Dear Friends
If you follow us on LinkedIn or Instagram you will have seen that earlier this month we commemorated Nelson Mandela International Day. This important day on 18 July, Mandela’s birthday, promotes the values by which his work and life were led - equality, justice and reconciliation. This year’s theme is #ItIsInYourHands, recognising that the fight for the global eradication of poverty and inequality is in all of our hands and we can all make an impact in this fight. This is a poignant reflection for us at Women Beyond Walls, particularly given that poverty is a key driver of the incarceration of women and girls across the world. As Penal Reform International note, the most common offences committed by women are driven by poverty and are “frequently a means of survival to support their family and children.” Women Beyond Walls are currently collaborating with Penal Reform International to map laws and policies which criminalise women due to poverty or gender discrimination. By fighting against poverty and for a more just society, we can break the cycle of the criminalisation of poverty that continues to impact so many incarcerated women and girls.
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Mandela’s legacy of supporting the rights of incarcerated people following his own experiences of incarceration is something that continues to inspire us. “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one had been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” We invite you to keep Mandela’s legacy alive and continue to fight to end the over-incarceration and over-criminalisation of women worldwide!
Women Beyond Walls News
This month we were thrilled and proud to take part in #IAmRemarkable Week 2024 which you can watch here. In the conversation between our founder and podcast host Sabrina Mahtani and our communications lead and podcast producer Laura Cook, we highlight some of the remarkable work going on to end the over-criminalisation of women and girls worldwide - much of which encompassess this years theme of ‘For the Community, by the Community.’
News from around the world
Afghanistan: A video has been released of an Afghan woman human rights activist being gang raped and tortured in a Taliban jail by prison officials. The Guardian reports that this video comes following increasing reports of women and girls experiencing sexual violence whilst being held in detention in Afghanistan. The activist in the released video has reportedly said that she felt the attack had been carried out and recorded to silence and shame her.
Colombia: Mujeres Libres carried out an advocacy campaign that eventually resulted in a law mandating that the government provide menstrual hygiene products to women in prison. The government have now released the implementing regulations for the law to go into effect. Congratulations to Mujeres Libres for this important work
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Iran: Iran Human Rights has reported the execution of a woman, alongside three men, carried out in Shiraz Central Prison. The total number of women executed in Iran in 2024 is now understood to be 11 (6 of which were for drug related offences). At least 221 women have been executed in Iran since 2010.
Kuwait, Malaysia and Singapore: World Coalition Against the Death Penalty representatives from the Anti Death Penalty Asia Network and HAYAT led advocacy efforts to promote the abolition of the death penalty and an end to discrimination against women and gender nonconforming people facing capital punishment in Kuwait, Malaysia and Singapore at the 88th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. You can read more about their efforts here.
Myanmar: Through the compelling testimonies of over a dozen formerly incarcerated women and their lawyers, ICJ’s new briefing paper highlights the conditions of women deprived of liberty, and their intense psychological and physical torment in interrogation and detention settings.
Pakistan: Sarmad Ali, Lawyer and Director of Legal Awareness Watch Pakistan, has shared information provided to him under the Right to Information Act detailing 19 women imprisoned in Punjab jails accused of Blasphemy, some of whom face the death penalty on these charges. In their recent newsletter, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty points out that blasphemy laws “have increasingly been used as a tool against minorities and vulnerable individuals including women and children.”
Uganda: According to the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, The Foundation for Human Rights Initiative has begun collaborating with organisations in Uganda to address the fundamental rights of LGBTQ+ people in response to the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws. In June they met with the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, a Ugandan organisation that supports sexual minority groups, to explore best practice for advocating for the rights of women and LGBTQ+ individuals.
UK: The UK’s new government have announced their priority to reduce the number of incarcerated people in the UK, and ease the overcrowding of prisons, by authorising temporary plans to release incarcerated people with prison sentences who have served 40% of their time, starting in September 2024. This could include thousands of incarcerated women, many who are serving short sentences for non-violent offences. Women in Prison’s CEO Sonya Ruparel has highlighted the positive impact of easing overcrowding by releasing incarcerated women, but also urges the government to “prioritise prevention and invest in community-based support services that respond to women’s needs and prevent them from being swept into the criminal justice system in the future.”
UK: Greater Manchester Police have responded to the damning report commissioned last year and published this month by Dame Vera Baird into the mistreatment of women and girls in police custody. The report exposed the humiliating and abusive treatment of women in custody, lack of care for domestic and sexual abuse survivors, and the mishandling of complaints. Greater Manchester Police suggest some improvements have already been made, and they continue to acknowledge and work towards crucial further changes including to “gain the trust and confidence of survivors” and ensuring all officers have “better trauma-informed training to ensure the most appropriate response is given to those who are vulnerable and need our care.”
USA: A woman incarcerated in a prison in California has died amid a “brutal heatwave that has left prison occupants without air conditioning begging for relief and warning of dire consequences for their health.” The advocacy group California Coalition for Women Prisoners has called the death a “preventable heat death.”
