Still striving for equality on IWD; good news from Colombia; recommendations and top listens
A newsletter from Women Beyond Walls - together we can build collective power and amplify voices to end the over-incarceration of women and girls worldwide.
Greetings friends,
What an exciting month March has been so far. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed in the first few weeks of this newsletter’s existence - we really do value your support immensely. Thank you also to all who’ve shared exciting new things going on in your part of the world, we love hearing about the solutions and innovations that exist focused on ending the over-incarceration of women and girls.
International Women’s Day: Why women’s incarceration is (still) a gendered issue
We were thankful to everyone who joined in our mini IWD campaign to share messages of gratitude highlighting the people who work tirelessly every day of the year to end the over-incarceration of women and girls worldwide. We are grateful to so many of you on this newsletter mailing list for this very reason. The Women Beyond Wall’s team have reflected on the day and we want to try and uplift unsung heroes more often this year. We’ll be thinking about ways we can do that. If you ever want to highlight the work of a particular person or organisation please do let us know - we’d love to keep identifying the great work going on around the world.
We joined a number of other organisations in sharing the message that part of the fight against gendered violence and creating a more gender just world has to include abolishing the discriminatory, inhuman and arbitrary death penalty. Search the hashtag #IgnoredNoMore or #WomenOnDeathRow on Twitter to see some of the different posts organisations and individuals shared. Find out more from the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty on why the fight for the abolition of the death penalty must be based on an intersectional and gender-based approach.
COLOMBIA: Things are changing in Colombia with thanks to campaigning efforts by organisations such as Mujeres Libres Colombia. On International Women’s Day, President Gustavo Petro signed the ‘Criminal Alternative Law.’ This law takes a gendered look at sentencing at means that female prisoners in Colombia who are either impoverished or the heads of single parent households will be freed in exchange for community service. Official estimates are that about 5,000 of the country's 17,000 female prisoners could qualify. Find out more (in Spanish) from Mujeres Libres Colombia.
This change builds on progress made in Colombia last year when Law 2261 was passed. It provides that prisons should provide free menstrual hygiene products and permanent supply of water to women who are menstruating, breastfeeding or pregnant.
Read more about Claudia Alejandra Cardona, the co-founder of Mujeres Libres Colombia, and her inspiring work.
LATIN AMERICA: Patricia Tarre Moser unpacks a recent advisory opinion by the Inter-American Court which addressed the rights of people deprived of their liberty, such as pregnant women, pregnant women in childbirth, and postpartum and breastfeeding women as well as primary caregivers, LGTBI persons, older adults, and Indigenous persons deprived of their liberty.
USA: The Right of Return Fellowship has just announced its latest awardees. The fellowship is the “first and only national initiative dedicated to supporting and mentoring formerly incarcerated creatives” and this year photographer Beverley Price was named amongst the fifth cohort of fellows. Find out more about Beverley and her work.
IRAN: In March, HRANA published a report on the 24 women being held at the women’s ward of Evin Prison in Tehran for political and alleged national security charges.
WALES: An inquiry has found that the criminal justice system in Wales fails to meet the needs of Welsh women: although widespread agreement exists that short custodial sentences for non-violent crimes are counter-productive, they still persist.
IRELAND: Earlier this month, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) launched a new scoping study on maternal imprisonment in Ireland. The report examines the numbers and experiences of mothers imprisoned in Ireland, and of their children. The need to consider the impact on children when sentencing mothers, and particularly consider non-custodial measures when sentencing mothers, were named in the report as part of the 29 recommendations.
This month we are reading…
‘Upper Bunkies Unite’ by Andrea James.
Andrea James writes from her professional experience as a former criminal defence lawyer and her personal experience as a formerly incarcerated woman and mother about the politics and policies resulting in mass incarceration within the United States of America.
We have created a book recommendations list on our website that we will keep up to date with some great reads if you want to find out more about ending the over-incarceration of women and girls worldwide.
Sharon D. Johnson’s perspectives on the impact of incarceration on children in her blog on the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women website (which has other great resources and analysis too!).
This month we are listening to…
The Life After Prison Podcast. Both the ‘Sit Down’ and ‘Getting Out’ shows offer insight into women’s incarceration in the UK and offer lots of tips and advice for listeners.
The audio interviews shared by the Death Penalty Project on International Women’s Day which include a great interview with Juliet Kaikai who works for Advocaid in Sierra Leone and another with UK Barrister Amanda Clift-Matthews who has worked on numerous cases of women in the penal system, as well as death penalty cases alongside the Death Penalty Project.
Don’t forget you can also listen to our own inaugural Women Beyond Walls podcast series. Our latest episode featured the inspiring Lady Unchained.
A few people have asked us how they can support the work of Women Beyond Walls. One key way is by reviewing our podcast on your podcast platform if you like it! On Apple Podcasts, rating the podcast is great and writing a comment is even better. Reviews help raise the visibility of the series and in turn the inspiring people we feature.
Thank you for being a part of the Women Beyond Walls community. If you have any events/resources/reports you want us to consider highlighting in future newsletters don’t hesitate to contact us on hello@womenbeyondwalls.org.
The Women Beyond Walls Team