-27 ostracism.39 In addition, women prisoners suffer from failures of the prisons to meet their specific needs. The Bangkok Rules require allocation of women prisoners close to their homes, special role of female staff in the prisons at both managerial levels and in the exercise of daily tasks, such as searches.40 They prohibit discrimination and require the taking of positive measures to address existing inequalities, including in spheres such as access to vocational training, health care and contact with families. The Bangkok Rules provide for gender-specific hygiene and health care for women prisoners, equivalent to that in the community.41 This includes access to washing facilities and to specific hygiene items provided by the state if needed, as well as gynaecological health care and access to specific medication and contraceptives. Separate sets of standards deal with pregnancy, antenatal and post-natal care. They require providing for an appropriate diet for pregnant women, appropriate medical care during pregnancy and after birth and ensuring of adequate contacts with their children after birth, taking into account also the best interest of the child in assessing their duration.42 The vulnerability of women prisoners is recognized also in the specific rules related to disciplinary punishments and the use of force. The Bangkok Rules prohibit close confinement or disciplinary segregation of pregnant women, women with infants and breastfeeding mothers.43 They also prohibit imposing of disciplinary sanctions on women, which include prohibition of family contacts, especially with children. Rule 24 prohibits the use of instruments of restraint during labour, during birth and immediately after birth. In January 2017, the ECtHR Grand Chamber announced its judgment in 39. UNODC, Handbook on Women and Imprisonment, 2nd ed., New York, 2014, p. 17. 40. The Bangkok Rules, rules 4, 10, 11, 19. The 2018 CTP factsheet on women in prison goes one step ahead in proposing that “in women’s prisons or prison units, the preponderance of staff in contact with prisoners should be female”. 41. The Bangkok Rules, Rule 10; See also: European Parliament, Prison systems and conditions, para 25. The 2016 SPT opinion underlines specifically the need of women prisoners to access to a female doctor (SPT, Prevention of torture and ill-treatment of women deprived of their liberty, § 28). 42. The Bangkok Rules, rules 42, 48, 49. The 2018 CTP factsheet on women in prison suggest that “it could be considered as inhuman and degrading for a child to be removed immediately from a mother after birth”. The European Parliament resolution on prison systems and conditions takes the same approach (§ 26). In both the factsheet and the Bangkok Rules it is recognized that the decision on when the child can be separated from his/her imprisoned mother is difficult and that the guiding principle in this regard should be the best interest of the child. 43. The Bangkok Rules, Rule 22. Prisoners in a Situation of Vulnerability