Women in Prison in Spain: The Implementation of Bangkok Rules to the Spanish Prison Legislation Ana I. Cerezo European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research ISSN 0928-1371 Eur J Crim Policy Res DOI 10.1007/s10610-016-9323-0 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science +Business Media Dordrecht. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self- archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy EurJCrimPolicyRes DOI10.1007/s10610-016-9323-0 Women in Prison in Spain: The Implementation of Bangkok Rules to the Spanish Prison Legislation AnaI.Cerezo1,2 #SpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht2016 Abstract ThispaperaimstotakeacloselookattherealityoffemalecrimeinSpain.Onthe onehand,wewillfocusondescribingthecurrentsituationofwomenincarceratedinSpanish prisons,anespeciallyvulnerablegroupgiventheirpeculiaritiesandneeds.Throughsecondary sources, we describe the situation of discrimination against women in these prisons. On the otherhand,thepaperestablisheswhetherthecurrentSpanishprisonlegislationechoesallor someofthe UnitedNationsRulesfortheTreatmentofWomenPrisonersandNon-custodial Measures of Freedom for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules, 2010). To this end, a detailed analysis of both standards, national and international, is essential. As a general conclusion, althoughSpainhashighstandardprisonregulationsandmodernfacilities,femaleprisonersin Spanish prison are subject to discrimination. It is from such a perspective that this article proposesthatthenecessarychangesandappropriatepenitentiarypoliciestomeetthespecific needsoffemaleprisonersareestablished. Keywords Women.Crime.Prison.Bangkokrules.Discrimination Introduction Theincreaseofthefemaleprisonpopulationinvirtuallyallcountriesaroundtheworld,andthe lack of specific treatment and prevention measures relating to women offenders were key arguments usedby the United Nationsin2010when a total of70rulesfor thetreatmentof women inmates and women offenders subject to non-custodial measures were approved (hereinafter Bthe Bangkok Rules^). These rules, structured in four sections, recognize that female prisoners have significantly different needs from male prisoners since historically, prisonsandprisonregimeshavealmostinvariablybeendesignedforthemajoritymaleprison * AnaI.Cerezo [email protected] 1 AndalusianInstituteofCriminology,UniversityofMalaga,Malaga,Spain 2 DepartmentofCriminalLaw,FacultyofLaw,UniversityofMalaga,Málaga29071,Spain Author's personal copy A.I.Cerezo population—from the architecture of prisons, to security procedures, to healthcare, family contact,workandtraining.Theserulesgiveguidancetomeetthespecificneedsofwomenin caseofimprisonmentandtoreducethepopulationofwomeninprisons. ThepurposeofthisarticleistoevaluatetheimplementationofSpanishprisonlegislationto theBangkokrulesinordertoidentifypotentialweaknessesinSpanishprisonlegislation.To reachthispoint,itisnecessarytoexplainbrieflyaregulatoryframeworkofwomeninprison, toreportinformationonthesituationofincarceratedwomeninSpainandtoanalysewhether theguidelinesproposedbytheUNin2010arebeingimplemented. The Bangkok Rules BackgroundinUnitedNations TheStandardMinimumRulesfortheTreatmentofPrisoners,adoptedbytheUnitedNations on 30th August 1955, at the First Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders,heldinGeneva,isconsideredthefirstinternationalprisonstandard.Referencesto womenprisonersinthisfirsttextmerelymentiontheneedforwomen’sinstitutions(Article23.1.) tohavespecialfacilitiesforthetreatmentofpregnantinmates,thosewhohaverecentlygiven birth and are nursing, as well as a nursery (Article 23.2.) for inmate mothers who keep their childreninprison. ItwasnotuntiltheSixthCongressonthePreventionofCrimeandTreatmentofOffenders, heldinCaracasin1980,whenaspecialmentionofthespecificneedsandpossiblediscrimi- natorysituationofwomeninprisoncomparedtomenwasmade,giventheirminoritynumbers in prisons. It mentions that women have more limited access to programmes and prison services,andthattheyhavebeenplacedinprisonsfarawayfromtheirfamilies. TheSeventhCongress,heldinMilan,dealswiththeequaltreatmentthatthewomanshould haveinthecriminal justicesystem,fromherarrestuntilher imprisonment.All thesephases requiretheprovisionofaparticularattentiontothespecialproblemsofwomen,suchapregnancy orthecareofminorchildren. ItsNecessaryApprovalandthePrincipleofNon-Discrimination Thereferencestotheproblemsoffemaleprisonersintheinstrumentsabovementioned,suggests thelackofknowledgeandinterestinafieldrequiresspecificregulation.Theneedandurgencyto bring more clarity to the considerations that should be applied to the treatment of women prisonersisgraduallygainingimportance.ItisclearthatneitherStandardMinimumRulesfor the Treatment of Prisonersand the subsequently approved Minimum Rules for non-custodial measures(theTokyoRules)weresufficientemphasisonthespecialneedsofwomenprisoners. Added to this is the fact that, in view of the great variety of legal, social, economic and geographicalconditionsintheworld,notalltherulescanbeappliedinthesamewayinallplaces, urgentneedtoBstimulateaconstantendeavortoovercomepracticaldifficultiesintheirapplica- tion,intheknowledgethattheyrepresent,asawhole,globalaspirationsamenabletothecommon goalofimprovingoutcomesforwomenprisioners,theirchildrenandtheircommunities^.Itisnota coincidencethatthefirstoftheBangkokrulesalludestotheattentiontothedistinctiveneedsof womeninmatesintheapplicationoftherulestoaccomplishsubstantialgenderequalityshallnotbe regardedasdiscriminatory. Author's personal copy WomeninPrisoninSpain:TheImplementation Themostdetailedanalysisofthecontentofthese70ruleswillbeinalatersectionofthis article. European Regulations AlthoughtheprocessesofsocialcohesionandintegrationthatarehappeningintheEuropean Union are provoking a minimal impact on the European regulations related to the prison populationandprisonconditions,itisnecessarytohighlightthreelegalinstruments.Thefirst one is the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states on the European Prison Rules (Recommendation (87) 3), of 12th February, 1987. AseconddocumentinthisareaistheRecommendationoftheCommitteeofMinistersof theCouncilofEuropetomemberstatesontheNewEuropeanPrisonRules(Recommendation (2006)2),datedon11thJanuary2006.ThisdocumentstatesinArticle34:Bdetaineesshould beallowedtogivebirthoutsideprison,butifachildisborninprison,theauthoritiesshould providethenecessaryassistanceandinfrastructure.^ Another regulation is the European Parliament Resolution on the special situation of women in prison and the impact of the imprisonment of parents on social and family life (2007/2116 (INI)) adopted on 15th February 2008. This document urges Member States to incorporategenderdimensionintoprisonpoliciesandtoformulatepenitentiarypoliciesaimed toimprovingtheintegrationofwomeninprison,becauseofthesituationofsocialexclusion andpovertythatcharacterizealargenumberofthem.Also,itrequiresMemberStatestogive moreattentiontogender-relatedaspects,inparticularthroughappropriatetrainingformedical prisonstaffandre-educationofwomeninfundamentalvalues: a) By integrating the gender dimension in data collection in all areas to make visible the problemsandneedsofwomenprisioners; b) By creating in each state a study commission