Tool 5: Places of Deprivation of Liberty and Gender there are spaces where they are accommodated together and able to maintain the family unit. As deprivation of liberty in these settings is not related to a criminal offence, detainees are not automatically assessed as posing a risk. As far as possible, all aspects of regular family life are protected. Separate and secure accommodation and sanitation facilities are provided for single women, and prevent access of men. They are staffed by women, and include space for children to be cared for safely. In all cases water is regularly and readily accessible, especially for those taking care of children, those involved in cooking and those who are pregnant, breastfeeding or menstruating (see Bangkok Rules, Rule 5). The physical architecture of places of deprivation of liberty is conceptualized and constructed with a gender perspective, creating spaces which promote feelings of positive well-being and facilitate recovery and rehabilitation. Women are housed within small communities, in structures specifically engineered with women of their security classification in mind (see Box 4). They are not held in higher security settings than necessary or housed in spaces which are additions to or converted areas of male facilities. Places of deprivation of liberty employ specific risk assessment tools that centre around a gender perspective and acknowledge the generally lower risk posed by women to others. Those making decisions around categorization and allocation to specific locations do so within a gender framework which acknowledges, in accordance with the Bangkok Rules, the importance of locating parents close to their children and the particularly harmful effects of isolation on women caused by high-security measures (see Bangkok Rules, Rule 41). Transgender women and men are allocated to an institution after discerning whether they would feel safer and more able to thrive in a female or male establishment. All transgender women and men are able to participate fully in the institutional regime, without fear of their safety or discrimination. Places of deprivation of liberty employ specific needs assessment tools which establish important aspects of women’s backgrounds and inform sentence planning, including history of mental, physical and sexual violence, history of mental health issues and substance abuse, and current parenting and other caring responsibilities (see Bangkok Rules, Rule 4). There is acknowledgement from staff and systems that a greater level of need does not necessarily equate to a high level of risk or threat. People with mental healthcare needs are accommodated in locations that are not needlessly restrictive, as there is awareness that such actions can exacerbate mental health problems, which occur at a higher rate in detained female populations (see Bangkok Rules, Rule 41). Box 4: Accommodation for women in Canada In 2000 a maximum-security prison for women in Kingston, Ontario, was the only federal institution for women offenders in Canada. All federal women offenders, regardless of security level, were housed at this prison. Key recommendations of a report by the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women included closing the prison and opening “regional institutions and an Aboriginal healing lodge where women-centered programming would be available” (Barrett et al., 2010: 6). As a result of the government acting on these recommendations, today the infrastructure is entirely different and employs a gender-responsive approach. Accommodation is broadly divided into three classifications. 21