The government has also been concerned about situation of imprisoned women.

During his mission, the independent expert raised the issue of the treatment of female prisoners in Somalia.

Female prisoners faced torture, humiliation and harsh prison conditions.

National data indicates that 77 per cent of female prisoners had previously been imprisoned and, in some states and territories, almost 85 per cent had previously been in custody.

Every possible effort is made to staff the prison with female officers. In any event, the prison guards and ancillary personnel must be women.

The reasons behind moving the prisoners between the two locations remain unclear.

She also noted the issue of rape of women prisoners, which went largely unpunished. Ms.

The indigenous background of female prisoners was assessed as a factor in the overall female imprisonment rate.

(j) Leniency measures taken by the Government of the Sudan, which led to the release of a large number of imprisoned women

In the case of female prisoners specifically, it is even worse close to 70 per cent of all convictions.

I requested to visit the Telmond Central Prison (Hasharoon), where female Palestinian security detainees were reportedly being held.

In addition, the Women's Bureau had given priority to its work with women's prisons throughout the country, in particular by improving facilities.

A significant factor among indigenous female prisoners is the high rate of recidivism.

Some of the women had given birth during their detention, and in such cases the newborn are allowed to remain with the mothers until two years of age.

Prior to that, according to a member of the police, the female prisoners were raped and three of the male prisoners were castrated, along with further tortures.

d. Community based organizations are funded to provide pre and post release services to all women prisoners.

The Forum recommends that Member States investigate the alarming rate of incarceration of indigenous women and communicate their findings to the Permanent Forum.

On the issue of imprisoned mothers, the representative noted that the Quakers had been preparing a draft commentary on the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which lacked a gender perspective, given that it was drafted many years ago.

Ms. O'Connor underlined the importance of the issue of women in prison and noted that the quality and type of care afforded to children with mothers in prison varied between States and in different regions within a given country.

She emphasized the role of economic factors in increasing the number of women in prison, noting that most of the crimes for which women were in prison were drug related and that these crimes were largely motivated by lack of economic opportunities.

Today's performers, like Rhodessa Jones, work in women's prisons, helping women prisoners articulate the pain of incarceration, while today's playwrights and directors work with youth gangs to find alternate channels to violence and more and more and more.

At the time of my visit to the women's section of Ramleh prison, the status of female Palestinian security prisoners was as follows 2 newly arrived, 2 administrative detainees, 2 juveniles on remand, 25 on remand and 19 sentenced prisoners.