On 28 April 2009 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed Resolution 1663 (2009) which calls on the 47 member states of the Council of Europe to implement without delay the provisions of the revised European Prison Rules. Of the 41 recommendations in the report, 32 take up recommendations from QCEA’s ground- breaking Women in Prison report published in early 2007. Read more on this development here.

In 2004 QCEA began a parallel project to that of the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) to gather information on women in prison in Europe. The role of QCEA was to gather data on the conditions of women in prison in the member states of the Council of Europe.

Part One of this report gives the results of the project and makes recommendations to the European Institutions and their member states on ways in which conditions for women in prison can be improved. Download Part One of Women in Prison (933KB)

Part Two of this report is comprised of country reports whcih look in detail at the situation for women in prison in thirteen Council of Europe member states. Country Reports are now available to be downloaded. Download Women in Prison Part Two: Country Reports

A glossary of terms and acronyms is now available to assist in reading and understanding the papers produced by the QCEA on criminal justice matters. Readers are encouraged to contact QCEA to request inclusion of additional terms, to suggest definitions and to suggest changes to definitions. Download Glossary for Criminal Justice Papers

Why women prisoners?

Unlike most male prisoners women do not have someone on the outside holding onto the family home and possessions and caring for their children. Women suffer disproportionately from being held far from their families and being separated from their children, receiving fewer visitors than men. Women are often lone-carers and we are concerned about what happens to children and elderly relatives in need of care. We notice the poverty in most prisoners’ families and that poverty usually increases with imprisonment.

Due to their small numbers women often have less access to services, such as suitable education, than men. Their security regimes are often disproportionately harsher than men’s because there are not enough women to make up separate blocks. Women’s health care needs such as ante-natal care are often overlooked, as are their different needs in drug-addiction and mental health. Female prisoners have a higher rate of mental illness and are more likely to have been victims of physical and sexual abuse than the general population. Women have high rates of suicide and self-harm in prison.

Consider these statistics for teenage girls in prison in Britain :

65% of girls in prison had experienced family breakdown

40% had spent time in local authority care.

41% reported drug or alcohol abuse

22% self-harmed

The prison environment is no place for solving these problems. We believe that prison fosters inequality and deprivation by picking out the poorest and most vulnerable for punishment. We wish to see a more just, long-sighted, humane and cost-effective reaction to crime.

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Why should Quakers take an interest?

Quakers have always taken an interest in criminal justice matters. The belief that God is in every individual prompts us to see criminals as human beings with dignity and rights and to care for their welfare no matter what their crimes. We do not believe that any one is outside of God’s love. Crime is an area where both forgiveness and justice are needed. Quakers’ engagement with social and political problems means we are conscious of the root causes of crime and their effects on individuals’ behavior.

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The Project

Research

There is a body of work on women and criminal justice but surprisingly little detailing the lives of women prisoners inside. National governments differ in how much information they collect. QCEA sent out hundreds of questionnaires to NGOs, governments and individual contacts.

Download the Executive Summary (pdf - 334KB)

Download Part One of the Women in Prison Report (pdf - 933 KB)

Download Part Two of the Prison Report

Download Glossary for Criminal Justice Papers

In 2004, we published preliminary findings with QUNO, see: www.geneva.quno.info/pdf/Women_in_Prison_Preliminary

Prison Visits

We visited prisons in various European countries to observe conditions for ourselves. We spoke to staff and prisioners and toured accommodation, classrooms, recreation facilities, etc. You can read our findings below.

Report on Fact Finding Visit to Ilguciema Women's Prison, Latvia (29 July 2005): PDF (91kb)

We have visited three prisons in Estonia. The visit reports for Tartu PDF (49kb) Harku PDF(42kb) and Tallinn PDF (58kb) Prisons are now available.

We have also visited Ringe Prison and Horserød Prisons (Denmark) and San Vittore Prison (Italy). The report for Horserød PDF (54kb) is now available and the report for Sanvittore willl be posted shortly.

2006 European Prison Rules and Gender Critique

A revised version of the European Prison Rules was adopted on the 11 January 2006 by the Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe. The last prison rules date from 1987, and the new Rules contain many improvements.

QCEA welcomes the new Rules but would like to see more content concerning women. Our Gender Critique suggests specific additions to the rules which would benefit women in prison.

Download QCEA's Gender Critique of the European Prison Rules 2006: PDF (332kb)

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Women in Prison Publications

Download the Executive Summary: PDF (334KB)

Download Part One of the Women in Prison Report (2007): PDF(933 KB)

Access Part Two of the Prison Report: Country Reports

Download QCEA's Gender Critique of the European Prison Rules 2006: PDF (332kb)

Access QCEA's preliminary findings (2004) with QUNO Geneva at: www.geneva.quno.info/pdf/Women_in_Prison_Preliminary

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Get Involved

Do you know anyone who has been in prison who could tell us about life inside? Do you know anyone who works in prisons or with ex-prisoners or their families? Or who has interest in these issues at an academic or policy level? Do you have any contacts in other European countries? We also visit prisons to see conditions firsthand – could you liaise with a prison for us or know anyone who could?

Contact womeninprison@qcea.org

Instructions on downloading pdf are available here

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