Imprisoned women and professional intervention in Spain

Abstract

Women deprived of freedom present some profiles and specific problems that distinguish them from the male prison population. The aim of this investigation is to evaluate how these gender differences are presented in the different observations and practices of the professionals who are involved in prison establishments. This will be done by means of a qualitative study with the participation of 22 professionals who work in three Spanish detention centres: Zuera (Zaragoza), Ponent (Lleida) and Palma (Mallorca). The results of the analysis show two main professional positions: the discourse and praxis that is present in the question of gender and the position that reproduces the patriarchal cultural patterns. Among the proposals for improvement revision of notions and prison treatment plans for women that are more appropriate to their specific needs are necessary.

Introduction

If going to prison is a traumatic event, in the case of women it is necessary to add the impact of the loss of family and social ties, and in some cases separation from their children and consequent concerns for their upbringing and education (and the consequences for the family group in which she carried out the task of caring for individuals with disabilities and dependence).

This type of research and comparative studies have been called “gender criminology” or “feminist criminology” and have highlighted the characteristics and factors associated with the involvement of women in criminal life and conditions specific to women whose punishment involves loss of liberty. Studies by Giallambardo, 1966, Carlen and Worrall, 1987, Ward and Kassebaum, 1965, Pollock, 2002, Dobash and Dobash, 1992, Jones and Newburn, 2002, Jiang and Winfree, 2006, among others, highlight the different application of criminal policies in the application of punishments and in the treatment of men and women in prison.

While the General Prisons Act 1/1979 envisaged the creation of women only prison detention centres, i.e. that women prisoners are in separate units from male prisoners in prisons where men are in the majority. In the case of the Spanish prison system, the prison regime of the male prison population is mechanically transferred to the female prison population, regardless of the specific characteristics and needs of women. This comes into sharp contrast with the less dangerous profiles of women prisoners. For example, the percentage of women who are part of the prison day release scheme, the “third stage”, is 30.5% compared to 17.1% of men.

Recent statistics, as of January 2014, of the total prison population in Spain show that of a total population of 66614 people in the various Spanish prisons, 61565–92.4 % - are male and 5049–7.4 % - are female (General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions, Ministry of the Interior, 2014). Regarding the most frequent criminal profiles of Spanish women in prison, according to the Penal Code 1995, public health crimes exceed 1174 and crimes against property and public order amount to 1284.

The place of origin of these women is an important variable. Of the total, 3425 are Spanish nationals and 1624 are foreign nationals, mostly from Latin America. As a result a certain type of profile of women prisoners in Spain emerges: young, involved in offences against public health, and a high proportion of foreigners. As Makin (2013) points out Spain has one of the highest rates of women prisoners in Europe, 7.6%, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies (2012).

Moreover, it is interesting to note Sudbury's studies (2005) concerning the importance of gender and race in different prison systems throughout the world, as Spain is part of these global trends that reflect a greater specific weight of the presence of women in prison. Unlike male prisoners, the imprisonment of a woman has a specific character both in relation to her expectations as well as its most immediate effects (Valverde, 1998, Aguilera, 2002).

While studies have been carried out, these tend to present a very particular bias by focussing attention on aspects of maternity and health (Cario, 1999; Campelli, 1992; Giallombardo, 1966), which reinforces the andocentric models of professional intervention in the prison context. In this sense, one of the shortcomings that is notable is insufficient production of research related to the problem of women in prison from an interpretive approach to gender from analysis of professional practice.

While studies of the situation in women's prisons in Spain are not numerous, we highlight the research which Almeda, 2001, Almeda, 2002, Almeda, 2006 carried out on women in Catalan prisons. These studies included both the perspective of women prisoners as well as the professionals themselves that have an impact on the need to design and implement specific treatment programmes that meet the needs of the women. Along this same line of investigation it is necessary to point to other studies of the Spanish prison system where the situation specific to women in prison is analyzed from a gender perspective (Villacampa, 2012, Mapelli et al., 2013). This gives us a wider view of the needs of the women, going beyond the questions of maternity and health.

The problems specific to women provide interpretative approaches to social reality within a critical theory of society (Amorós, 2005), which is important for looking more deeply at the specific situation of women prisoners from the point of view of both research and intervention. Studies of women provide a hermeneutics vision of analysis of the professional praxis with women prisoners. In addition, from the perspective of the intervention of the different professionals, this approach offers undoubted potential for the social study of status relations and roles assigned to men and women. (Alós et al., 2009, Blázquez, 2010, Cáritas, 2009, Clemente, 1987, Curbelo and Ledesma, 2007, Dolz, 1995, Dunkel, 2005, Revista General de Derecho Penal,, Yague, 2002)

Thus, from the point of view of women's studies, Lagarde (1996) explains the significance of being a man or a woman in the search for ethical principles such as equality and fairness, which opens new ways and perspectives. In this respect, also important are the contributions of Sen (2003) which develop the relationship between women and conflict, and the contributions of Firestone (1976) in establishing that the causes of oppression of women are cultural sexism and technocratic capitalism and, finally, the contributions of Millet (1995) which analyze the origin and function of patriarchy in western societies. What is more, the judicial rhetoric on the imprisoned woman ends up devaluating her personal self-esteem (Hamilton, 2010), a situation that has negative repercussions on the auto concept that the inmate has of herself (Codd, 2008).

