Gender and SSR Toolkit Box 3 Abolition of internal physical searches of female prisoners 46 In the women’s remand prison in Moscow, it was the practice to carry out an internal physical search of every woman prisoner on admission. This practice was justified on security grounds to ensure that no illegal or forbidden articles were brought into the prison. In reality, it was used as a means of subduing new prisoners and of impressing upon them from the outset the need to conform. The United Kingdom partners working on the prison improvement project were shocked and convinced their Russian partners that there were no security justifications for this practice and that it constituted a gross personal violation. In addition, it was far more disruptive to the running of the prison and to the health of the prisoners than any concern about drugs being smuggled into the prison. After the first year of the project, the Russian partners agreed to cease these automatic searches and to use them only in individual cases where there was an identified security need. Statistical evidence suggests that criminal activity has decreased rather than increased since this change took effect. Another reform was to ensure that female staff unlocked women’s cell doors. Under Russian prison rules a male must be present when cells are opened, but staff were persuaded that only women should open women’s cells and be the first persons to enter them, although male staff members could be present in the corridor. side of a grille. In Mauritius’ women’s prison in 2001, women were separated from their children by a glass panel, an aspect of prison life which women found particularly distressing.38 In its visit to Ireland in 2002, the CPT found in one prison that ‘the visiting facilities offered no privacy and became very noisy when several prisoners received visits at the same time.’39 Some systems do not permit children to visit at all. ! ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 8 Improving arrangements for visits should be a high priority in gender-responsive penal reform. The following should be considered: Prisoners should be held as near to home and family as possible. Where prisoners must be held far from home, the model found in countries of Central Asia, Eastern Europe and North America (Canada and California) of three-day family visits in an apartment in the prison or the prison grounds should be considered. Opportunities to visit prisoners should be as extensive and flexible as possible. The frequency and quality of visits should not be dependent on behaviour and modified or otherwise affected as punishment. Visitors should be treated with respect and security measures should not be degrading and humiliating. There should be no form of screen or physical barrier separating prisoners and their visitors, unless there is a compelling reason for this in the particular prisoner’s case, and any such restrictions should be regularly reviewed. In particular, physical contact with children should be permitted. Visiting facilities should be comfortable, welcoming and allow for privacy and positive activities. Prisoners should not be required to wear distinguishing and demeaning clothing during visits. Family visiting days should be encouraged in women’s prisons. At Emu Plains prison in New South Wales, Australia, on weekends and public holidays visitors are allowed into the prison from 08.30 until 11.30 with a break for lunch, and then from 12.30 to 15.30. Private “conjugal visits” are commonplace for male prisoners in many regions of the world. Prison authorities must make sure that female prisoners have access to conjugal visits equal to that of male prisoners. WHO recommends that condoms be made available for family visits in prison ‘without a complicated or demeaning procedure to obtain them, such as having to request them from staff.’40 Preserving human dignity The requirement that all prisoners be treated with humanity and with respect for their dignity is a fundamental and universally applicable rule. It applies to all elements of prison life, including such intimate matters as personal appearance and the performance of bodily functions. Matters to do with bodily privacy are very important for men and women in certain cultures. Prisoners must not have to expose themselves naked, particularly to people of the opposite sex. Arrangements for security and mixed gender staffing must take this into account. ‘We strip ourselves each day in front of persons unknown to us and we are told that that is the way we lived back home so what are we complaining about. At home we do have a sense of ‘laaj’ (shame and dignity) and it is assumed that when we come here as prisoners we have lost all the fine emotions that a woman as woman has.’ A woman prisoner in India 41 To be treated with respect for their dignity, prisoners must be able to keep themselves clean and carry out bodily functions in private. The CPT standards on women in prison state: ‘Ready access to sanitary and washing facilities, safe disposal arrangements for blood-stained articles, as well as provision of hygiene items, such as sanitary towels and tampons, are of particular importance. The failure to provide such basic necessities can amount, in itself, to degrading treatment.’42 ! ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Matters to be considered include: Arrangements for privacy when people are required to remove their clothing Privacy in toilets and showers Use of privacy locks on cell doors Provision of hygiene items for women Minimising indignity in the way urine and other samples are collected for drug-testing