Experts warn of ‘global crisis’ as number of women in prison nears one million

Up to a million women worldwide are facing sexual violence and forced labour in prisons, where they are overlooked and forgotten, in what is being called a growing global crisis. The number of incarcerated women is rising much faster than men and is expected to surpass one million on current trends. While on average women account for between 2% and 9% of national prison populations, since 2000 the number imprisoned has grown by 57%, compared with a 22% increase in the men’s prison population. “We are facing a global crisis,” said Olivia Rope, executive director at Penal Reform International. “If you look at the rate of growth compared to men in prison, it is really alarming. Women are often an afterthought, and they face very harsh, difficult conditions where their needs are unmet in most cases.” In interviews with prisoners, lawyers and campaigners across the globe, including El Salvador, Kenya, the US, Argentina and Iran, the Guardian found instances of women being beaten, sexually abused and used as slave labour, often while serving sentences for petty crimes. Fifteen years ago, UN member states adopted the Bangkok Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders. They were the first set of international guidelines to address the situation of incarcerated women. While there has been some limited progress since, many aspects are still ignored or overlooked, according to Rope. “It is not acceptable [that these rules are being flouted], and we’re probably in the hardest spot we have been for the last 15 years in terms of ensuring accountability,” she said. Poverty, abuse and discriminatory laws are driving the huge rise in the number of women in prison globally. Women are disproportionately jailed for petty theft, such as stealing food for babies and children, for begging, in the “war on drugs”, and for working in the informal economy. More than 733,000 women and girls are currently incarcerated worldwide, according to the latest edition of the World Female Imprisonment List. The true number is thought to be higher because of a lack of reliable data. The US has the largest number of incarcerated women in the world, with 174,607. China has 145,000, plus an unknown number of women and girls in pre-trial detention and “administrative detention” (when a person is held without trial). There are 3,566 women in prison across England and Wales – just 4% of the total prison population. Seventy-two per cent were serving sentences for non-violent offences in 2020, according to the Prison Reform Trust. In Europe, 94,472 women are detained, while in Australia there are 3,743 women in prison, amounting to 8% of the total prison population. Women face unique challenges in a system built by men for men. A high proportion of women in prison have mental health problems and a history of abuse, and in Europe, suicide rates for women in prison are nine times higher than for the general population, according to the World Health Organization. Awareness of, and treatment for, mental health conditions remains limited in many countries. For women with a background of abuse, strip-searches upon entering prison can be traumatising, as can overcrowding, the lack of daylight, long corridors and small showers that can make them feel trapped. Most women should not be in prison at all, according to Sabrina Mahtani, a Zambian-British lawyer and member of Women Beyond Walls, a global collaborative organisation dedicated to combating the incarceration of women and girls. “After 20 years of working with women in prison, and seeing how this plays out across the world, I don’t think that prison works. It’s really harmful and I think we need to radically rethink the way we do justice.” She added: “Most of these women don’t represent a danger to society and so we should be looking at other options. We still somehow believe that prison is a place of rehabilitation where bad people go in and come out good. We’re seeing that vulnerable and marginalised people go in and come out more traumatised.” Many women in prison are solo caregivers for children and it is estimated that 1.45 million children worldwide have a mother in prison. “When a mother goes to prison, the family usually falls apart and the children have to go to social services or other family,” said Rope. “It’s a much bigger impact [than a man going to prison].” Pregnant women do not get adequate care and women have been forced to give birth alone in cells, or are tied to hospital beds and watched by male prison guards while in labour. Sexual violence within prisons is common. There have been reports, particularly in conflict-affected areas, of women being sexually abused and taken out of prison at night and prostituted. In India, female prisoners are “supplied” to male prisoners, sexual abuse is commonplace and hundreds of children are born in prison as a result. Related: How many women are in prison and on death row around the world? – in charts Incarcerated women in many countries have to work inside prisons, carrying out maintenance tasks and cleaning for minimal or no pay. There are concerns that prison work is unregulated, particularly when it comes to links with the private sector. In Cambodia, women at one prison were working illegally to produce garments for export. Getting access to prisons, as well as accurate information, is challenging, due to their secretive and closed nature. Helen Fair, a research fellow at the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, compiles the World Female Imprisonment List and struggles to find accurate data. “The availability of prison population data generally is pretty thin, so there are big gaps,” she said.