The adoption of the UN Rules on the Treatment of Women Prisoners (the Bangkok Rules) was an important step forward in recognising the distinct gender specific needs of women in the criminal justice system and introducing safeguards to respond to women’s risk of ill-treatment and torture.
This paper, "Women in detention" is addressed to monitoring bodies responsible for the external scrutiny of places of deprivation of liberty. It outlines the risks faced by women deprived of their liberty of being subjected to torture and ill-treatment and measures that can be taken to reduce such risks.
It is the first of a series of thematic papers on aspects of detention monitoring, which have so far been under-researched and received little attention. They are the result of a joint project between the APT and Penal Reform International (PRI), with financial assistance of the UK Government and the European Union.
