Rehabilitation programmes for specific groups Whilst women have different rehabilitation needs from men and face gender-specific challenges, they also have personal characteristics and situational circumstances that impact their rehabilitation requirements. These can often overlap, causing multiple needs and challenges. It is also important for prisons to offer rehabilitation programmes that reflect the diversity of the prison population in a country, taking into account particular groups of prisoners. The availability of specific programmes should therefore be periodically reviewed to ensure it reflects any significant changes in the prison population profile, such as an increase in the numbers of foreign prisoners or older prisoners. The section below identifies some groups of female prisoners with specific needs and provides suggestions as to how authorities can provide them with appropriate support. Girls According to a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, whilst most children return to their community after detention, over two-thirds do not return to school upon release.99 There are many possible reasons for this. Firstly, many children who come into conflict with the law have already dropped out of formal education or have never attended school. The percentage of girl prisoners in this category is particularly high, given the barriers to girls’ education and the reasons girls come into conflict with the law. Detained children also present a much higher rate of learning disabilities than other children.100 In most countries, the number of girls in prison is very low and the opportunities available to them are extremely limited. All too often authorities have no time, resources or expertise to cater for this group. Because of their small numbers, girls are often held together with adult female prisoners with no access to age-appropriate programmes or activities. Girls in prison often come from particularly difficult backgrounds, which may include family breakdown, violence and abuse, and many will have experienced significant barriers to education. Their successful rehabilitation will also depend on the situation they will be released into. I studied up to grade six in primary school but I was often absent and I don’t know how to read very well. I don’t have any skills. I used to work as a maid to support my family. My salary was very low and the work was exhausting. I am happy to attend literacy class here, to be back to school, it reminds me of my childhood. It gives me courage to continue my studies once released. During two hours every day in the classroom, I forget that I am a prisoner. I feel like I am a normal girl.101 A 15-year-old girl studying literacy in Kampot prison, Cambodia, with the support of SIPAR, a French NGO Penal Reform International and Thailand Institute of Justice | Guide to the rehabilitation and social reintegration of women prisoners | 41