Blog # 3: Women in Prison Fare Better in China

How women are treated in prison is a neglected topic worldwide, but fast-growing female prison populations mean that governments and international organizations must address the problem. John Kamm, the executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation agrees. The foundation in Beijing is an advocacy group pushing for human rights improvements in China. Wang Jinling is one of China’s leading researchers on women in prison, and when she was asked if “shackling” happens in Chinese prisons as it does in prisons in the United States, she was shocked. Shackling pregnant women causes them to fall. Falls could cut off oxygen to the fetus and could lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or fatally premature birth. Her exact reaction was “Really! That’s just very, ah, very cruel. I’ve actually never heard of shackling a woman who is giving birth. It’s not done here. Well, America can learn from China on this.” With China’s new amendments for female prisoners’ rights about to be introduced, China appeared to be doing well, though Mr. Kamm cautioned that far more needed to be known about conditions on the ground. Often, in China, laws look good on paper but enforcement is a little “patchy”.  “The fact that only 16 states in the U.S. have outlawed shackling is a national disgrace,” said Mr.Kamm.  The amendments in china mean that pregnant or breast-feeding women may be released on bail.

 “Formally known as the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders, the agreement calls for a range of improvements, including recording new inmates’ experiences of sexual abuse before entering prison and providing more water for washing, especially for menstruating women.” These rules are known as the Bangkok Rules,” and were adopted by the United Nations in 2010. If China, and other nations worldwide are taking a step in helping improve prison conditions for women, why is the United States lacking behind? For those who do not know what shackling is, it is the chaining a woman’s hands and ankles, before, after and sometimes during childbirth, on the grounds that a birthing inmate may try to flee. It infuriates me that prison systems actually do this. I was not aware of this until I came across this article actually. It should be stopped! It is saddening how the  illegalization of abortions is such a controversial issue in American politics, when something almost as dangerous is being practiced in our prison systems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/world/asia/12iht-letter12.html?_r=1&ref=women