Why are women in prison? Are there sexual abuses in women's prisons in Russia? The whole truth about the harsh rules in the colonies

The very idea of ​​a woman in prison seems absurd to many, but the fact remains that these women have a hard time, from abuse by guards to childbirth in a prison cell.

10 First Women's Prison

Women's prisons are a relatively new concept. Before they appeared, female criminals were placed in separate blocks of ordinary prisons. The first such institution in the United States is located in Indiana, the building was built back in 1869 and accepted the first prisoners 4 years after opening. Following her in 1927, another prison opened - the Federal Industrial Institute for Women in Alderson, West Virginia. These places were far from modern penitentiary institutions, there was practically no security system, and prisoners were involved in cooking, maintaining Agriculture, services, instead of being in cells 23 hours a day. The purpose of these institutions was not the punishment of prisoners, but the correction and guidance on the true path, so that later they would become worthy members of society. After all, most of these women were not murderers, but frightened girls who had fallen under the influence of drugs and alcohol during the days of Prohibition.

9. A real boom in the number of prisoners in the United States


The incarceration rate in the United States is a real joke for other countries. The incarceration rate in the United States is higher than in any other country in the world, even in such democratically questionable countries as Russia and China. The largest increase in incarceration in the United States is observed among women. Women's prisons are barely two centuries old, and the number of prisoners in them already exceeds a million people. Between 1980 and 2006, the number of women here grew by as much as 800%. The situation is even more tragic for national minorities, who make up two-thirds of all prisoners. Most of the women were convicted of non-violent crimes such as drug possession or prostitution. As for the killers, 90% of women convicted of killing men were subjected to violence by him.

8. Having children


No one deserves more care, love and affection than a woman in labor, but women in prisons are first of all prisoners and only then mothers. In 30 US states, all prisoners are handcuffed during childbirth. This rule was often condemned in its time by the American Civil Liberties Union and various health organizations. The shackling of the mother during childbirth creates a lot of difficulties for the mother, child and doctor.

In itself, being born in prison is not the best start, but it is not a death sentence. For example, the famous actress and star of Gossip Girl was born in a federal prison in Texas, where her mother was serving a 10-year sentence for drug smuggling.

Some states offer special programs that allow a mother to take care of her baby behind bars, but these are generally only available to those incarcerated for non-violent crimes.

7 Broken Families


Unfortunately, many women, before going to jail, were the only ones who cared for and watched over children. After being imprisoned, families literally fell apart. IN best case children ended up with relatives, but most often they were given to foster parents. Most of these children become forever lost to their mothers.

The Federal Center for Adoption and Family Welfare passed a law in 1997 that requires the state to deprive women of parental rights for those children who spent 15 to 22 months without a break at foster parents allowing those to adopt a child.

What is sad is the fact that minimum term imprisonment in women's correctional facilities is 36 months. What's worse is that often women simply do not have the opportunity to see their children due to the remoteness of their prison. This isolation is not conducive to strengthening family relations and reintegration of prisoners back into society.

6 Death Row


Despite rapid growth number of women in prisons, less than 2% of them are sentenced to death. For the past 200 years, the only woman to have been sentenced to this punishment for anything other than murder was Ethel Rosenberg. She and her husband were found guilty of treason, espionage, and giving away secret atomic bomb designs. Soviet Union. They were executed in the electric chair on June 19, 1953.

The most infamous death row inmate is Eileen Vournos, a Florida prostitute who killed seven men in a year. She spent 10 years on death row and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.

5. Health care


The growing number of female prisoners showed how unprepared the penitentiary system was for the specifics women's health. Gynecological examinations and mammography are often not available, which means that types of diseases such as cervical and breast cancer, which are often successfully treated with initial stages, simply pass unnoticed.

There is also a much higher incidence of such infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C, since most women have been involved in prostitution or drugs in one way or another. In addition, women are more susceptible to diseases such as varicose veins veins, constipation, anemia, infections urinary tract and migraines.

