Men in women’s prisons
Why do men want to be detained in women’s prisons instead of men’s prisons? I think there are broadly two reasons: women’s prisons are significantly less violent and some men want to be able to coercively control and/or abuse women.
All prisons are ghastly, frightening, isolating, terrible places. They take away any direction or purpose to your life. They isolate you from loved ones and friends. They control your every movement taking any autonomy or independence, so that the time you eat and sleep are controlled. They restrict and impoverish your diet and physical activity. They are so inherently unhealthy that prisoners are considered to be old by the time they are 50.
The violence in men’s prisons in England, Wales and Scotland is all-pervasive and serious. Although the statistics appear to indicate that assaults in women’s prisons are high, because the tolerance level of inappropriate female behaviour is low, what is recorded as an assault in a women’s prison is more trivial than in a men’s jail.
I recall raising with prison governors my concern that punishing women so immediately for any kind of expression of misery and desperation, including for minor rule infractions and physical conflict, was leading to the extremely high level of self-injury by women.
The tens of thousands of assaults in men’s prisons tend to be of a much more serious nature and contribute to men’s jails being noticeably more edgy and violent.
If you could chose to be in a noisy, smelly, under-staffed and violent men’s prison or a women’s prison, you’d pick a women’s jail any day.
The second issue is one of women-hatred. I visited a very large women’s prison before lock-down and saw for myself a man, convicted of serious violent sex crimes against women, dressed as a little girl with a blond wig and stubble, standing like the cock-of-the-walk in the centre of the wing. The women were huddled round the edges. This man had found a way of intimidating and harming women without touching them.
It is not just a question of men who claim to be trans-women who might rape or physically hurt women - although they might do that. It is also an issue of coercive control and harm of women. A small number of men want to hurt women, and a small number of men who want to hurt women are claiming to be trans. It may not even be linked to their criminal offence as they could have been convicted of a non-violent offence, so the official response that rapists will not be held in women’s prisons is naive.
We have women-only spaces for when we are vulnerable because we don’t know which are the men who want to hurt us. Hurting women is not just about beating us up or sexually abusing us. It can also be about control and intimidation. No risk assessment will show that.
Women in prison are uniquely vulnerable. They cannot run away. They have limited options for asking for help. Complaints go unheard. They almost certainly will have mental health frailties and have experienced violence and control. They require protection and support. It is the responsibility of the prison systems to take no risks with their well-being and their safety.