In Australia, the number of female prisoners in NSW prisons has increased by 50% in the past six years and in New Zealand this ‘huge problem’ resulted in a unit at Rimutaka being reopened. In Brazil the numbers of women in prison have surged in recent years due to global trends, punitive drug laws and excessive pretrial detention.

In England and Wales mandatory supervision following release for prisoners on short sentences has had a disproportional effect on women. In the US national trends have hidden gender disparities and state-to-state variation, new data on prisoners was released and the number of black girls imprisoned in D.C. has risen dramatically. Public Radio International examined the increasing number of women imprisoned worldwide.
 

The growing population of women prisoners highlighted the necessity of better medical care and practice regarding pregnant prisoners. In the US the widespread mistreatment of pregnant prisoners was discussed and five women brought lawsuits against their county and former sheriff. New articles explored reproductive justice focusing on detention and forced medical treatment of pregnant women suspected of substance abuse and the barriers to abortion and safe childbirth in prison.

In New Mexico, US a female prisoner won a temporary restraining order that allows her to breastfeed her child. Also in the US new primary caretaker legislation in Louisiana that may allow for more alternative sentencing for parents was discussed and an Ohio women’s prison’s project aimed to reduce reoffending by building close parent-child relationships. An animation by America Civil Liberties Union explored the damage of cash bail on children of the accused in the US.

Powerful short films shared the stories of women imprisoned for drug offences in Mexico. In the UK the underrepresentation of women in studies about drug use and policy reports was reported. However, in Costa Rica the 77-bis reform championed alternative sentences for women arrested for minor drug related offences. In a new report WOLA promoted concrete reforms to advance the implementation of gender sensitive drug policies in Bolivia. 
 

In the UK a prison was deemed ‘not sufficiently safe’ for routinely strip-searching women and using unnecessary force. More than 100 women in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre went on strike over its conditions. In a women’s prison in New Zealand there were concerns over security cameras in toilet areas. The poor conditions and excessive use of pre-trial detention in women’s prisons in Sierra Leone were reported. In the US a Salvadoran woman who came forward with allegations of sexual assault by a guard was finally released after four months.

In the UK a trans woman went on hungers strike to protest against being placed in a male prison. In Canada a security classification scale designed to assess men was found to be discriminatory against women prisoners. In Luxembourg women prisoners have been receiving substandard rehabilitative services as a result of their minority status in prison. In the US a new report highlighted the gender disparities in Texas prisons regarding access to educational and vocational opportunities. 

However, Scotland has started building its first ‘alternative prison’ for women. A new bill in Illinois, US incorporated gender-responsive programming in the state’s Department of Corrections. 

In Mexico judges have been much tougher on women because they have not fulfilled the role of the good mother and care taker. A video from BBC Stories told the story of a 19 year old from El Salvador who has been sentenced to 30 years in prison because of harsh anti-abortion laws.

PRI published a short guide on mental health for prison staff, which included a section on the mental health challenges faced by women prisoners.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) produced a factsheet on women in prison and the Inter-parliamentary Union created a toolkit to help parliaments evaluate how gender sensitive their practice and policy is. The UNODC published a new resource for practitioners on women's access to justice programming. 

In the UK Public Health England launched standards to improve health and wellbeing for women in prison. This is particularly relevant with reports of women prisoners self harming at a proportionately higher rate than men and the closure of Holloway prison, which was detrimental to the mental health of prisoners and may have been a factor in the death of a prisoner. 

The Council of Europe issued policy guidelines to safeguard children with imprisoned parents. New UK resources provided information on the impact of maternal imprisonment for children.