32 Gender and Security Toolkit women in places of deprivation of liberty, rather than apply the same or assumed practices that are applied to working with men in these contexts. Box 8: Women-centred training in Canada The Correctional Service of Canada highlights recruitment and training as key components of its strategy related to women offenders, including the following.  Prison staff are recruited to work in either women’s or men’s prisons. The officers have the same classification and pay grade, but cannot deploy from a male estate to a female estate without specific women-centred training.  Specialized components or unique positions for women’s prisons include primary workers (correctional officers specific to women offender institutions) and behavioural counsellors (an intervention role specific to women offender institutions).  Staff who work with women offenders are required to participate in “women-centred training” to develop knowledge specific to working with female offenders. This training lasts one to eight days, depending on the role of the staff member.
The objectives of the training are for participants to demonstrate an understanding of women offender issues and demonstrate their ability to:  set boundaries, mediate and problem solve  recognize the right balance between empowerment and the safe and secure reintegration of women offenders  work from a trauma-informed perspective. Source: A. Nolan, A. Harris and D. Derkzen (2017) “An assessment of the Women-Centered Training Orientation Program”, Research Report R-385, Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada. As well as training staff to implement gender policies with the populations they supervise, applying a gender perspective to their own experiences and opportunities as staff members is important. In some places of deprivation of liberty, staff networks represent the interests of specific groups, such as female staff, LGBTI staff and staff from ethnic minorities or with disabilities. Where groups are given the time and space to discuss issues related to their situation, individuals may feel more comfortable to express their concerns openly and without reprisal, and these concerns can be raised as a collective to the managing authority. Equally, creating prisoner or detainee forums can be a constructive way within individual places of deprivation of liberty to hear the concerns of those detained there. More specifically, it can help staff to gain a regular and improved understanding of concerns related to intersectional forms of discrimination and vulnerability. For example, holding a regular “older prisoners’ forum” in a men’s prison, or a discussion group for women with disabilities, will allow the institution to have a better understanding of particular gendered concerns that may otherwise be overlooked. Infrastructure and accommodation Many places of deprivation of liberty have been built in previous eras; many are ex-colonial buildings or converted from buildings meant for other purposes. In the vast majority of cases the institutions that house people temporarily or for extended periods of time have not been built with the gendered needs and responsibilities of women or men in mind (see Mandela Rules, Rule 11). There are several common mistakes made by those constructing new facilities, some of which are highlighted in Box 9.4