Brussels, 18/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - On 13 March, in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted by 492 votes to 24 and 37 abstentions the report by Marie Panayotopulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, Greece) on the situation of women in prison. It notes that women detainees account for 5% of the prison population in the European Union but that this percentage is growing in most European countries. In Cyprus, for example, the female prison population grew 410% between 1994 and 2003, and increased 173% in England and Wales between 1992 and 2002. The EP takes stock of the conditions in which women prisoners are held, looks at the need to allow them to maintain social and family links, and looks at ways to promote their social reinsertion. Comparing the situation to that in French-speaking countries, the EP notes that Luxembourg does not have a single prison for women and Belgium only has one. In both these countries, the female prison population accounts for 4.4% of the total prison population (compared to 3.7% in France).
As far as the conditions of detention are concerned, the Parliament calls among other things: - on the Commission and Council to adopt a framework decision on minimum norms for the protection of prisoners' rights on the basis of Article 6 of the EU Treaty, taking the specific needs of women into account; - on member states to provide psychological support for women prisoners who have been victims of violence, sexual abuse or ill treatment, but also to allow pregnant women prisoners to benefit from prenatal and postnatal follow-up and to have access to national family planning programmes; - and on consulates so that foreign prisoners may be allowed to contact them.
In order to ensure that social and family links are maintained, the EP recommends, in particular, that preference be given to alternative penalties other than imprisonment, that an end be put to the detention of young women and boys of 18 years or less in adult detention centres, and that children's rights be respected. Regarding this last point, the EP calls for mother-child units to be created separate from the rest of the prison with qualified personnel for assisting mothers held in detention in their educational responsibilities and care. In order to promote the social reinsertion of women prisoners, the EP is adamant about the need for women prisoners to have access, without discrimination, to jobs and voluntary work as well as to varied vocational and civic training courses adapted to job market requirements. (G.B.)