Ending the over-incarceration of women and girls in 2024: January newsletter from Women Beyond Walls
January 2024 newsletter from Women Beyond Walls - together we can build collective power and amplify voices to end the over-incarceration of women and girls worldwide.
Dear Friends,
Firstly, we want to wish all who follow the Gregorian calendar a very Happy New Year!
As we start 2024 we recommit ourselves to our Women Beyond Walls values. We aspire to serve this community with the following principles at the heart of all we do. We aim to:
be rooted in solidarity.
centre the voices of women with lived experiences of so-called justice systems.
be amplifiers and facilitators for individuals and organisations to be seen and heard.
learn and unlearn as a way to collaboratively thrive and flourish.
take bold action.
practice generosity and gratitude.
celebrate, value and respect diversity.
practice integrity and humility.
Find out more about our values on our website.
In 2024 we will continue to advocate for policies, laws and initiatives that will end the harmful over-incarceration of women and girls worldwide: policies, laws and initiatives that reduce harm and violence rather than inflicting and exacerbating it. We believe that tackling the issue of women and girls’ incarceration requires all of us. We need those with lived experience, academics, legal and justice professionals, activists and advocates and people of all genders working together. Women Beyond Walls is run entirely by volunteers and so your contributions, interest and support of our global movement building network is invaluable. We are so thankful to each and every one of you. If you like what you read we encourage you to share our newsletter with your friends and contacts.
News from around the world
USA: A new ‘Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act’ has been passed changing the way women are treated in Pennsylvanian prisons. The new law in Pennsylvania limits shackling for women and aims to minimise the use of solitary confinement for pregnant women. The law also mandates prisons provide free feminine hygiene products.
Iran: on 15 January, Narges Mohammadi, an award-winning woman human rights defender, was sentenced to an additional fifteen-months in prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against state”, as a consequence of her human rights activities while incarcerated at Evin prison.
Senegal: In 2023, Senegal launched a pilot project to reduce the prison population by using electronic monitoring, the first country to do so in West Africa.
Cambodia: The King of Cambodia commuted prison terms for 245 people in prison, including 28 women, on the 45th anniversary of the Victory Day earlier this month.
Opportunities
In November 2023, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and Women Beyond Walls hosted a webinar for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence: ‘The Battle Against Gendered Violence Must Also Include Women on Death Row’. The webinar recording is now on Youtube for all to watch!
Join the Oxford Abolitionist Imaginaries and Praxis Discussion Series for their first discussion of the year, "Abolition and the Black Feminist Imagination" with S.M. Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Gender, Rights, and Human Rights at the London School of Economics on 6 February, 2024 16:15-17:30 GMT. In person in Oxford, UK or online.
We were honoured to participate in a consultation this month: “Re-affirming women’s and girls’ universal human rights in the face of mounting backlashes: which thematic priorities for the next six years of the mandate of the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls?”
We shared our Women Beyond Walls reports and highlighted the importance of prioritising work with and for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls.
The Members of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls are keen to receive reports and information at hrc-wg-discriminationwomen@un.org. You can follow their work on Facebook and find out more here too.
The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights seeks input for a report on prostitution and violence against women and girls by the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council, accepting contributions until January 31, 2024, in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, or Russian via email at hrc-sr-vaw@un.org.
The European Prison Litigation Network are looking for experts in prison law and prisoners’ rights in Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania and Hungary to contribute to their regular publications on the evolution of prison law and prisoners’ rights across Europe.
Media and literature recommendations
Prison Insider released the 2023 South Africa country profile, detailing the country's prison conditions, with inputs from experts in the criminal justice field. The profile delves into various aspects, including the prison population, overcrowding issues, the abolishment of the death penalty, concerns about vulnerable groups' treatment, and systemic healthcare challenges, including over 350 questions and key facts about South African prisons.
The World Justice Project have published their second report in a series that explores the access to justice crisis and proposes approaches to develop and apply justice data to advance people-centered justice. ‘Disparities, Vulnerability, and Harnessing Data for People-Centered Justice: WJP Justice Data Graphical Report Part II’ analyses how access to justice is related to gender, development and inequality.
We have read (and then re-read!) this challenging article where Debbie Kilroy and Tabitha Lean, both founding members of The National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls in Australia, speak up for abolition of the prison industrial complex.
“Abolition enables us to dispense with suffering, punishment and exile. We can focus on abundance and healing, rather than scarcity and harm.” - Debbie Kilroy and Tabitha Lean
Center for Women’s Justice released a 30-minute film where five survivors explain how they were criminalised as a result of their experience of domestic abuse. The associated policy briefing sheet sheds light on the reforms needed to prevent the unjust criminalisation of victims of gender-based violence.
Looking for something else to read? Check out our book recommendations. Read/watched/listened to something great? Let us know so we can tell others.
If you have any events/resources/reports you want us to consider highlighting in future newsletters, please don’t hesitate to contact us on hello@womenbeyondwalls.org.
With gratitude to the community,
The Women Beyond Walls Team