The fact remains that the situation of women in prison has barely been analyzed and developed in scientific literature from the perspective of the accounts of professionals involved in the prison sphere, hence, the need for studies and investigations relating to the specific situation of women in prison.

In relation to the characteristics of the people in prison in Spain, we begin with empirical observation of the different criminological types of imprisoned men and women (General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions, 2014). The following differences are significant: crimes of a violent nature are associated more with males – murder cases (6.4%) and wounding (4.7%). In contrast, the female prison population is more involved in crimes against public health - trafficking of narcotic substances (51.1%). The typological differences observed between men and women correspond to different causes: economic, social, cultural and family (Frutos, 2008).

In addition, the prison profiles of the women prisoners present some typical features and some common problems that characterize them against males: (i) a significant increase of the proportion of women imprisoned due to the processes of incorporation with more active social roles, (ii) a high rate of crimes against public health; (iii) less education, labour and training opportunities; (iv) emotional implications in the criminal family networks; (v) greater health deterioration; difficult family coexistence; (vi) physical and psychological abuses; (vii) association between the consumption of narcotics and prostitution; (viii) relatives with criminal records, husband or partner in prison; and (ix) pregnancy at a young age with numerous offspring (Marcuello and García, 2011).

We draw attention to the effort that the Spanish prison system has carried out in recent years through the various initiatives promoted by the Secretaría General de Instituciones Penitenciarias and the prisons themselves. In this sense, it is necessary to highlight the creation of ‘respect modules’, where the female prisoner is committed to take responsibility for the decisions that are made in the group through the exercise of a degree of self-government: therapeutic modules which promote approaching problems specific to female prisoners; dependency units where female prisoners can be with their children away from the prison area; or the so-called family modules where the couple live with their children to avoid the breakdown of the family. All this has made the action on the part of the professionals much more effective in the process of social reintegration of the prisoners.

With regard to the situation in Spanish prisons, the dominant patriarchal cultural representation focuses attention on the male prisoner as a result of which the perception of that reality is distorted, which reinforces the social clichés and stereotypes about women in prison. Some authors (Almeda and Bodelon, 2007) believe that the prison treatment that is being planned and implemented in the women's prisons is based on clearly sexist motives, as a result of the stereotypes that reinforce the traditional role of women of looking after the home and bringing up children. In fact, in the Spanish legislative system references to the concept of treatment do not include any explicit reference to women (General Prisons Act 1/1979); the only reference in Article 38 refers to the conditions and circumstances of women prisoners with children under the age of three.

We consider the following studies to be important Castillo and Ruiz, 2010, Cervelló, 2006, Defensor del Pueblo Andaluz, 2006 y Juliano (2009) relating to the situation of women in Spanish Grisons, in particular, those in Andalusia.

The 1996 Prison Rules set out the need to provide separate sections for mothers, dependency units and nurseries in response to institutional and organizational needs specific to women in prison and their children. “The management of the prison will take in children under three years, duly taking into account that such a situation does not pose a risk to the children” (RP. art.17.1).

Within the advance of new models of treatment, we highlight the importance of the so-called “respect modules”. These socio-educational spaces, where self-responsibility and the ability of the male and female prisoners to make decisions are favoured and for women in prison they represent the opportunity for developing social skills such as communication, negotiation, empathy, assertiveness etc. which give them greater self esteem and self confidence (Bedriñana y Yagüe, 2013). We would argue that the development of self-organisation strategies carried out by women prisoners represents a very important element in the process of self-empowerment.

Although it currently seems that professionals who have a greater awareness of the specific problems of women in prison are still a minority, they are the ones that favour what we could call a “multiplication of differences” (Foucault, 1978), which can progressively overcome a paternalistic discourse and progressively level out the obvious predominance of attention on the male prisoner.

We are aware that a key concept in the dynamics of social intervention with female prisoners is “empowerment”. As Young (1990) points out empowerment is a heuristic concept and an operational strategy that allows sexual minorities a self-organization that's objective is to achieve a relationship in terms of equality between men and women. In this intervention context, analysis of the observations of prison professionals can highlight significant differences in the interventions carried out that can affect men and women in a different way (Mc Dowell, 2000).

In this sense, we would argue that the most significant epistemological and methodological contributions are those of Butler (2001), where she maintains that the so-called “gender identity” is a performative process of reiteration of socio-cultural rules and norms: a re-signification that breaks the man - woman hegemonic dichotomy that is constantly shaping new power interactions that go beyond biological essentialisms. There is a need to put forward and design a specific treatment and intervention plan for women in prison, given that their specific problem areas of family-care, child care, abuse and violence are different to the needs and problems of men in prison (Morris et al., 1995, Gelsthorpe and Morris, 2002), and in the Spanish prison context, the study of Miranda (2002), which highlights the inadequacy of Spanish prison policies for the needs and demands of women in prison, is important.

The objective of the present work is to analyze the different approaches of the professionals in relation to the problems of women in prison in three Spanish prisons – Zuera Prison in the Autonomous Community of Aragon, Majorca Prison in the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands and Ponent Prison in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia.