Women behind bars in Greece

The article refers to the circumstances of female prisoners in Greece after 1980 and the next decades, taking into account the UN Bangkok Rules of 2010.

The findings are mainly based on national and European statistics, watchdogs’ reports, as well as press releases and strategy plans of prison officers’ and prosecutors’ unions.

According to our findings, women have slightly higher crime rates at younger ages than in the past, and generally the type of crimes they commit has changed.

As for the prison organization and living conditions of female prisoners, the main problems are the unequal division of personnel in the two prisons examined, the chronic understaffing of specialized and healthcare personnel, the poor training and pessimistic attitudes of prison officers, and the inadequate operation of training and education programmes connected to their reintegration. However, the greatest challenges in today’s correctional facilities is security and the prevalence of narcotics in the prison. Therefore, advanced security systems, as well as discreet surveillance and body scanning are absolutely necessary to prevent the contraband.

Prison authorities and the Ministry of Justice are aware of the gender specific issues and sensitive to these. What is missing is a radical reform of prison management and modernisation in the whole correctional system of the country without abandoning its leniency and boosting the confidence of the staff in order to help them support the prisoners.

Moreover, there is still time for the organisation and promotion of an “early warning system” in order to stop an increase in females’ criminality and their rates in prison population.

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