Bangkok Rules E-Bulletin Women in the criminal justice system
January 2018
Welcome to Penal Reform International's quarterly Bangkok Rules E-Bulletin, a round-up of news and developments from PRI and others around the world on women in the criminal justice system and the implementation of the UN Bangkok Rules. The views expressed in the news items are not necessarily those of PRI.
The Bangkok Rules are a set of standards adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2010, which supplement existing standards for the treatment of prisoners by addressing the specific needs of women in the criminal justice system. For more information on the Rules see PRI's Short guide.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Launch of the fourth World Female Imprisonment List
The latest Female Imprisonment List includes findings that the female prison population has risen by about 53 per cent since 2000, with more than 714,000 women and girls currently in prison around the world. Catherine Heard, Director of the ICPR's World Prison Research Programme, wrote a blog for us which dissects the data.
PRI delivers training to correctional officers in Kenya on UN Bangkok Rules
On 14–16 November 2017, PRI co-facilitated a training workshop for 23 prison and probation officers in Kenya on the UN Bangkok Rules, alongside trainers from Nairobi’s Langata Women’s Prison. The all-female group of participants were taken through modules on a range of issues for women offenders, including healthcare, safety and security, addressing violence against women, and alternatives to imprisonment.
Asked how they will implement the learning, one participant commented that 'I will give prisoners information at admission, and also change the first impression of prisons…I will ask them the information we need and let them think about their answers for 5–10 minutes, and generally be more friendly.' Another officer emphasised that through the workshop she had 'learnt I need to emphasise good relationships with prisoners', citing dynamic security as a new tool.
PRI presents pilot project on gender-sensitive probation at World Congress
PRI attended the 3rd World Congress on Probation, which took place in Tokyo from 12–14 September 2017. The Congress is the world’s largest forum in its field, and aims to promote and develop probation and community corrections by facilitating the sharing of practical and academic knowledge, and broadening global networks.
At the Congress, Taghreed Jaber, PRI's Middle East and North Africa Director, presented the results of a pilot project on probation and community service for women, recently implemented in Kenya by PRI and the Kenya Probation and Aftercare Service (KPAS). A number of resources have been produced as part of the project, including a 10-step model for introducing a gender-sensitive approach to non-custodial sentences.
Click here to see more photos of the World Congress on Probation.
Saturday 25th November 2017 was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. To mark the occasion, PRI live-streamed a performance of award-winning play Key Change from the Open Clasp Theatre Company. The play was devised with women in HMP Low Newton prison in the UK, and originally toured in male prisons, but was also performed at the UK Houses of Parliament and on Broadway in New York.
We also published a blog that looks at why (and how) violence against women caught up in criminal justice systems is as prevalent as ever.
On 9 November, the fourth edition of the World Female Imprisonment List was published by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR). In this blog, Catherine Heard, Director of the ICPR's World Prison Research Programme, discusses the latest data.
Daniela Ancira, a lawyer and founder of La Cana Productos con Causa (Projects With a Cause), a social enterprise dedicated to training and providing employment to women in prison, explains the value in teaching women skills that enable them to earn an income both in and after prison.
Heather McGill recently authored a report for Amnesty International on prisoner transportation in Russia. In this expert blog for PRI, Heather discusses her findings, looking in particular at the overcrowded train carriages that Russian prisoners find themselves forced into – transportation that the European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled as equating to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. As only 46 of Russia's 760 penal institutions accommodate women, female prisoners are more likely to be subjected to long journeys.
This new report from the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) focuses on the gendered implications of drug use. The report finds that the issues facing women who use drugs in prison are similar to, but more severe than, those experienced by other women who use drugs. Furthermore, these issues are typically coupled with a lack of appropriate services to meet psychological, social and healthcare needs.
The report emphasises the necessity of needle and syringe programmes both in prison and during preparation for release, given the particularly high rates of drug use among women prisoners. The report cites research that found that 30 to 60 per cent of women were dependent on or used illicit drugs in the month before prison entry.
A collaborative report by the Prison Policy Initiative and the American Civil Liberties Union provides a first-of-its-kind detailed view of the 219,000 women incarcerated in the United States of America. Its findings include the fact that 60 per cent of women in jail have not been convicted of a crime and are awaiting trial, most likely because incarcerated women have lower incomes than incarcerated men, and so struggle even more to afford cash bail.
UK charity Prison Reform Trust published a new report on 4 December 2017 identifying strong links between women's experience of domestic and sexual abuse and coercive relationships, and their offending. The report is also accompanied by a briefing from the Criminal Bar Association on the defences available for women defendants who are survivors of domestic abuse.
