Examples of impacts on women: • Women make up a small minority of persons who are in custody or prison (estimates range from two to nine per cent worldwide) and, thus, staff, management and facilities often fail to meet their needs, including health needs.218 Women in prison have very complex health needs, as a high proportion have underlying health conditions, and many “enter prisons pregnant or having recently given birth, as drug users and/or with serious physical and mental effects of violence and related trauma.”219 Emergency measures inside places of deprivation of liberty may restrict access to medicines and compromise basic sanitation220 and hygiene for women,221 putting them at risk for coronavirus of other illnesses. Special attention to the protection of the right to health should be afforded to women prisoners in all circumstances, and especially in overcrowded facilities and during emergencies. • Strict lockdowns can acutely impact the physical and psychological health of persons deprived of liberty. It has been recognized that women prisoners are especially susceptible to “mental distress and depression” at particular times of their prison sentences, and prison staff are required to be sensitive to this risk and to provide appropriate support.222 Additionally, outside of emergency situations, women prisoners may already experience social isolation due to the fact that most states have few facilities for women and, therefore, prisons are typically located a great distance from family, children and friends.223 Emergency measures that require social distancing have effectively imposed physical isolation and the suspension of physical visits and activities. It has been reported, for instance, that childcare centres in women’s prisons have been closed, which has meant that women and children have been confined to their cells or wards.224 Women prisoners who are ill have effectively been put in conditions of solitary confinement – a practice that has come under criticism as amounting to ill-treatment.225 In other cases, women prisoners have been isolated to 218 ODIHR, Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Places of Deprivation of Liberty, (Warsaw: ODIHR 2019), pp. 43-44, <https://www.osce.org/odihr/427448>. 219 Penal Reform International (PRI), “Coronavirus and Women in Detention: A Gender-Specific Approach Missing”, 4 June 2020, <https://www.penalreform.org/blog/coronavirus-and-women-in-detention-a-gender-specific/>. 220 There have been reports that in seven of the 12 female prisons in the United Kingdom, strict lockdown measures have coincided with a lack of sufficient access to soap, hot water and sanitary supplies. Huffington Post UK, “No Masks, No Showers, No Soap’: Prisoners Say Coronavirus Is ‘Spreading Unchecked’ in Women’s Jails”, 25 March 2020, <https:// www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/coronavirus-womens-prisons_uk_5e7a4974c5b62f90bc5253a1>. 221 Reports have been made of female prisoners not having access to basic menstruation products during lockdowns. See: PRI, “Coronavirus and Women in Detention: A Gender-Specific Approach Missing”, op. cit., note 241. 222 UNODC, “UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders [Bangkok Rules], with Their Commentary”, 2009, p. 30, <https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Bangkok_Rules_ENG_22032015.pdf>. 223 See e.g.: Penal Reform International, “Imprisoned Far from Home: The Impact of Social Isolation on Women Prisoners”, 9 October 2013, <https://www.penalreform.org/blog/ imprisoned-home-impact-social-isolation-women-prisoners/>. 224 In Portugal, for example. See: European Prison Observatory, “COVID-19: What Is Happening in European Prisons”, 17 April 2020, p. 13, <http://www.prisonobservatory.org/upload/17042020European_prisons_during_covid19%233.pdf>. 225 The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners include a number of restrictions on the use of solitary confinement (defined as 22 hours or more per day of isolation). See: United Nations, “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners”, 13 May 1977, <https://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/UN_Standard_ Minimum_Rules_for_the_Treatment_of_Prisoners.pdf>; and the Bangkok Rules prohibit disciplinary segregation 64