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Opportunities
Support the Women in Prison ‘The Answer is Not Prison’ campaign which is calling on the UK government to prioritise mental health care and crime prevention support rather than criminalisation and subsequent isolation from communities and families. On their campaign page they highlight concerning statistics around mental health and trauma for incarcerated women in the UK, as well as sharing individual’s impactful stories. Women in Prison are asking supporters to share the campaign on social media with stories, messages and the hashtag #TheAnswerIsNotPrison, and provide templates for writing to MP’s and newspaper editors.
A reminder about the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty’s guidance and campaigning tools on things we can do to help end the death penalty in the lead up to World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October.
The Centre for Justice Innovation is recruiting for a Women in Justice Research Intern role based in London, UK to support a review of evidence around the profile and vulnerabilities of women affected by the criminal justice system.
Advance Charity is also recruiting! Apply for an Advance Prison Advocate role supporting women and girl survivors of domestic abuse who are impacted by the criminal justice system.
Call for art and poetry! Let’s Get Free - The Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee - is calling for art and poems from incarcerated people, or those affected by incarceration, for their art show and fundraiser later this year. The theme for this year is ‘This is Me’, calling for artists' self-expression around their experiences.
Prisoners Abroad, a UK-based human rights and welfare charity providing support to people affected by overseas imprisonment, are asking you to help shape their future strategy! They’d like to hear from people with lived experience of overseas imprisonment and supporters of the organisation - find more details and the surveys here
UK based charity Sing Inside - providing group singing workshops in prison - has multiple opportunities to get involved including a York based treasurer role, volunteer sign ups for events, recruitment for trustees,
Sisters Inside Australia is recruiting for a Fundraising and Philanthropy Manager. Find out more about their critical work on our podcast episode with Founder, Debbie Kilroy.
Incarcerations Nations Network has launched applications for their Global Freedom Fellowship for formerly incarcerated leaders from around the world. Deadline to apply is 15 September.
📸 Can you help Women Beyond Walls? As mentioned earlier in this
newsletter, we are currently collaborating with Penal Reform International to map laws and policies which criminalise women due to poverty or gender discrimination. Our findings will be presented in a report later this year. We are looking for images that we can use in this report. If you or your organisation have images that you think would well illustrate this theme and you would be willing to let us use them in the report we would love to hear from you. Please email hello@womenbeyondwalls.org if you’d be willing to share with us.
Media and literature recommendations
Penal Reform International marks 35 years of important work through release of their new five year strategy, including a ten point plan on Involving people with lived experience in criminal justice reform: A focus on fragile and conflict-affected settings
The Sentencing Project has conducted vital research on women’s incarceration, presented in their recent report. The report addresses the “more expansive law enforcement efforts, stiffer drug sentencing laws, and post-conviction barriers to reentry that uniquely affect women” which have resulted in a 585% increase in rates of incarcerated women in the USA since 1980. The report explores more in depth statistics around the incarceration of women and is an important read.
A critical report from ACLU, HRW and the Sentencing Project on how the United States still lags behind most of the world in protecting the right to vote for people with criminal convictions. As of 2022, over 4.4 million people in the United States were disenfranchised due to a felony conviction.
Earlier this month Amnesty International released a comprehensive report on the right to peaceful protest in Europe including violations of this human right, as well as recommendations on how to ensure the right to protest is respected and maintained.
Colleagues from APCOF have written an important article invoking the Maputo Protocol to end the criminalisation of women’s poverty in Africa.
Read further response from Women in Prison to the UK government’s announcement on early release to tackle overcrowding in prisons. The Times article from Nicole Drinkwater, Director of Campaigns & External Affairs, calls on increased support for women released from prison, stating that “without community-based services that meet women’s needs around welfare, housing, domestic abuse and mental health, we are simply kicking the can down the road.”
Read Eva Wiseman’s powerful opinion piece about why women’s prisons should be abolished in The Guardian.
Released last year, watch the Across the Walls film by Njaimeh Njie interviewing incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women in the US.
Pinar Selek, a Turkish activist, speaks about her experience of imprisonment to Prison Insider.
Watch the two-part docuseries Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken released on Paramount+ centred around the singer and activist’s song inspired by letters from incarcerated women in her hometown of Kansas.
Read the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s article entitled Breaking barriers in Ghana: how positive female leadership can transform prisons.
Listen to the recently released new podcast episode from The Turnaround Project charity based in Belfast, UK. The episode is a discussion with business woman Claire Silverstone Bright, sharing the impact of her experiences of incarceration and challenges she sees in the criminal justice system.
Another eye-opening read about First Nations women being the fastest-growing group being incarcerated in Australia.
The Women Beyond Walls team will be taking a period ofrest in August, acknowledging that “rest is resistance”, we will be back in September with another newsletter. Please continue to share your news and important work that you want to be featured and tag us on social media so we can support and amplify.With gratitude to the community,
🌈 The Women Beyond Walls Team 🌈
