The Hard Life of Women in Prison

One of the most vulnerable and over-looked groups of women is female prisoners. Many prisons, such as Sun City in Johannesburg do not even care to provide the specific requirements for the females spending their lives in jail.

In comparison to the overall population of people in South African prisons, the amount of women in jail is very small. 

Even though there are only a small amount of women in prison, they have special needs in the healthcare department, like pregnancy, childcare and child birth. Unfortunately, SA deals with the rights of prisoners as a whole, so there are no rules and regulations made specifically for female inmates.

In 2010, South Africa signed the “UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules)” which are international guidelines for the treatment of women in prisons. One of the provisions stipulates: “Preventive health-care measures of particular relevance to women, such as Pap smears and screening for breast and gynaecological cancers, will be offered to women prisoners on an equal basis with women of the same age in the community”.

Several women in the Sun City prison in Johannesburg, do not feel like they are getting any benefits from these international guidelines. 

Alice Peterson*, 42, is serving a 12-year sentence for defrauding her former boss out of R1.4 million. Shockingly, she shares one shower and one toilet with the other 38 women who share a cell with her! The worst part is that she is diabetic, but she cannot test her sugar level because she has been told the testing machine at the prison does not work. 

Prisons are designed with only the needs of males in mind, when it comes to females and their needs, they are invisible! 

Often, prisoners will not be allowed to see a doctor unless they are classified as seriously ill. This is how it works in the prison...

- Once a week between 8am and 2pm, a nurse is available (if you're lucky)
- On Mondays prisoners are able to tell her their problems
- She writes down the names, prison number and medical problems in a notebook
- The nurse will then decide on the severity of the sickness
- If the prisoner is not seen as gravely ill, they are given one Panado pill
- If the prisoner really is sick, a doctors appointment is made for Thursday (if they even show up)

“I remember my first month in prison, a lady fell sick and she complained of chest pains, every time she went to see the nurse, she was given a Panado,” says Pearl Mabena*. Pearl, 31, is a former inmate at Sun City, where she spent 6 months awaiting trial before serving two years after a retail card scam went wrong.

“One evening the lady clutched at her chest and she collapsed. We banged on the door, screamed, tried everything and no one came, she fell, still holding her chest and she did not move the whole night, none of us could sleep. When the warders came the following morning to let us out of our cells, they took one look at her and said she was dead. We spent a night with a dead body, she could have been saved.”

Something that is usually kept private by women is menstruation. However, this is a different story for female prisoners who have to look for help from others for basic sanitary items. 

“My family used to visit me regularly, therefore I had enough cosmetics and this gave me the upper hand. Those who had no visits or came from poor families would wash, iron or share their food for a certain period, so they could get the basics,” says Thato Khumalo*, 24. Khumalo served a two-year term for possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition.

Pregnancy and childcare is another issue that is relevant to women. A lot of women were the caregivers of the family before getting sent to jail, some even had small children or were pregnant at the time. Babies up to the age of two years are allowed to stay with their mothers. According to research there are 3 749 women in correctional centres and only 84 of them have babies with them.

Former inmate, Moipone Nkwana, gave birth to her fifth child in prison. She was shackled to the bed and experienced first-hand the difficult conditions of pregnant women and mothers. She served four years for fraud.

According to a report, growing up in a prison can be traumatic, but it is often seen as the only option. Separation from a parent is also traumatic, which is why authorities try to make basic provisions.

There is often a lack in provisions for children born in prison, which puts children’s well-being at risk. Not enough is done to promote alternatives to custody for mothers with young children, for example: education and rehabilitation programmes or early conditional release.

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Are women more likely to get away with crime than men?

According to studies, men are more likely to commit a crime than women. However when we look at the sentencing times for men and women, some say that women get off easier with shorter sentences.

There is definitely gender prejudice in sentencing and most people are upset why this. Why do women get special treatment compared to men?

If you look at the issue through statistics, you will see how women are treated favourably, while men aren't given any leniency:

-- 63.3% of men who were sentenced in higher courts received a penalty of imprisonment, compared to just 46.7% of women.

-- Women get an average term of imprisonment of 42.4 months, compared to 60.3 months for men.

-- Male drunk drivers receive fines which are 9.7% higher than those received by women for the same offence.

-- Men are 1.73 times more likely to be sent to prison compared to women.

-- Men's prison sentences are, on average, 1.16 months longer than those received by women.

If we look at some factors that impact someone's prison sentence, such as criminal history, their decision to plead guilty and the charges faced, we also see that again male and females are treated very differently:

A male’s criminal history was given more weight compared to that of females – and generally meant that they received a harsher sentence.

When we look at this information, it leads us to see that it is in fact true that the law does show signs of gender prejudice. 

But what motivates women to commit crimes in the first place? Their reasons are far different to a man's reason for committing a crime. 

For instance, a study  found that women are more likely to be incarcerated for property, fraud and drug-related crimes, while men are more likely to be sent to prison for violent crimes such as assault and murder.

The study also found that women who commit crime are more likely to have experienced drug problems, physical and emotional abuse, and economic hardship when compared to their male counterparts. Researchers also identified five risk factors that increased the likelihood of a woman engaging in criminal activity: parental or familial issues, childhood abuse and neglect, mental illness, a lack of social support and association with other drug users.

In particular, a study found that the severity of a woman’s drug use “is more closely related to their criminality than it is for men, particularly for prostitution and property crime activities.”

Without accounting for these important considerations, it is impossible to accurately compare the treatment of men and women in the judicial system.

As stated, women often experience very different issues to men, and any “decrease” in the sentence may simply reflect these experiences. Indeed, if these matters were taken into account and similar cases were compared against one another, there might be very little difference in sentences.

In a society striving for, and largely achieving, sexual equality, no legitimate distinction can or should be drawn between offenders solely on the basis of gender.

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Crimes Women Are More Likely Than Men To Commit

When it comes to certain crimes, some are more common among women than men.

Women  are more like to go to prison because of fraud or robbery, while men are more likely to have committed violent crimes.

Female vs. Male Prisoners

Inmates by type of offense & gender:

Murder

Women – 12%
Men – 14%

Manslaughter

Women – 2%
Men – 4%

Rape / sexual assault

Women – 2%
Men – 13%

Robbery

Women – 9%
Men – 15%

Aggravated or simple assault

Women – 9%
Men – 11%

Burglary

Women – 8%
Men – 10%

Larceny-theft

Women – 9%
Men – 3%

Motor vehicle theft

Women – 1%
Men – 2%

Fraud

Women – 9%
Men – 2%

Drug possession

Women – 8%
Men – 4%

Other

Women – 1%
Men – 2%

Women Behind Bars

Female prisoners broken down by type of offense:

Murder – 11.1%
Aggravated or simple assault – 8.9%
Robbery – 8.7%
Other violent – 3.7%
Manslaughter – 2.5%
Rape / sexual assault – 2.3%
Larceny-theft – 9.1%
Fraud – 8.4%
Burglary – 6.9%
Other property – 3%
Motor vehicle theft – 0.8%
Other drug – 17.9%
Drug possession – 6.7%
Public order – 8.9%
Other – 1.2%

NICRO is committed to turning lives around and creating a better South Africa - contact NICRO today, or take a look at www.nicro.org.za for a selection of services.