4. Abuse by the guards


IN ideal world the guards and staff of the women's prisons are women. Unfortunately, in our reality, about 40% of the guards in women's prisons- men. This means that abuses such as beatings and rape are unusually common. One of the most infamous prisons is the Julia Tutwiler prison in Alabama. More than a third of all prison staff have had sex with inmates, often in exchange for things like cigarettes and toiletries.

3. Orange is the new black

The first two seasons of Orange Is the New Black were a resounding success. The story of this series is based on real events and life experiences of Piper Kerman, an educated middle-class woman. Her chances of going to jail were minimal, but by her mid-twenties, she was busy laundering money for a West African drug lord. Five years later, she was indicted and spent 13 months behind bars.

Pushed by the curiosity of those around her, she decided to write a book, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. Her best-selling book was then adapted by Netflix for a series of the same name. This series is of particular interest due to the fact that the characters here are carefully crafted, and not the typical stereotypical criminals that we are used to.

2. Operational films

Before Orange Is the New Black, films about women's prisons were often a mixture of porn, lesbians, nudity, and cat fights. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was even a separate genre for such films - "women in prison" or "WiP". It was popular in the US, Italy and China.

1. Women's prisons around the world


While the prisons of the west are unlikely to attract you, what can we say about places like South Africa? Here is one of the most terrible women's prisons on the planet. Former prisoners have described scenes of dozens of people in a cell with one shower, sink and toilet, which inevitably leads to violence that the guards do not even try to control. In Greece, which is part of the European Union, conditions are little better. In the women's prison in Thebes, a full search of the prisoners is very often carried out, everything is searched, including the vagina. Those who refuse to obey and undergo this humiliating procedure are locked up in solitary confinement and fed laxatives until they are convinced that they are not hiding anything. Despite the fact that this practice is officially considered to be outdated, such scenes can still be caught by observers from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

Every year in our country the number of crimes committed by women is growing. At the same time, the number is also growing. Next, we offer a look at how the life of prisoners in women's prisons works.

The daily routine is the main document in all correctional institutions
Before you is a standard day for prisoners on the example of the Mozhaisk women's colony (IK-5 - Moscow Region).

Women's colonies are not divided by type of regime into general, "strict" or special. Everyone sits here together - murderers and petty thieves, drug addicts and big dealers, former law enforcement officers and women who have been hiding from justice for decades.

Most of the convicts work for clothing industry. They sew into uniforms for the Federal Penitentiary Service and the police. Sometimes, in an effort to get away from the daily routine, they sew women's dresses

In the wild, these women will definitely not disappear!

And this is footage from the women's colony in Atyrau (Kazakhstan)

Prisoners participate in the 28 loops project, in which they knit clothes for premature babies from perinatal centers. Women know that a thing knitted by their hands can save a life. little child. Many inmates say they see it as atonement for past sins.

As for leisure, in the women's colonies they arrange themselves as sports events, as well as concerts with discs

The heads of the colonies believe that women in the zone should remain women. Then they will go out into the world, and the task of the correctional institution is to teach them to be full members of society. Therefore, they create all the appropriate conditions, and women are punished for slovenliness.

In women's colonies, they even arrange beauty contests.

Another feature women's colonies- this is that in some live children born in captivity.

For prisoners with children create special conditions, and also go to ease the regime. At the age of three, children are handed over either to relatives or to Orphanage.

Prison is a scary place. Just look how much suffering in those eyes...
Ekaterina, 28 years old. Crime related to drug trafficking, sentence 4 years 6 months, served 4 years.

Tatyana, 54, was convicted of a crime related to drug trafficking. From general term sentence 4 years and 3 months served 2 years, is in rehabilitation center colonies.

Yana, 28 years old. Convicted of a crime related to drug trafficking, 5 years 6 months, served 2 years.

Anna, 25 years old. Drug trafficking offense, sentence 8 years 1 month, served 4 months.

Anastasia, 26 years old. Sentenced for murder to 6 years in prison, served 3 years.