for effective control of the conditions of internment,abletodetectandremedyanyaspectsofdiscriminationaffectingwomenin theprisonsystem; c) Highlighting in debates at all levels (local, regional and national) the needs of women prisionersandformerprisionersinordertopromotepositivemeasuresrelatedtohousing, training,socialintegrationandsoon. The Unequal Treatment Prison from Men and Women in Spanish Prisons Belowareseveralargumentsthatcometoascertainthesituationofinequalityfacedbywomen inrelationtomeninSpanishprisons. SomeCharacteristicsofSpanishWomenPrisonPopulation AsshowninTable1,duringthefirstdecadeofthiscenturythepercentageofwomeninprison exceeded 8%, this being the highest percentage in the European Union (Cid 2008; Space 2009).The evolutionof thefemaleprison populationhasremained largelyunchanged since then.However,ifthetimescaletolookbacktopreviousyearsisextended,anupwardtrendcan Author's personal copy A.I.Cerezo Table1 WomeninprisoninSpain(1980-2015) 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Totalnumber 487 2604 4217 3653 5592 5723 5288 5225 5180 4977 4722 ofwomen inprison Totalnumber 14293 30454 40739 41451 61508 67853 65184 63372 62912 60040 56892 ofmenin prison %ofwomenof 3.4 8.55 10.3 8.81 8.33 8.43 7.5 7.62 8.23 7.65 8.29 allprisoners %ofwomen 0.0025 0.0131 0.021 0.0178 0.025 0.0244 0.0225 0.0220 0.0217 0.0209 0.0199 prisonersof totalfemale population Source:ConvictionStatistics,NationalInstituteofStatistics(INE) be observed, due to the number of female to male inmates having increased enormously between 1980 and 1995. This is a period in which the number of women in prison was multipliedby eight (with one woman for every29men,increasingto one woman for every ninemen).From2011,agradualdecreaseintheprisonpopulationingeneralandinwomen,in particular,isobserved.Thisdecreaseisdueinteraliatothelowerpenaltiesfordrugtrafficking offences(OrganicLaw5/2010,of22ndJune,onthereformoftheCriminalCode),whichhas ledtothereleaseofagoodnumberofinmates. Unlike men, who are mainly imprisoned for committing property related crimes, women aresentencedtoprisonin37.9%ofcasesforthecommissionofdrugrelatedcrimes,followed by property related crimes (35.3 %), and way ahead of these, homicides and assaults. In Table2,thecriminaltypologiesofmenandwomenareshown,servingtohighlightthemost significantdifferencesbetweendrugrelatedcrimesand,conversely,thoseinwhichwomenare moreoftenthannotthevictims,namelysexualcrimesandgender-basedviolence(Table3). In relation to the evolution of these crimes, Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 shows how drug related crimescommittedbywomenexperienceagradualincreaseupuntil2009,atwhichpointthey aredeclining.Ratesinpropertyrelatedcrimesareincreasingduringthelastyears. Inmen,however,tendenciesinrelationtothesetwotypesofcrimesdecrease,asisshown inthefigurebelow. It is also interesting to note that according to data from 2012, 28.6% of women were sentencedtoimprisonmentcomparedto25%ofmen.Thedeprivationofotherrightsrepresent 55%ofallpenaltiesimposedonmenand48.2%ofthoseappliedtowomen.Finesrepresent 20%ofallpenaltiesimposedonmenand13.2%ofthoseappliedtowomen. It should be noted that these statistics are computed on the basis of a single penalty per crime, i.e. selecting the main penalty or that which is considered to be the most serious or important,ignoringthe fact that thesameindividual may havebeen sentenced tomorethan onepenalty,thatistosay,amainpenaltyplusanaccessorypenalty(Díez2006). Inthelastfiveyears,therehasbeenasteadyincreaseintheuseofimprisonmentinboth convictedmenandwomen,ascanbeseeninthefigurebelow. Accordingtoseveralstudies,theaveragelengthofaprisonsentenceimposedonwomen