. jails. Available research is scarce, dated, and limited in scope.9 Nevertheless, research about women in the criminal justice system more generally provides clues about who these women are, and why they end up in jail. Like men in jail, they are disproportionately people of color, overwhelmingly poor and low-income, survivors of violence and trauma, and have high rates of physical and mental illness and substance use.10 Nearly 80 percent of women in jails are mothers, but unlike incarcerated men, they are, by and large, single parents, solely responsible for their young children.11 The majority are charged with lower-level offenses—mostly property and drug-related—and tend to have less extensive criminal histories than their male counterparts.12 Once incarcerated, women must grapple with systems, practices, and policies that are designed for the majority of the incarcerated population: men. With limited resources, jails are often ill equipped to address the challenges women face when they enter the justice system, which can have serious and lasting public safety and community health implications.13 As a result, many women return to their families and communities far worse off than when they entered the jailhouse door. As U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in her remarks at the White House Women and the Criminal Justice System Convening on March 30, 2016, “Put simply, we know that when we incarcerate a woman we often are truly incarcerating a family, in terms of the far-reaching effect on her children, her community, and her entire family network.”14 Although some jurisdictions have begun to focus on the particularly destabilizing effect jail incarceration has for women, their families, and their communities, women frequently remain an afterthought in discussions about jail reform. As interest in rolling back the misuse and overuse of jail increases, the roots and trajectory of growth in jail incarceration of women demand further study. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2016. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 15, 2017 at: http://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/overlooked-women-in-jails-report-web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/overlooked-women-in-jails-report-web.pdf Shelf Number: 144470 Keywords: Female Inmates Female Offenders Female Prisoners Jail Inmates Jails Women Prisoners |
Author: Victorian Ombudsman Title: Implementing OPCAT in Victoria: report and inspection of the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre Summary: 1. This report considers the practical implications of implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in Victoria. It sets out: - practical changes needed to implement the OPCAT protocol - the results of a pilot OPCAT-style inspection at Victoria's main women's prison, the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre (DPFC). 2. OPCAT is an international human rights treaty that aims to prevent abuse of people in detention by opening places where people are deprived of liberty - prisons, police cells, psychiatric hospitals and so on - to regular independent inspections by: - a United Nations (UN) committee of international experts - local inspection bodies called National Preventative Mechanisms (NPMs). 3. In February 2017, the Commonwealth Government announced that Australia will ratify OPCAT by the end of 2017. 4. In Victoria, this means the Victorian Government will need to open places of detention to the UN committee from 2018. The Victorian Government will have three years to 'designate' or appoint one or more local NPMs to conduct regular inspections. 5. Implementing OPCAT will require changes. While Victoria already has human rights laws and monitoring bodies, OPCAT will introduce more rigorous standards for inspecting places of detention. 6. On 31 March 2017, the Ombudsman notified the Attorney-General, the Minister for Corrections and the Secretary of the Department of Justice and Regulation of her intention to conduct an 'own motion' investigation into the conditions in a custodial facility, with a view to contributing to the debate about OPCAT's implementation in Victoria. 7. The investigation mapped places of detention in Victoria, how they are monitored, and what needs to change to implement OPCAT. 8. The investigation also tested how OPCAT inspections work in practice by conducting a pilot inspection at DPFC using OPCAT standards where possible. Details: Melbourne: Victorian Ombudsman, 2017. 136p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 18, 2018 at: https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/getattachment/432871e4-5653-4830-99be-8bb96c09b348 Year: 2017 Country: Australia URL: https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/getattachment/432871e4-5653-4830-99be-8bb96c09b348 Shelf Number: 148864 Keywords: Female InmatesPrisonsPunishmentTortureWomen Prisoners |
Author: Hainze, Emily Title: Wayward Reading: Women's Crime and Incarceration in the United States, 1890-1935 Summary: This dissertation, "Wayward Reading: Women's Crime and Incarceration in the United States, 1890-1935" illuminates the literary stakes of a crucial, yet overlooked, moment in the history of American incarceration: the development of the women's prison and the unique body of literature that materialized alongside that development. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the women's prison became a testing ground for the study of women's sexuality: social scientists sought to assimilate their "patients" into gendered and racialized citizenship by observing the minutiae of womens everyday lives and policing their sexual and social associations. Ultimately, this experimental study of women's sexuality served to reinforce racial stratification: sociologists figured white women's waywardness as necessitating rescue and rehabilitation into domesticity, and depicted black women's waywardness as confirming their essential criminality, justifying their harsher punishment and consignment to contingent labor. I argue that women's imprisonment also sparked another kind of experimentation, however, one based in literary form. A wide range of writers produced a body of literature that also focused on the "wayward girl's" life trajectory. I contend that these authors drew on social science's classificatory system and cultural authority to offer alternate scales of value and to bring into focus new forms of relationship that had the potential to unsettle the color line. In Jennie Gerhardt, for instance, Theodore Dreiser invokes legitimate kinship outside the racialized boundaries of marriage, while women incarcerated in the New York State Reformatory for Women exchanged love poetry and epistles that imagine forms of romance exceeding the racial and sexual divides that the prison sought to enforce. Wayward Reading thus draws together an unexpected array of sociological, legal and literary texts that theorize women's crime and punishment to imagine alternate directions that modern social experience might take: popular periodicals such as the Delineator magazine, criminological studies by Frances Kellor and Katharine Bement Davis, the poetry and letters of women incarcerated at the New York State Reformatory for Women, and novels by W.E.B Du Bois and Theodore Dreiser. To understand how both social difference and social intimacy were reimagined through the space of the women's prison, I model what I call "wayward" reading, tracing the interchange between social scientific and literary discourses. I draw attention to archives and texts that are frequently sidelined as either purely historical repositories (such as institutional case files from the New York State Reformatory) or as didactic and one-dimensional (such as Frances Kellor's sociological exploration of womens crime), as well as to literary texts not traditionally associated with women's imprisonment (such as W.E.B. Du Bois' The Quest of the Silver Fleece). Reading "waywardly" thus allows me to recover a diverse set of aesthetic experiments that developed alongside women's imprisonment, and also to reconsider critical assumptions about the status of "prison writing" in literary studies. A number of critics have outlined the prison as a space of totalizing dehumanization that in turn reflects a broader logic of racialized domination structuring American culture. As such, scholars have read literary texts that describe incarceration as either enforcing or critiquing carceral violence. However, by turning our attention to the less-explored formation of the women's prison, I argue that authors mobilized social science not only to critique the prison's violence and expose how it produced social difference, but also to re-envision the relationships that comprised modern social life altogether. Details: New York: Columbia University, 2017. 309p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed March 27, 2019 at: https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8QC03W7 Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8QC03W7 Shelf Number: 155194 Keywords: Female Inmates Female Offenders Female Prisoners Female Prisons Historical Study Reformatories for Women Women Prisoners |