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Description
Women are the world''s fastest growing group of prisoners, almost doubling in the last 20 years. In Europe the number of women prisoners has fallen in the last 10 years but the Czech Republic goes beyond this positive trend. Over the last 10 years, the number of women prisoners has risen by about 30% and women make up 8.2% of the prison population and the ranks 5th highest in Europe and 23rd in the world.
The project joins the call of the UN and PRI to fulfill the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders, the Bangkok Rules (hereinafter BR).
With the project we want to improve the awareness of the experts and practitioners about the existence and importance of BR and to point out the possibilities of fulfilling BR by means of new educational materials and tools. We also want to change the stereotypical thinking of the public about convicted women and thus contribute to ensuring a suitable social climate for the application of BR in practice and the necessary systemic changes.
The result of the project will be an analysis of the problems and needs of convicted women and an increase in the awareness of the professional and general public about fulfilling the rights and needs of convicted women and increasing their competencies to protect their rights. Part of the project is cooperation with a Norwegian partner. The cooperation will cover sharing good practice of fulfilling the BR in Norway and participatory artistic workshops to raise awareness on human rights of convicted women.
Part of the project is the involvement of women with criminal backgrounds in educational and awareness raising activities. The aim is to strengthen their voice and involve them in proposing changes to current practice. To do this, we will use innovative methods applying the principle of empowering and active participation.
Summary of project results
The project responded to the UN''s call for implementation of the Bangkok Rules with an appeal to
address the global problem of the increase in women''s imprisonment, A number of educational
tools have been developed to disseminate and empower the implementation of the Rules in the
country, with the input of experts from the Prison Service, Probation and Mediation Service and
with great input from women with prison experience.
KA1 Research and qualitative research
- Qualitative research - 31 women with lived experience of serving a sentence and 11 professionals were interviewed
- Final research report on this research entitled "Women with lived experience of serving a sentence and their specific needs"
- Research article - published in the professional journal Social Work
- Unique studies on women''s penological reoffending (including gender aspects) - unique data obtained from the Prison Service, compiled into a professional report and disseminated to the professional community.
- Women and Prison in Numbers miniseries
- Set of 4 infographics
KA 2 Raising awareness of the professional community and involvement in the design of solutions
- Bangkok Rules translated into English
- Information poster on the Bangkok Rules
- Video summarizing the Bangkok Rules
- Handbook on the UN Rules for the Treatment of Imprisoned and Punished Women, the so-called Bangkok Rules adopted in 2010 - presenting individual Bangkok Rules, or chapters, for which we always present good practice in the Czech Republic and experience from abroad.
- Newsletters - 4 newsletters with information about the project sent to about 300 professionals
- Description of good practice from Norway - the project partner prepared a document entitled Best practices of music therapy in women''s prisons in Norway.
- Core Group - a support group, composed of experts from the Prison Service, Probation and Mediation Service and also represented by women with lived experience of serving sentences. The group contributed to the development of the project outputs.
- Round tables - 3 tables for professionals, one of which was attended by a woman with lived experience of serving a sentence in Norway.
- Bangkok Rules Club - creation of a network of almost 300, kept informed about the project implementation and outputs through newsletters.
- The conference Women and Prison - Specifics of the Treatment of Imprisoned Women and the Importance of Community Prisons - was held in cooperation with the European RESCALED network for 100 people, representatives of the Prison Service of the
Czech Republic, representatives of the Probation and Mediation Service, the non-profit sector, academia, municipal authorities, ministries and the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic. The conference was also attended by experts from Belgium, Norway, Portugal and Scotland. The conference was held under the auspices of the Minister of Justice and the Director General of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic
- Launch of the project outputs at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Prague - in the presence of the Deputy Ambassador, the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Deputy Minister of Justice, the Director of the Probation and Mediation Service, the Director General of the Prison Service and other distinguished guests
KA 3 Participation of the target group of women in describing the problem and proposing changes
- Instructional video for women entering prison - adopted by the Prison Service for work with people after entering prison, also available to other organisations and the public. Involving women with lived experience of serving a sentence in the production of the video (preparing the script, providing feedback)
- Involvement in qualitative research
- Involvement in Core group of the project
- Active involvement in roundtables and final conference
KA 4 Public awareness campaign
- Strategy and plan for the awareness campaign
- Traveling exhibition of photographs of imprisoned women
- Citylight campaign "Even a woman in prison can be a good mother" - published on 30 citylights in Prague
- Women''s Day event - for the opening of the 8th annual Yellow Ribbon Run in the premises of the St. Charles Boromejsky Home in Řepy, which is also a women''s prison.
- Yellow Ribbon Run in prison - in cooperation with the Yellow Ribbon in Prisons organization - 283 female and male runners in prison participated directly in prisons.
- Yellow Ribbon Run (YRR) - in cooperation with the Yellow Ribbon organization, the 8th annual YRR thematically dedicated to imprisoned women was the main outreach event. 480 runners participated in the run. Among them 50 convicts and ex-convicts with their families. Runners came from the Prison Service of the Czech Republic, the Probation and Mediation Service, the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic or the Office of the Ombudsman, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Prague, non-profit organizations and companies. All 4 women''s prisons were involved.
- Video report from the Yellow Ribbon Run - a video report was created from the run, which also serves as PR material to spread awareness on the topic of people with lived experience of serving sentence
-website zenyavezeni.cz
-translation of the Bangkok Rules,handbook and educational video
-data base-qualitative research,a set of infographics and a unique study on penological
recidivism(including gender)
-video for women entering prison-adopted by the Prison Service for work with people after entering
prison,also available to other organisations and the public
-spot on CzechTV-1,968,688 viewers
-cooperation on the 8th annual Yellow Ribbon Run dedicated to women prisoners
Summary of bilateral results
The cooperation with the partner was demanding and thus limited mainly to the fulfillment of mandatory outputs.It involved the implementation of 3 music workshops directly in the women''s prison. Workshops were implemented onvery professional level. Both the female prisoners and the prison staff praised the activity very much and on the basis of a verypositive responses, the prison management decided to introduce music education as a therapeutictools. These courses will take place regularly in the prison and will become a standard part of the programs andeducational activities for imprisoned women. Furthermore, the partners developed a good practice under the nameGood practices of music therapy in women''s prisons in Norway. This document is in accordance withmission of the Bangkok Rules and follows on from the implementation of music workshops. Also a partnersecured the participation of a woman with lived experience of the execution of punishment in Norway, who shared her experience atround table for the professional public. The partner also participated in the Women and Prisons conference.