fordrugtraffickingoffenseswouldbearound4years(AlmedaandBodelón2007;Cruellsand Igareda2005;García-EspañaandDíez-Ripollés2012). Author's personal copy WomeninPrisoninSpain:TheImplementation Table2 Crimeconvictionsoftheprisonpopulationaccordingtosex(%ofthetotalnumberofmenandwomen inprison) Crimes Men Women N % N % Homicides 3.601 (7.4%) 290 (7.2%) Assault 2.400 (4.9%) 176 (4.3%) Kidnapping 668 (1.4%) 48 (1.2%) Sexualcrimes 3.115 (6.4%) 56 (1.4%) Gender-basedviolence 3.920 (8.1%) 6 (0.1%) Crimesagainstfamilyrelations 210 (0.4%) 13 (0.3%) Propertyrelatedcrimes 18.789 (38.8%) 1.403 (35.3%) Drugsrelatedcrimes 10.132 (20.9%) 1.505 (37.9%) Drivingoffences 1.341 (2.8%) 39 (1%) Counterfeiting 763 (1.6%) 77 (1.9%) Taxcrimesandcrimesagainstpublicadministration 261 (0.6%) 29 (0.7%) Crimesagainstthejudiciary 730 (1.5%) 109 (2.7%) Crimesagainstpublicorder 1.848 (3.8%) 130 (3.3%) Othercrimes 549 (1.2%) 80 (1.9%) Misdemeanors 70 (0.2%) 13 (0.3%) Total 48.397 (100%) 3.974 (100%) Source:ConvictionStatistics,NationalInstituteofStatistics(INE),DataforApril,2016 Table3 Typesofpenaltiesaccordingtosex(%ofthetotalnumberofconvictedmenandwomen) Typeofsentences Men Women 1.Deprivationoflibertypenalties 25 28.6 1.1Imprisonment 24.9 28.5 1.2Defaultimprisonment 0.1 0.1 1.3Homedetention 0 0 2.Penaltiesdeprivingotherrights 55 48.2 2.1Disqualificationfrompublicoffice 0.1 0.1 2.2Professionaldisqualification 18.4 21 2.3Drivinglicencedispossesion 13.5 11.1 2.4Firearmspossesionprohibition 5.3 3.3 2.5Restrainingorder:residingincertainplaces 0.1 0 2.6Restrainingorder:physicalproximitytothevictim 5.7 3.7 2.7Restrainingorder:communicationwiththevictim 2 1.2 2.8Communityservice 9.8 8.5 2.9Foreigners’Deportation 0.4 0.4 3.Fines 20 13.2 Total 100 100 Source:ConvictionStatistics,NationalInstituteofStatistics(INE),Datafor2013 Author's personal copy A.I.Cerezo 60 49,3 51,3 49,9 50 46,9 47,1 45,2 48 45,7 41,3 40 37,4 38,8 33,5 34 33,5 34,6 30,7 30,6 29,7 31 30 23,7 20 10 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Drugs Property Source: Author’s own work, developedfrom National Institute of Statistics(INE) Fig.1 Evolutionofsentencedcrimesagainstpropertyandpublichealth(drugs)infemaleprisoners(%ofthe totalnumberoffemaleprisoners)(2006-2015).Source:Author’sownwork,developedfromNationalInstituteof Statistics(INE) 50 46,3 43,8 45 42,5 40,1 39,6 39,6 40 37,9 38 38 38,8 35 30 26,1 26,1 25,8 26 25,9 25 24,7 24,3 23,5 22,4 21,4 20 15 10 5 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Drugs Property Source: Author’s own work, developedfrom National Institute of Statistics(INE) Fig.2 Evolutionofsentencedcrimesagainstpropertyandpublichealth(drugs)inmaleprisoners(%ofthetotal number of male prisoners) (2006-2015). Source: Author’s own work, developed from National Institute of Statistics(INE) Author's personal copy WomeninPrisoninSpain:TheImplementation 35 30 28,5 28,9 28,5 25 24,9 25,1 25,8 24,2 25,2 24,9 22 22,4 20,2 20 15 10 5 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Women Men Source: Author’s own work, developed from National Institute of Statistics(INE) Fig.3 Evolutionoftheuseofimprisonmentforsentencedmenandwomen(2008-2013).Source:Author’sown work,developedfromNationalInstituteofStatistics(INE) InrelationtothecriminalproceduralstatusofwomenimprisonedinApril,2016,13.6%are inpre-trialdetentioncomparedto12.4%ofmen,asshowninTable4. The percentage of the foreign female inmate population (around 28% of total female inmates)doesnotcorrespondtothepercentageoftheforeignfemalepopulationinthegeneral female population in Spain, which is considerably lower (10.6%) (Ministry of Health and SocialServicesandEquality2013).Inthepastdecade,therewasanupwardtrendinforeign femaleprisoners,similartotherisethatoccurredinmen,whichpeakedin2010.However,in 2011,itwaspossibletoobserveasignificantdecreaseforthefirsttime,withanaccentuated decreasein2015,asshowninTable5.Thisdecreasecoincideswiththeobserveddecreasein theprisonpopulationingeneral. 