London, UK
Thomson Reuters Foundation
The number of women in jail globally has soared by 17 per cent in a decade, despite leaders’ pledges to put fewer women behind bars for petty crimes and the devastating impact on their mental health and children, penal reformers said on Thursday.
Penal Reform International said 741,000 women were in prison worldwide, with up to 80 per cent having an identifiable mental illness, a problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
An inmate is checked into the Orange County jail in Santa Ana, California, on 24th May, 2011. PICTURE: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson/File photo.
“The number of women in prison is climbing at an alarming rate,” said PRI Executive Director Olivia Rope, calling for bolder action to reduce the numbers.
“It’s shocking that more and more women are having their lives devastated by prison – often for very trivial offences,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The United Nations, which in 2010 adopted the Bangkok Rules that promote non-custodial sanctions, said the rise was fueled by punitive approaches to low-level non-violent crimes often linked to poverty, adultery and harsh drug policies.
The number of women prisoners has gone up everywhere except Europe, rising 50 per cent in Asia, 24 per cent in Africa and 19 per cent in Central and South America, according to a PRI analysis published on Human Rights Day.
It said 35 per cent of women prisoners were behind bars for drug-related offences compared to 19 per cent of men, partly because women are more often used as drug mules.
UN leaders and rights organisations said many prisons had suspended family visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, compounding mental health issues, which affect a far higher percentage of women inmates than men.
Rope said most incarcerated women had children and the trauma of separation had been made worse by coronavirus restrictions.
“COVID-19 measures have had a devastating impact on women in prison, with many denied any contact with their children,” she said.
Some women have also been unable to get sanitary pads normally provided by visitors or charities, she added.
UN leaders and rights groups said in separate statements they were also concerned about the lack of rehabilitation services tailored to women who make up on average two to nine per cent of national prison populations.
“There is a lot of stigma around female imprisonment – they face a lot more family and social rejection when they come out than men – we’ve seen that everywhere,” Rope said.
UN officials said courts should take into account factors such as a woman’s lack of criminal history and her caretaking responsibilities. Women who commit petty offences should not be jailed and under-18s only as a last resort, they said.