The very phrase "woman prisoner" evokes not at all positive emotions. Today, the issue of female crime is quite relevant. According to statistics, the number of crimes involving women is steadily increasing. Let's see how female prisoners live in different countries peace.

Afghanistan

In this country, a woman can be imprisoned for such offenses as: cheating on her husband, running away from home, refusing to get married or marrying without the blessing of her parents.

In prison, they do laundry, cooking or cleaning almost all the time.

Or spend time with children who live with their own matter in prisons.

This woman tried to escape from her husband, for which she was sent to prison along with her small child.

USA

This prison is called Estrella (Arizona). It is famous for being the only one in the United States that uses a punishment program called the Chain Gang to reform female prisoners.

This program involves the joint performance of menial and unskilled work by prisoners, in the process of which they find themselves chained together in a long chain.

The process of fixing the same chain on the legs of the prisoners.

Corrective labor usually takes place in 40-45 degree heat and lasts 8 hours.

After that, they listen to a daily educational lecture, which takes place in the prison camp.

Despite everything, life still goes on - the prisoners take turns giving each other massages and simple cosmetic procedures.

Kazakhstan

It's feminine Correctional Facility UG-157/11 of the city of Atyrau.

Twice a day the prisoners line up on the parade ground for inspection. White scarves are an integral part of the uniform.

Conditions in this colony are as close as possible to a standard women's hostel.

Every second woman has a debt to the state - lawsuits, state fees, legal costs. Therefore, the administration of the colony helps the convicts in every possible way by organizing jobs.

And in the evenings they play intellectual game"Field of Dreams".

Romania

In one of the prisons of this country was placed interesting experiment. The prisoners were given cameras for the day and were told to take pictures of anything they thought might be of interest. It turned out to be an excellent photo essay, from which one can understand how Romanian convicted women actually live.

Colombia

Every year in the largest women's prison in Colombia "Good Shepherd" in Bogotá hosts a beauty contest in honor of the Holy Virgin - the patroness of prisoners. The competition is accompanied by a masquerade, and the rating of its broadcast on television is inferior to many popular shows.

Russia

At present, about 60,000 women are kept in prisons and colonies in Russia (35 women's colonies), which is more than 5% of the prison population.

Often women live in cells of 40-60 people. Therefore, domestic conflicts often occur. All disagreements end peacefully, mostly no further than raising the voice. Fighting in women's prisons is almost non-existent.

Women work in Russian prisons mainly in the garment industry.

Quite often, beauty contests are held among prisoners.

IN Lately In Russia, there is a rejuvenation of the female part of the prison population: 25 percent - under the age of 26 years. The number of convicted women for serious crimes is also growing - up to 52 percent of those convicted, and for especially serious crimes - 31 percent. What do you think is the reason for the increase in crime among women? And what measures should be taken to combat this?

HOW WOMEN LIVE IN PRISON? DETAILS OF A COMPLEX LIFE
How do women live in prison? Details of a difficult life

What is a women's prison and who are the women in prison, what do they do, and how do they live with it. We will talk about this and much more in this article.
WOMAN IN PRISON - WHO IS SHE?
It's hard to imagine a woman in prison. At first glance, these two words are incompatible. Society is more accustomed to the fact that the prison is for male prisoners.
Women's crimes are different from men's, because women are much more emotional, so most often the victims of their violence are their husbands' mistresses or even the husbands themselves.
Women during arrest During an arrest, women usually do not resist. They behave calmly while they are led to the place of trial. But, despite this, the police treat them cynically and rudely.
Women are humiliated, insulted, sometimes even pulled by the hair. Compared to men, women are not tortured.
If law enforcement officers take physical punishment, they are only trying to evoke emotions that make it impossible to lie.
In the temporary detention facility, women and men are placed separately. After the verdict, when a woman ends up in a pre-trial detention center, it turns out that she is not at all ready for prison conditions, although now enough films are being written and shown about women's prisons.
Naturally, when a person goes to prison for the first time, he experiences a lot of stress. Return to normal condition, surprisingly, her cellmates help the woman, because communication and stories about her fate and troubles calm her down.
Relationships between inmates develop in different ways, but mostly without conflict. After some time, women form groups in the form of families, within which they communicate or discuss some problems.
PRISON - FEMININE
Women in prisons remain women. The women's prison is like a boutique, because of the natural passion for shopping for clothes. It sounds a little strange, because in prisons there is neither money nor goods.
But women constantly change their things for someone else's, thus imitating the acquisition of something new. Sometimes there are cases of exchanging a new thing for an old one, the goal is still the same - updating the wardrobe.
Foreign cosmetics, if transferred by relatives, are exchanged for domestic ones. Police officers are not against such barter relations, they themselves help to transfer things from one cell to another.
Women's prisons are not equipped with conditions psychological help and are notorious for their lack of sanitation. Sometimes there are not enough personal hygiene products, clothing. There is no designated area for washing in the cells.
Anti-sanitary

