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“Detaining a woman inevitably means detaining her family,” an adolescent woman in Sierra Leone shared with me, cradling her small baby in a damp cell. This sentiment resonates with a private recollection from my teenage years, hearing my mother weep after learning my father had been arrested for political motives in Zambia.

My experience has taught me how children become the collateral damage of detention. During my career as a legal professional, I have seen that this is particularly accurate when the primary caregivers, usually women – are the ones arrested.

I have observed the devastating impact of confinement on hundreds of women and their children. Moreover, I have seen how their stories are overlooked, even within discussions on female empowerment.

Unraveling the ‘Bad Girl’ Label

The public often brands women in prison as “troublemakers.” But what if this designation is a falsehood? The greater part of female prisoners are detained because of non-violent crimes. Comprehensive studies conducted over the last 24 months indicates that in a high percentage of situations, women are criminalised due to poverty, mental health challenges, abuse or discrimination.

50% of the female prison population in custody, in contrast with less than a third of men, struggle with a substance dependency in the year before imprisonment.

In a South African correctional facility, a woman shared her arrest for shoplifting, an act of desperation to feed her family. In Sierra Leone, countless women were recorded to be arrested for financial obligations. In Kenya, stories abound of women taken in for “street vending” – trading items without a licence – simply to survive.

Women from Mexico detailed how the global narcotics crackdown is contributing to an increase in the number of women behind bars, notably throughout Latin America and Asia. Numerous females engage in drug trade due to financial desperation and pressure; while not key figures in the narcotics network, they are easier to apprehend by police aiming to fulfill arrest targets.

Violence Stemming from Survival

The minority of women who engage in violent offenses are often individuals with a history of trauma themselves. Take the case of, 21-year-old Chisomo from Malawi, arrested for the murder of her ex-partner. He had attacked her and made death threats if she left. Chisomo ultimately ran away after he attempted to stab her. But, he eventually confronted her again, cutting her. In self-defence, she took hold of the blade and retaliated.

I have worked alongside lawyers across the globe who advocate for legal processes to take into consideration a woman’s background of economic hardship and mistreatment. However, regardless of this advocacy, a judicial framework created with a male perspective continues to fail women through inherent biases. Those who do not fulfil traditional stereotypes of the virtuous and nurturing female are often given more severe penalties.

Prisons are not safe spaces for women. At-risk females enter incarceration and are released even more damaged.

My research has recorded instances where women have experienced assault and where procedures like intrusive inspections and isolation create more damage to women with pasts involving sexual abuse or psychological issues. Imprisoned women’s rates of self-harm are often greater than those in male facilities.

In spite of global guidelines stipulating that prison should be a ultimate measure, particularly for women carrying children and women with infants, devastating reports are still heard of women who suffer stillbirths and of infants who perish in prison.

The Invisible Victims: Children

Children – living within prison walls or in the community – are the overlooked casualties. Reports indicate there are at least 19,000 children incarcerated with their mothers, while a overwhelming 1.4 million children are separated from a mother in prison.

The long-term damaging effects of parental imprisonment on children are well researched. I vividly recall trying to trace the children of a desperate mother in Sierra Leone, who had no idea what had transpired after her arrest. A community member had provided shelter but the child went to trade on the street to support herself and was never seen again.

A Global Blind Spot

Among the primary disappointments is how female detention remains a neglected area. Major conferences on female empowerment, where strategic decisions and resource allocation are set, continue to overlook this pressing matter. For instance, there was not a single reference of women in prison in the political declaration at the UN Commission on the Status of Women this year.

Studies show that organisations working with and for female prisoners are critically underfunded, even by donors to human rights and women’s rights causes. Historically, social shame, a tendency to showcase only “easily relatable survivors” and the exclusion of those who are not aligned with straightforward profiles has meant that vulnerable women and their children are neglected, despite commitments to “include everyone.”

Glimmers of Hope and Reform

But despite witnessing suffering, I also see potential for change. Around the world, women are redesigning what a equitable system could be, from both inside and outside correctional facilities. In Colombia, advocates helped pass an groundbreaking rule allowing women to complete alternative punishments rather than face imprisonment in specific cases.

In Sierra Leone, feminist legal groups successfully challenged archaic public order regulations. In the UK, community support centers for women offer a model of community support that is superior in outcomes and lower in expense than prison.

A couple of years back, at the first convening of a global network of formerly incarcerated women, I wept hearing stories of women turning years of pain into something liberating, building collective strength and joining forces to change the systems that govern their existence.

As the number of women in prison continues to grow at an alarming rate – increasing at a higher rate than that of men – and we near the stark threshold of more than one million women incarcerated globally, this serves as a urgent alarm.

The Need for Responsibility and Movement

The year ahead offers significant chances for influence to redress this omission – from major UN meetings to prominent gender equality summits.

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