The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has just published its first study focusing entirely on the specific problems and needs of imprisoned women.

The study was conducted in August 2015 and gives emphasis to the right to family life, pregnancy, birth and child care at the women’s prison.

The lack of gender approach when it comes to imprisonment is probably due to the small proportion of women inmates (about four percent of the total population).

Separation

Due to the fact that there is only one prison for women, the legal principle of accommodating prisoners as near to their permanent address as possible cannot be implemented.

Isolation leads to other problems, like poor contact with family and friends, and has a negative impact on a person’s reintegration into society upon leaving prison.

As of July 2015, 93 inmates are mothers of children younger than 18, and 33 percent of them are single mothers. While most children remain in their usual family environment or with the inmate’s partner, 35 percent of children are instead placed with relatives, in institutions, foster families or elsewhere. The effective separation of a mother from the lives of her children leads to severe suffering.

Bulgarian criminal law does not contain specific rules for determining the punishment of women in cases of pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or care for newborns, and there is no alternative to being sent to prison or a detention center.

There were 58 monitored pregnancies in prison between 2011 and 2014. Of those, only 11 pregnant women were released before delivery.

Although they are relieved in some ways, conditions for pregnant women in prison are harsh and unsuitable to their health and needs.

Buckets

The most serious problem is the lack of bathroom facilities in prisoners’ cells, the insufficient number of showers, toilets and sinks in the common bathrooms, as well as limited access to hot water.

Inmates with sentencing guidelines requiring that they be kept in locked cells at night are given buckets for their physiological needs.

Another important issue examined in the report concerns women’s right to parole. Although 82 percent of women in prison are there for non-violent crimes, and the percentage of those serving sentences for a second or a third time is twice as low as that of men, men are recommended for conditional early release five times more often than women.