Women’s Health in Prison in the Northern Dimension Area Thematic Report NDPHS Expert Group on Prison Health

Preparation Editorial Group Meetings/ Oslo-Karlstad E-mail communication Questionnaire for data collection (feedback from the EG PH members) Desktop and archive research Contact to photographers Maps and graphs Proof reading by a native speaker Timeframe kept: October 2007-February 2008

Why Women’s Health in Prison? Minority group – special needs often neglected An extremely vulnerable group Lack in documentation, data and research regarding living conditions and health status Gender inequality in prison settings More complex, interlinked health issues and social well-being needs; different from men Female imprisonment affects children and the dependend family -> related consequences

Legal Background Regulations on legal background to health services in prison, women’s health in prison (incl. rights of children) and regulations to work and education in prison: The European Convention on Human Rights; The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women; The United Nations Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment; The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; The European Prison Rules, revised version (2006); Recommendation 1469 (2000) on Mothers and Babies in Prison, adopted by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly; The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Degrading Treatment or Punishment – The CPT standards. Status of implementation in the ND countries?

Female prisoners in the ND area 5% of prison population in ND area is female Organisation of medical health services differs throughout the region HIV/ Aids Pregnant HIV+ prisoners Tuberculosis Best practice models from the region

Female population in prison* 418 (2007) 341 (2007) 209 293 (Oct.2006) 4.061 2.720 6 245 2.144 1.700 211 (2008) 60.668 * total numbers of total prison population by 1 September 2006, if not indicated differently, also including pre-trial detainees.

Pregnant women and mothers in prison Women pregnant or accompanied by children extremely vulnerable Little awareness in public Should not be imprisoned if not necessary In practice from the region: Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) Visiting regulations and best practice for visits from outside Side view: Criminial behavior in youth – imprisonment as a family vicious circle

Number of MBUs in countries in the ND area 2 1 1 1 8 50

Social rehabilitation Education and vocational training major challenges for women: High unemployment rate before imprisonment, insufficient level of education, servere health problems High rate of illiteracy Inequality in access & offers to trainings and education programmes Education as part of social rehabilitation ->involvement of the family needed Improvement of key competences: endogenous, technical, social, risk and cognitive behavior Best practice focus: Estonia NGOs involvement essential for the succes of the social rehabilitation -> pre- and post release Alternative measures for non-violent offences

Recommendations I Social-economic background screening of every women entering the prison for the first time Analysis of health-related prison reforms underway in prison systems across ND area, different types of reform/ types and measures Analysis of the implementation of basic human rights, specifically in relation to social rights, economic rights and cultural rights for both genders, also incorporating the right to access to health care services Study on the living conditions of female prisoners in general and the organisation of health care services for imprisoned women in particular

Recommendations II Project on birth companions Influences on and consequences for the child’s development (accompanying the mother in prison or being outside of the prison) Quantitative study across the ND Area and beyond, in order to collect quantitative data on women’s living conditions and their health status in prisons Project which examines different models of peer education Post-release study/project following-up on women’s rehabilitation after their release from prison, and especially the provision of health care and treatment initiated while in prison

Next steps Presentation and dicussion of the results EG PH meeting 29-30th May in Riga, Latvia Preparation for CSR, PAC and related side events; immersion of recommended project ideas and connection to new focus on indigenous people -> Indigenous People in prison? Planning of the Thematic Report 2008/ 2009