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Women in Prison and
Children of Imprisoned Mothers

QUNO is seeking to improve the situation of imprisoned women and the children of imprisoned mothers by identifying, drawing attention to and proposing better ways of addressing the specific problems faced by women in prison and pre-trial detention, and the children of incarcerated mothers. Action on in this issue is gaining momentum in both the UN human rights system and the UN crime and criminal justice bodies. This work is being undertaken as part of a joint project being undertaken with the Friends World Committee for Consultation representatives to the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Quaker Peace & Social Witness of Britain Yearly Meeting (QPSW) and Quaker Council on European Affairs (QCEA), Brussels.

Key issues that we have identified so far include:

• The over-incarceration of women - too many women are being sent to prison and for too long.
• The adverse impact of imprisonment on the children of imprisoned mothers, both if they reside in prison with their mothers and if they are separated from them.
• Problems with accommodation.
• Lack of appropriate staffing.
• Lack of education and work programmes
• High proportion of women prisoners with a history of mental, physical or sexual abuse.
• Disproportionate representation of indigenous women, foreign nationals and women from minority groups in women's prisons.

QUNO has:

• undertaken preliminary research, including by sending questionnaires (jointly with QCEA) to all UN Member States, to gain a better understanding of women's imprisonment worldwide;
• published a series of reports that introduce the issues, analyse international standards, suggest guidelines for legislators and review progress in the UN human rights system so far;
• contacted many organisations, associations and individuals working with and for women in prison and their children;
• made submissions to the UN bodies that oversee the implementation of the core human rights treaties, including the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and to other parts of the UN human rights system.

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