Women in prison facing harsh conditions and self-harm risks

Women in Prison Facing Inhumane Conditions, Driving Many to Self-Harm

“astonishing gaps” in basic services, including limitations on contacting their children and poor access to hygienic facilities, women in prison are turning to self-harm. According to a recent study, a lack of basic care and assistance in women’s jails is greatly upsetting female prisoners.

How Can Female Prisoners Remain in Touch with Their Families?

According to a poll of women housed in women’s prisons all throughout England, self-harm is caused in part by daily life’s stresses and inadequate basic care. Keeping touch with their family is one of the toughest challenges female inmates face. Of the women behind bars, one third have no face-to–face visits whatsoever.

Many women live more than fifty miles from their homes, and in certain women’s prisons this figure is even larger. Families who cannot afford costly cab costs find visits challenging since none of the institutions surveyed offered transport to and from surrounding train or bus terminals.

Although safe video chats were offered, just one each month. These calls, according to inspectors, were not being used creatively—that is, allowing women to read bedtime stories to their children or attend virtual parents’ evenings.

How Affected by Lack of Basic Decency Female Prisoners Are?

A “basic lack of decency” was discovered to exacerbate the difficulties women experience in women’s jails. Women were given inappropriate men’s clothes and subjected to a “bizarre rule” prohibiting them from using washing machines to clean their pants, inspectors found.

Rather, female inmates had to hand wash their undergarments in tiny bowls within their quarters. Men’s jails follow no such norm. One prisoner clarified, “You only get one bowl, and on weekends you get your razor; I wash all my socks and pants in the same bowl. You therefore have to do everything—shaving, cleaning knickers and washing—in that same bowl; it’s unclean.”

Another woman said she arrived with just one pair of knickers and had to hand wash them every night for months since no further pairs were available.

What are the self-harm statistics for female prisons?

The study underlined the great incidence of self-harm among female inmates. More than eight times higher than in men’s prisons, where the rate is 664 events per 1,000 prisoners, the self-harm rate among women’s jails stands at 5,785 incidents per 1,000 prisoners.

Why are women not getting appropriate shoes and clothes?

Particularly those on remand, women entering jail generally have few personal items and must depend on what the institution offers. But in one facility, there was no footwear in sizes four through six—the most often used range for women. Most women’s prisons also lacked clothes meant for women, thereby forcing prisoners to wear awkward, inappropriate men’s clothes.

How Are These Problems Being Addressed?

“This report highlights a lack of basic care to help women cope day by day, which, for some, is then a cause of self-harm,” a top official said expressing dismay.

The government admits how dire things are. Senior justice official said the results “shocking” and “a wake-up call” for the department.

In response, a new women’s justice board has been established inside a larger scheme to overhaul the system. The project seeks to lower the prison population of women and give those who have to stay there improved support.

The government has also declared intentions to stop the rise in the incarceration count of women. Rather of being imprisoned, hundreds of female offenders would be electronically tagged and transferred to addiction and recovery facilities.

Many feel that quick action is essential to guarantee women’s jails treat prisoners with respect and offer the fundamental needs needed to maintain their well-being even while these changes are under proposal

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