35 30 28,6 27,1 26,4 24,7 25,3 25,2 25 23,7 21,4 20 14,7 14,6 15,3 15,5 15,9 15,3 14,8 15 13,8 10 5 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Women Men Source: Author’sown work, developed from National Institute of Statistics(INE) Fig. 4 Evolution of inmates classified under open-prison regime in Spain according to sex (% of the total numberofimprisonedmenandwomen)(2006-2013).Source:Author’sownwork,developedfromNational InstituteofStatistics(INE) Author's personal copy A.I.Cerezo Table4 Prisonpopulationandtheircriminalproceduralstatusaccordingtotheirsex Men Women Total Pre-trialdetainees 7.071 638 7.709 Convicted 48.689 3.987 52.676 Preventivedetainees 555 30 585 Pre-trialdetaineesandconvicted 633 23 656 Total 56.948 4.678 61.626 Source:ConvictionStatistics,NationalInstituteofStatistics(INE),DataforApril2016 Particularly striking is the origin of these women compared with men who are foreign prisoners. Given the increasing presence of foreign women in Spanish prisons, studies examiningthepeculiaritiesofthisgrouphaveproliferated(Garcíaanddir2012;Ribasetal. 2006;Vegaetal.2005).Currently,about72%ofwomenimprisonedinSpaincomefromLatin American countries (Brazil 33%, Bolivia 23%, Dominican Republic 16%, Colombia 13%, mainly). Unlike men, who include many prisoners from Morocco followed by Colombians andRomanians;theMaghrebiwomenareinaminority(at8%),asareAsiansatjust2%.The restofthefemale inmatescomefrom other Europeancountries(12%),mainlyfromEastern Europe,andsub-SaharanAfrica(6%). Thereseemstobesomespecializationinthetypeofcrimebygeographicareaoforigin.A large percentage of these women (more than 80%), mainly from Latin American countries, have been convicted of offenses against public health by acting as Bmules^ that is, persons detained in Spanish airports carrying small amounts of drugs which they are attempting to smuggleintoSpain.Theyareusuallythelastlinkstointernationaldrugtraffickingnetworks. TheIbero-Americanwomenconvictedofdrugtraffickingcontinuetobethemaineconomic source sustaining their families from within prison (sending all income earned in the prison workshopindustriesbacktotheircountriesoforigin).Theoverrepresentationthathasexisted in Spanish prisons in recent years of this type of criminal profile among Latin American womenhasalottodowiththeincreasedpenaltiesfordrugtraffickingoffensesthatcameinto force withthe Criminal Code of 1995. The reform of the Penal Code of2010, as discussed above, has led to a decrease in the penalties imposed on these women and an increase in deportations. Moreover, as most of these women are not consumers, unlike their Spanish counterparts,specificdrug-addictionexemptionsormitigatingcircumstancesarenottakeninto consideration and they therefore serve longer sentences. The Spanish women who commit drugtraffickingcrimesaremostlydrugaddicts,whoincludethemselvesinsmalldistribution Table5 ForeignfemaleprisonersinSpanishprisons(2006-2015) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Totalnumberoffemale 1820 2171 2293 2306 2295 1921 1807 1672 1527 1357 foreignersinprison Totalnumberofmale 18823 22977 23908 24856 24020 22581 21086 20168 18170 16513 foreignersinprison %womenofallforeigners 8.81 8.63 8.75 8.48 8.72 7.84 7.89 7.65 7.75 7.59 prisoners Source:ConvictionStatistics,NationalInstituteofStatistics(INE)