It is terrible to imagine the conditions in which women live in prisons. If a woman has a child over four years old, then he lives with relatives or in an orphanage.
Even if the child is less than three years old, the mother must live in isolation, and spend only a couple of hours a day walking with the baby.
As a rule, women who are in prison for more than 3-4 years have a disturbed social perception, a change in psychology, all this is negatively reflected on later life, which may soon return the woman back to the prison cell.
But this does not mean that all women who have served time are spoiled and do not have any good future life. Among the prisoners there are also talented individuals who dance beautifully, sing, compose poetry, draw, and so on.
During the term, they usually continue to do what they love, developing skills, so they leave prison with powerful potential behind them.
Cells of the general settlement All people dream of solitude, unfortunately, in women's prisons this can be forgotten. Women do not manage to be alone if they are serving time in a cell in which there are 40-60 people.
For this reason, an irritated feeling often arises, which often leads to conflicts of a domestic nature.
All conflicts end peacefully, mostly no further than raising the voice. Fighting in women's prisons is almost non-existent.
If one of the inmates needs to report to the court case, then the chamber reigns festive mood. They try to dress a woman in the most best clothes, which is in the chamber, do beautiful hairstyle and makeup.
Even in prison, they do not lose their self-esteem: “How can you go out into the world without putting yourself in order?”. special treatment manifests itself to the prisoner who killed her child.
Basically, such women are ignored and considered plebeian, since the task of every woman on earth is to give birth to a child, not to kill him.
Sometimes there is a tradition when a woman who kills children is cut baldly with an ordinary razor while leaving cuts and scars on the head.
Basically, police officers punish participants in violence, although they perfectly understand the reason for such behavior. Concerning living conditions, then there is no women's prison, and there can be no warm water.
They heat water with boilers. Showers happen once a week, or even once every ten days. Administration takes care of comfortable conditions prisoners. Now every woman has her own bed.
The cells have been refurbished, and it is not uncommon to find wallpaper there. bright colors. Even if a pregnant woman ends up in prison, she remains in the common cell and eats food, like everyone else.
BIRTH IN PRISON
Childbirth in prison If a pregnant woman has her first contractions, she is immediately taken to the hospital under guard, and sometimes even in handcuffs.
She returns to work in the colony immediately after giving birth, and the child is returned to the mother in 5-6 days.
Already with a child, a woman is transferred to a separate specially designed cell.
It only houses breastfeeding mothers or pregnant women, due to detention laws.
The administration takes care of mothers who cannot feed their children and provides artificial nutrition for their babies.
In prisons female mother separates from his baby only when he is taken to the hospital for examination, in other cases he is constantly with his mother, so she sometimes even gets tired.
Only after the child is three years old is he separated from his mother. That is, in general, we can say that the conditions for children in places of deprivation of liberty are terrible.
For some reason, from the side of state defense, imprisoned mothers are shown a contemptuous attitude, they often claim that women give birth to make life easier for themselves in prison, and in fact they do not need children.
MOTHERHOOD IN PRISON
Motherhood in prison, and yet for such women there is certain conditions to raise a baby: walk twice a day, cook food right in the cell, get extra baby food and sometimes diapers.
When a mother and baby stay in a colony, a method of adaptation of the child is observed.
He is taken away, allegedly because of the quarantine, but in fact, in this way, the child is weaned from the mother.
Today in Russia there are approximately 700 mothers in women's prisons with their children younger than three years and pregnant women.
Of course, even with all the amenities provided, not a single mother feels comfortable, but all for the same reason - lack of will.
Motherhood in a Women's Prison Instead of being outside for a long time with a child, they sit in cells that are deprived of any light except daylight, although this is prohibited by law.
Therefore, one should not think that it is much easier for mothers in prisons to live than ordinary prisoners. Living conditions for women with children are not much different.
Now imagine that almost all women are in the same conditions, regardless of whether they have a child or not. Will it be easy for the mother for the first three years, until the child is taken away?
We invite you to watch a film about a women's prison, about how, sometimes foolishly smart and beautiful girls and women end up in prisons.

