By contrast, good prison management helps to avoid situations conducive to VERLT and 76 facilitates the building of trust and respect between those in detention and prison staff. This, in turn, is likely to contribute to the diversion of an individual from the path of VERLT, should appropriate and quality rehabilitation and reintegration programmes be in place.77 75 Specific categories of detainees Some categories of detainees face specific difficulties in prisons that may contribute to an increased likelihood of engagement in a process of radicalization to violence or terrorism. Women: The general drivers mentioned above may interplay differently in the absence of gender-sensitive conditions of detention. In some jurisdictions, women continue to be detained in a system designed for men, and thus not meeting their specific and unique needs. Women in prison are frequently exposed to gender-based violence, which may 78 amount to torture and other ill-treatment. As prison health services are usually tailored to male prisoners and merely replicated across prison systems, female detainees tend to lack access to healthcare that takes into account women-specific healthcare needs. Lack of access to hygiene products and exposure to intimate body searches often further compromises the dignity of female prisoners, as do medical examinations conducted 79 or supervised by male staff, in violation of the UN Bangkok Rules. Such treatment can prompt frustration or anger, producing factors conducive to radicalization to terrorism or violence. For women who are suspected or convicted of terrorism-related offences, the likelihood that they experienced gender-based violence prior to detention should be recognized, as should the way in which this may “… contribute to drug or alcohol abuse, depression, post80 traumatic stress disorder and criminal activity.” A high proportion of women who have been convicted of crimes are victims of prior abuse. They may have been compelled into criminal activity; indeed, the participation of many women and girls in violent extremism, 81 as that of men and boys, is forced or manipulated. Irrespective of the offence suspected or committed, all women and girls in detention who have been victims of sexual and/or gender-based violence should receive support, including psychological assistance. Any 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 24 “Report to the Government of the Netherlands on the Visit to the Netherlands Carried Out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 2 to 13 May 2016”, CPT/Inf (2017) 1, para. 50. IIJ, “Prison Management Recommendations to Counter and Address Prison Radicalization”, op. cit., note 60, Recommendation 10. See section 2.3. For an insight into how women experience SGBV before, during and after being deprived of liberty, see: ODIHR, Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Places of Deprivation of Liberty, (Warsaw: ODIHR, 2020), pp. 43-47. Regarding intrusive, including strip and cavity searches, see also: UN Nelson Mandela Rules, op. cit., note 14, Rule 52; UN General Assembly Resolution 65/229, “United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules)”, adopted on 21 December 2010, regarding searches, see Rules 19-21; personal hygiene, Rule 5 and on healthcare aspects, Rules 6-18. EU RAN, “Approaches to Countering Radicalization and Dealing with Violent Extremist and Terrorist Offenders in Prisons and Probation”, 2019, p. 5. OSCE, Understanding the Role of Gender in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization That Lead to Terrorism Good Practices for Law Enforcement, op. cit., note 41, p. 43-44.

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