This report was published by Prison Reform Trust in November 2017, and is the result of a seminar held with Police Scotland in March 2017 to consider the benefits and opportunities of early interventions for women. The report summarises recommendations including that Police Scotland should ensure awareness training for all front-line police officers on the particular needs of women, and appropriate responses to these needs.
Study of the impact of short custodial sentences on mothers and children
Teresa Njoroge, founder of Kenyan-based enterprise Clean Start, gave a talk for TEDWomen on how her experiences during her false imprisonment in Kenya made her want to give women in prison the skills, tools and support they need to break the cycle of poverty and crime, and build a better life.
'I think to myself: what if I was in prison while pregnant? What if I was put in solitary confinement? What if I was not given the healthcare I needed?'
This video by UK-based Prison Advice and Care Trust follows the charity's work with a group of six mothers serving prison sentences. In the 11-minute video, you can hear the women’s own voices telling their experiences of arrest, sentencing, their first days in prison, and how their imprisonment has impacted their relationships with their children and families.
In this video series, Teen Vogue and The Marshall Project talk to two former women prisoners, a student whose parents are both in prison, and US Senator Cory Booker. The first video is on Parenting from behind bars, and is followed by The needs of the incarcerated andReintegrating into society.
INTERVIEWS WITH WOMEN IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
'For women especially, life after incarceration isn’t just the uphill battle they’d been warned about as inmates. It’s a cliff.'
Keila Pulinario left prison aged 41, having spent 20 years there for killing the man she said raped her. This interview follows her story of re-entering society, and getting to grips with life outside of prison.
Sharon Richardson, a survivor of domestic violence, was sentenced to 20 years to life. She talks about her experiences, as well as attempts in the US to pass a Domestic Violence Survivors Act, which would change the criminal justice system’s response to domestic violence survivors who act to protect themselves and their families from an abuser.
Michaela Booth was 21 when she was sentenced, and her daughter was four years old. This interview focuses on her experience of her trial and sentence, and how it impacted on her and her daughter.
Statistics released in response to a parliamentary question in the UK have shown that one in four women jailed in 2016 were imprisoned for under one month, with almost 300 women put behind bars for under two weeks. In addition, 55 per cent of women were sentenced to less than three months, compared to the overall figure of 36 per cent when taking into account both male and female prisoners.
Kate Paradine, the Chief Executive of Women in Prison, commented that 'Because women are often primary carers, when a mother is sent to prison, in nine out of 10 cases her children will have to leave their home to go into the care system or to live with relatives'.
The news follows a briefing by Prison Reform Trust in October advocating for investment in women's centres as opposed to reliance on short sentences for women.
The Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salamé, released a statement to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In this, he addressed the arbitrary detention of women and girls in prisons without female guards.
In this blog for the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) on the Day to Eliminate Violence against Women, Catherine Alvarez writes that many women in prison are still incarcerated for low-level, non-violent drug-related offences. In the spirit of this year's message of 'leaving no one behind', she writes that violence against women includes those rendered invisible by imprisonment.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative: Call for information on physical searches of women prisoners
Body searches, including pat-down searches, strip searches and invasive body searches in custody, is a practice that can seriously undermine a person’s dignity. That is why the Bangkok Rules, and now also the Mandela Rules, give guidance on conducting body searches. Bangkok Rule 20 calls for alternative screening methods to be developed, and Bangkok Rule 21 specifically calls for alternatives to be used to better safeguard women prisoners’ dignity.
Pilot projects for use of body scanners as replacements to physical searches in prison have been developed in some countries including USA, Australia and Northern Ireland, in the last decade. However, there are few studies on their safety and any effects on the health of prisoners.
At present, there is no comprehensive written policy in India that addresses these issues, so, at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, we are hoping to draft a policy which would include certain safeguards and prerequisites for conducting such searches (drawing on international law, e.g. that searches should be subject to the principles of proportionality, legality and necessity, per the Mandela and Bangkok Rules). There should be explicit safeguards to ensure prisoners’ dignity is protected. Without safeguards and technological advances, we are allowing authorities to have full discretion to trample the dignity of women inside prisons under the garb of ‘thorough’ searches.
If you are aware of the policies for body searches of women prisoners in your country, we would appreciate if you could share these with us, to assist us in preparing the policy. Please email these to prisons@humanrightsinitiative.org and intern@penalreform.org. Many thanks!
Do you have new publications or resources to share on women and criminal justice?
We encourage you to send us any new materials, feedback, news items, blogs, etc. to share with this network of people interested in women and the criminal justice system. Please send to: info@penalreform.org
