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Issues - gender bias - Women in prison
Of course the fact that 44 men have committed
suicide in prisons in
Britain so far this year versus 11 women is of no importance
to society!
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=546499
J
A woman aged 29 has been found hanged in her
prison cell two weeks after being put on remand for theft,
the 11th female jail suicide this year in England and Wales,
compared with 14 for all of 2003.
Marie Walsh was sent to New Hall prison, near
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, by magistrates in Derby. A Prison
Service spokesman said: "Every death in custody is a
tragedy. We offer our sincere condolences to the family and
friends of Ms Walsh." The police and coroner have been
informed, he said, and the prisons ombudsman, Stephen Shaw,
will investigate.
In total, 55 inmates have been found dead in
prisons so far this year, compared with 57 at this point last
year. Campaigners say an epidemic of suicide is afflicting
female prisoners. Four young women killed themselves in one
week in June.
Suicides by women prisoners have risen 200 per
cent over five years. In 1990, there was one female suicide
in English and Welsh jails. The rise in suicides is linked
to severe overcrowding, which, critics say, is caused by increasingly
over-zealous sentencing.
The female prison population is at an all-time
high, with 4,671 women inside compared with 1,811 a decade
ago. More women are being jailed, most of them for petty crimes,
and the overcrowded, understaffed jail system cannot cope
with the drug,alcohol, mental and physical problems many have.
Deborah Coles, of the campaign group Inquest,
said: "The situation is unprecedented in terms of the
number of women killing themselves in prison. It is a national
scandal and it is getting worse, yet nothing is being done
about it."
Most women are in for shoplifting. In 2002,
nearly 3,000 were jailed for it. The male prison population
rose 6 per cent between 2001 and 2002, but there was a 15
per cent increase in women prisoners.
Sandra Gidley, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman
on women's issues, said: "Most judges are men and have
little idea how vulnerable and damaged many of these women
are, as well as the fact they may have children they should
look after."
There is little evidence that jailing
women works; six out of 10 of them are reconvicted within
two years of being freed. Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison
Reform Trust, said: "Is it lack of alternatives or lack
of humanity which drives courts to imprison women, mostly
women who have not committed serious or violent offences?"
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