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In cases like these, discrimination seems to be a good idea
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 01:19 pmOf course there are many cases of men who are vulnerable and in jail, mentally unstable and in jail, not likely to re-offend and in jail, come from a history of abuse and in jail, and who would benefit from mental health care far more than from being in jail. Of course it would be wrong to discriminate people just because of their sex, even though it's positive discrimination this time. Still, abolishing women's jails and replacing them by small secure units sounds like a very good idea.
I've been wondering about the use of women's prisons and it's inmates for ages. There are seven jails for women in Germany, so few that most of the, oh, some 3,000 female offenders are kept in men's prisons instead. And here, like in the UK, most of the "dangerous" criminals in there also seem to be absolutely unlikely to re-offend. Those few who are guilty of crimes that were violent in nearly all cases happened after a long history of abuse, the victim of the female offender usually being the person abusing them. Of course, there are cases of women who are violent and are likely to re-offend - but their numbers are small, only a tenth of the female prisoners. It's the same percentage in the UK.
Most of the female prisoners are suffering from mental health problems in the UK, and I have seen similar articles with the same results for German women. There have been German studies showing that they would benefit from mental health care far better than from incarceration, it's the same in the UK - which makes sense, because why would incarceration be beneficial for mental health?
I really hope they get those reforms under way. And German jails - I wonder why our government, so keen on saving, has not thought about abolishing them already. Even some of our prison wardens in women's jails said that they weren't doing any good and weren't really useful (notably of course the great Helga Einsele).
I've been wondering about the use of women's prisons and it's inmates for ages. There are seven jails for women in Germany, so few that most of the, oh, some 3,000 female offenders are kept in men's prisons instead. And here, like in the UK, most of the "dangerous" criminals in there also seem to be absolutely unlikely to re-offend. Those few who are guilty of crimes that were violent in nearly all cases happened after a long history of abuse, the victim of the female offender usually being the person abusing them. Of course, there are cases of women who are violent and are likely to re-offend - but their numbers are small, only a tenth of the female prisoners. It's the same percentage in the UK.
Most of the female prisoners are suffering from mental health problems in the UK, and I have seen similar articles with the same results for German women. There have been German studies showing that they would benefit from mental health care far better than from incarceration, it's the same in the UK - which makes sense, because why would incarceration be beneficial for mental health?
I really hope they get those reforms under way. And German jails - I wonder why our government, so keen on saving, has not thought about abolishing them already. Even some of our prison wardens in women's jails said that they weren't doing any good and weren't really useful (notably of course the great Helga Einsele).