In the criminal universe there is a special galaxy - women's prisons. The "concepts" by which the world of criminals lives are absent in the women's colonies.

There are unspoken rules that everyone must follow. For example, in each cell there should be a “senior” who keeps order so that there are no prohibited items and that the cellmates keep order.

Hierarchy in the chamber

Women's crimes are different from men's. Women are less likely to commit acquisitive crimes, robberies, and robberies. They are more likely to commit murders, and cause serious harm to the health of a domestic nature. This is due to the fact that women are more emotional, and the mind does not always guide the behavior of a woman, especially in moments of rage.

victims female violence become husbands, lovers, husband's mistresses. When arrested, women do not resist and do not run away.

Mutual relations of convicts, as a rule, are neutral. This is not a male cell where there is a struggle for leadership. The hierarchy in the cell is like a beehive - there is a uterus - the "eldest", assistants to whom the eldest delegates her unspoken duties and the rest of the girls.

Most of the cells are designed for 40-60 people, in which there are beds in two rows, which are called "bunks". There is a bed that is at the end of the chamber, without a second shelf. It is called "glade" - the "older" sleeps on it. The cell also has a kitchen and a toilet with a shower. The kitchen, toilet can be used for an unlimited time, and clothes can be washed only on certain days. The chamber is cleaned daily, three times a day.

The cleaning schedule is drawn up in advance, and it is impossible to refuse duty - the only exception is those who “sit” for a long time. Bad vigilance is punished extra days cleaning. The duty can be "sold" for two packs of cigarettes or for groceries. Girls are not allowed to enter the kitchen if there is a “senior” and her assistants. In order to maintain a calm atmosphere in the cell, girls are forbidden to swear and use derivative words, so there is often absolute silence in the cell.

The eldest is responsible for "training" the newcomers. The process of getting used to a new life takes a week or two. The eldest in the cell allocates places, and the newcomers get places near the entrance, the so-called "brakes".

Hierarchy on the zone

After the verdict is passed, the woman is transferred to the pre-trial detention center. For the female psyche, this is a huge stress, because it is impossible to prepare for the prison environment. "Driving in prison", women lose their sense of reality.

The operational worker is engaged in the distribution of cells. Usually they try to “pick up” a camera for a newcomer, but this is done not for the sake of a woman, but for the sake of the employees’ peace of mind - there are fewer conflicts, which means that it is easier for the administration to work. Therefore, accountants and officials are in one cell, “collective farmers” are in another. This principle is violated only if accomplices are imprisoned - always in different cells.

On the zone great importance has "who you are", your position in society before prison. For example, whether you are a Muscovite or not, how often you receive programs, how many letters they write to you, what you wear and what you eat - your own food or prison food. Thus, the attitude of the prison society is formed. Although the status is formed not only with the help of the "pre-prison" position, but also depends on the individual.

Conflicts end with raised voices, but there are practically no fights, and if they happen, then without serious damage. Murder in general rare case in the women's chamber. If the prison administration finds out about the conflict, the guilty will be punished, and finding the instigator is easy. Therefore, they try not to conflict without a weighty reason.