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GENDER,WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND PRISON HEALTH CONDITIONS

GENDER,WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND PRISON HEALTH CONDITIONS. A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE AFRICAN REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON PRISON HEALTH AND MANAGEMENT OF SPECIAL NEEDS OFFENDERS IN DAKAR, SENEGAL FROM 10 TH TO 13 TH JUNE 2013 LLOYD H CHILUNDIKA AG. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER-CORRECTIONS ZAMBIA PRISON.

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GENDER,WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND PRISON HEALTH CONDITIONS

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  1. GENDER,WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND PRISON HEALTH CONDITIONS A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE AFRICAN REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON PRISON HEALTH AND MANAGEMENT OF SPECIAL NEEDS OFFENDERS IN DAKAR, SENEGAL FROM 10TH TO 13TH JUNE 2013 LLOYD H CHILUNDIKA AG. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER-CORRECTIONS ZAMBIA PRISON

  2. WOMEN IN ZAMBIAN PRISONS • Zambia has an average inmate population of 16,700 held in 56 facilities across the country • The population of women offenders averages 500 of whom about half are on remand • There is also an average of 50 circumstantial children in prison on account of their mother’s offence • Gender issues are closely related to wider women’s rights and health issues and can hardly be discussed in isolation

  3. PRISON CONDITIONS IN GENERAL • Zambia faces challenges with prison conditions and manifest, inter alia, the following: • Inadequate and often in need of rehabilitation physical structures, • water, sanitation and general hygiene challenges • Overcrowding (available space is ideally suited for 5,000) • Poor diet • limited social amenities e.g. education and recreation • A high HIV/AIDS prevalence in prison of 27% (compared with 16% average for the general populace) • prevalence of communicable diseases such as Tuberculosis (TB) and challenges with prison health services

  4. Issues for Women Offenders in Prison • There are only two facilities which were deliberately purpose built to accommodate women offenders. The rest are improvised structures, e.g. Lusaka Central was designed as a stores • This presents challenges with classification regarding the general population, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and mothers with children in prison (6.8% of women are pregnant, Simooya, HIV/AIDS Sero-Prevalence Survey) • Circumstantial children present peculiar issues: • Lack of a dietary (nutrition) scale for children in prison (in the Prisons Act) particularly adverse on infants who do not breastfeed on account of their mothers HIV+ status

  5. Issues for Women Offenders in Prison (cont’d) • Lack of support with clothing • Lack of early education programmes • Lack of recreation • Lack of conducive accommodation separate from the adult population • Limited rehabilitation programmes (on account of women prison facilities limitations and gender stereotyping) in comparison with those offered to male inmates that provide the best opportunity for employment after prison e.g. carpentry, metal fabrication, bricklaying etc • Low access to non-custodial options due to general low income and awareness status (low access to justice)

  6. PRISON HEALTH ISSUES • Personal hygiene needs specific to women (compounded by poor funding to the Prisons Service) • Gender specific health care (low access to women health personnel) equivalent to those in the community • Prevention of Mother to child transmission of HIV (PMCT) • Ante-natal care services • Post-natal care services • Preventive health care services (access to education and information about measures and conditions

  7. CONCLUSION • Women’s rights are human rights • Women’s health needs are community health needs • A society that adequately meets the general needs of women is a healthier and happier END OF PRESENTATION

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