Launch of the 'Sunny Scholarship'; women's menstrual health in prison; new films, reports, opportunities to learn about the criminalisation of women, decarceration, and more...
June 2025 newsletter from Women Beyond Walls
Dear Friends
At the end of May we marked Menstrual Health Day, reflecting on the injustice incarcerated women face in a global prison system that neglects menstrual health and does not meet women’s basic needs. As we shared on LinkedIn, women continue to experience menstruation as a tool of punishment where they face restricted access to pads and tampons.
In India, prison visits by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) exposed limited provision of sanitary products and a lack of awareness amongst women in prison of their rights and entitlement. It was revealed that women bought sanitary products whilst entitled to free ones, relied on family members to bring products during visits, or in some cases even used old cloths and rags which raises concerns around their health. The CHRI’s highlighted the needs for improvements including the provision of a sufficient quantity of quality sanitary sanitary pads, a means of safe disposal of pads, regular visits of female prison doctors to ensure monitoring of reproductive health, and raising awareness among prison staff and incarcerated women of menstrual health.
In the U.S, accounts from incarcerated women expose similar experiences and barriers around menstrual health. One account reported by TIME notes the restricted number of pads and tampons provided, the use of toilet paper for women who cannot afford to buy additional products when needed, inappropriate disposal methods, and the inspection of tampons and pad packets by prison guards for contraband. It also shares experiences of the required removal of tampons or pads before strip-searches, adding significantly to the feelings of humiliation and dehumanisation women face around menstruation in prison.
In ensuring that menstrual health remains a respected human right in prisons, we highlight the essential work of Mujeres Unidas x la Libertad, an organisation based in Mexico City which supports incarcerated women by providing access to menstrual hygiene products. The Prison Flow Project is also shining a light on this issue, sharing information for access to menstrual products across federal and state women’s prisons across the U.S. Back in 2023, we also saw the great advocacy work of Mujeres Libres in Colombia contributing to a law guaranteeing menstrual pads in prison being passed.
Access to sufficient menstrual and reproductive health services and products for incarcerated women remains a significant challenge globally, and whilst stigma still remains around these topics we must use opportunities like Menstrual Health Day to draw attention to the neglected needs of incarcerated women in this area.
With gratitude and solidarity,
The Women Beyond Walls Team
News from Women Beyond Walls
The Sunny Scholarship
Friends of Women Beyond Walls and the International Network of Formerly Incarcerated Women (INFIW) have launched the ‘Sunny Scholarship’ Travel Fund! Please donate and share this fundraising appeal with others.
In memory of Sunny Jacobs, we’ve launched a fund to support women with lived experience of criminalisation—especially formerly incarcerated women—to attend international conferences and advocacy spaces. We want to continue Sunny’s legacy of global engagement, connection, and justice.
Sonia ‘Sunny’ Jacobs was wrongfully convicted in 1976 and spent 17 years in prison—five of them on death row in Florida. After her release in 1992, she dedicated her life to ending the death penalty and supporting those with lived experience of incarceration.
She became a powerful voice through her speeches, her nonprofit (The Sunny Center Foundation), her work with the International Network of Formerly Incarcerated Women, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP), and the play and film ‘The Exonerated’. Sunny was planning to attend the Human Rights Council with the WCADP Gender Working Group before her tragic death in a house fire in Connemara, Ireland on 3 June 2025.
Sunny Scholarship Travel Fund to help women with lived experience share their voices on international stages.
Members of the Women Beyond Walls team are seeding the fund with personal donations.
All funds raised will go directly to INFIW, who will manage the scholarship process.
The goal: reduce the financial barriers that keep powerful voices out of global spaces.
10th Anniversary of the Nelson Mandela Rules
We had the honour of being invited to speak at a high-level session at the UN General Assembly to mark the tenth anniversary of the Nelson Mandela Rules.
We spoke about the urgent need to decrease the number of women in prison and reduce the harmful impact of imprisonment on women and their families, sharing findings from our recent report with Penal Reform International - From Poverty to Punishment.
We spoke alongside other civil society colleagues, such as Dr Raymund E. Narag, who was incarcerated for several years in the Philippines and now a renowned criminology professor.
For more details, read this blog by Olivia Rope from Penal Reform International - sharing 5 key takeaways from the General Assembly debate on global prison challenges
News from around the world
Australia: The Western Australia Coroner has issued recommendations for the provision of culturally safe care to Aboriginal Prisoners in the region following an inquest into the death of Dannielle Lowe, a 41-year-old Martu woman who died in custody in Wandoo Rehabilitation Prison. The inquest found missed opportunities for care and treatment, as well as evidence that care Danielle received was not “culturally safe.”
England and Wales: The UK Government has announced plans to decriminalise rough sleeping in England and Wales by scrapping the Vagrancy Act which outlaws rough sleeping. As many countries retain outdated vagrancy laws, vulnerable women continue to face criminal injustice due to their experiences of homelessness, which this plan seeks to address.
Malawi: A new report from the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s TrialWatch initiative, together with the Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) and the University of Southern California Gould School of Law International Human Rights Clinic (USC IHRC), reveals that women incarcerated for violent offences in Malawi are often survivors of gender-based violence who have been criminalised for incidents connected to their own abuse.
Saudi Arabia: Reports have emerged of secretive prisons, or so-called ‘care homes’, for ‘disobedient’ women in Saudi Arabia. The Guardian report suggests women are being banished from their home by husbands and family members for “disobedience, extramarital sexual relations or being absent from home” with the aim of being ‘rehabilitated’ and returning to their families. The prisons are understood to have terrible conditions, no visits from the outside world, forced religious teachings and punishments like flogging.
UK: Due to pressure from civil society groups including the law firm, Bhatt Murphy, The UK Government has also announced an independent investigation into the use of restraints on pregnant women incarcerated at HMP/YOI Bronzefield during hospital escorts between 2021 and 2025. This will be conducted by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.
Opportunities
⏰ If you are attending the 59th Human Rights Council session in Geneva, here is an event you don’t want to miss…
Join United Nations Human Rights, the Permanent Mission of Canada in Geneva | Mission permanente du Canada à Genève, and APT for a Human Rights Council side event.
📅 Tuesday, 1 July 2025
🕐 13:00–14:00 CEST
📍 Room XXVII, Palais des Nations, Geneva
🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/e2ZYNcSP
We’re proud to see Lady Unchained on this panel, whose beautiful music forms our podcast soundtrack. Listen to Lady Unchained’s podcast on the first series of the Women Beyond Walls podcast.
Global 50/50 have opened submissions for their photography competition, ‘This is Gender: Law and Justice’. The project invites photographers to explore how gender shapes legal systems, calling for photography that “uncovers injustice and offers new ways of seeing justice, challenging systems shaped by capitalism, colonialism and patriarchy.” Submissions close on the 22 July 2025.
A great new resource and database from AWID titled ‘Who Can Fund Me?’. “A easy-to-use, practical tool for movements looking for funders from philanthropic foundations, multilateral funders to women’s and feminist funds to support vital lifesaving efforts.”
A number of showings and Q&A sessions of the recently released film Holloway are being held in the UK in the coming weeks. Holloway follows six previously incarcerated women who revisit HMP Holloway in London to recount their experiences inside the prison. The Q&A opportunities include the film's contributors, directors and professionals in the field of the incarceration of women. You can also read a review of the documentary in The Guardian
Another UK based opportunity - Sign Level Up’s petition aiming to keep pregnant women out of prison. Level Up have been shortlisted for campaign of the year with the Sheila McKechnie Foundation. Their campaign, No Births Behind Bars, fights to end the imprisonment of pregnant women and mothers.
Calls for submissions for a research paper on women and remand from the University of Glasgow. The project is looking for creative contributions such as poetry or short stories from women who have spent time on remand in a Scottish prison.
Probation Journal is calling for submissions of academic articles and creative pieces for a special edition of their journal in 2027 which will focus on women and girls in the criminal justice system. Find out more details on their LinkedIn.
Clean Break is starting a new Young Company, delivering theatre and performance training for women and non-binary people aged 18-25. The programme is designed for young people with lived experience of the criminal justice system or are at risk of joining it in the UK, and you can find out more information on their instagram.
⏰ Marking the End of the (Australian) Financial Year (EOFY) Sisters Inside are raising funds for their work with children of incarcerated parents. In Australia and got some Aussie dollars to spare this June, support if you using the details on the image below.
Media and literature recommendations
📖 Read this article about moves to expand alternatives to imprisonment for women in Colombia
📺 Watch the BBC series ‘Jailed: Women in Prison’ which explores the struggles for women in prison including mental health issues, historical abuse and the challenges in rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
Watch a short but moving documentary, ‘Weekend Visits’, on a mother and child spending the day together in Virginia Correctional Center for Women (USA).
📖 Read an article on the high levels of women being remanded in custody in the UK, the overrepresentation of ethnic minority women in the criminal justice system, and the impact of prison on women’s mental health.
🎧 Listen to the Secret Lives of Prisons podcast episode from Cherie Blair KC and Kate Morrisey discussing women and the criminal justice system in the UK.
📖 An article by Debangi Sanyal explores how India’s criminal justice system reflects carceral patriarchy, examining the rising number of women prisoners and how their incarceration is shaped by gender, caste, and structural inequality.
📺 Watch Senator Kim Pate at the 2nd reading of Tona’s Law (Bill S-205), which seeks to end the systemic abuse of prisoners through prolonged solitary confinement, lack of oversight, and impunity in federal institutions in Canada: “So little has changed since the ultra familiar certain events at the prison for women in Kingston 31 years ago”
📖 Read the Big Issue article from CEO of Women in Prison *UK) Sonya Ruparel on how "prison is unsafe, inappropriate, and ineffective for women."
🎥 In the UK? Catch the release of Lollipop, a film about a young mother and the challenges she faces following her release from prison. and read a moving article with the lead actress, highlighting the important work of Clean Break.
📖 Read an article by Scout Tzofiya Bolton detailing her experiences of incarceration following episodes of psychosis. Scout writes about her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, which Prison Radio Association points out is particularly poignant as, in UK prisons, around 14% of women and 7% of men are living with a psychotic disorder.
💻 Watch the webinar from Birth Companions and Advance on supporting pregnant women and mothers of young children under probation supervision.
📖 OpenDemocracy have shared alarming articles from England and Wales about the high rates of women in prison who are restrained during mental health crises and numbers of domestic abuse victims facing jail.
📖 Read a recently published research paper titled Problematising ‘Vulnerability’ in Women’s Prison which explores the use of the ‘vulnerable’ label of incarcerated women with consideration of agency and resilience
🎥 Watch this short film - Beyond the Prison Walls - about the work of Elas Existem in Brazil
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