–2–
Mixed gender staffing
23.
As the CPT stressed in its 9th General Report, mixed gender staffing is an important
safeguard against ill-treatment in places of detention. The presence of male and female staff can
have a beneficial effect in terms of both the custodial ethos and in fostering a degree of normality in
a place of detention.
Mixed gender staffing also allows for appropriate staff deployment when carrying out
gender sensitive tasks, such as searches. In this context, the CPT wishes again to emphasise that
persons deprived of their liberty should only be searched by staff of the same gender and that any
search which requires an inmate to undress should be conducted out of the sight of custodial staff of
the opposite gender.
Separate accommodation for women deprived of their liberty
24.
The duty of care which is owed by a State to persons deprived of their liberty includes the
duty to protect them from others who may wish to cause them harm. The CPT has occasionally
encountered allegations of woman upon woman abuse. However, allegations of ill-treatment of
women in custody by men (and, more particularly, of sexual harassment, including verbal abuse
with sexual connotations) arise more frequently, in particular when a State fails to provide separate
accommodation for women deprived of their liberty with a preponderance of female staff
supervising such accommodation.
As a matter of principle, women deprived of their liberty should be held in accommodation
which is physically separate from that occupied by any men being held at the same establishment.
That said, some States have begun to make arrangements for couples (both of whom are deprived of
their liberty) to be accommodated together, and/or for some degree of mixed gender association in
prisons. The CPT welcomes such progressive arrangements, provided that the prisoners involved
agree to participate, and are carefully selected and adequately supervised.
Equality of access to activities
25.
Women deprived of their liberty should enjoy access to meaningful activities (work,
training, education, sport etc.) on an equal footing with their male counterparts. As the Committee
mentioned in its last General Report, CPT delegations all too often encounter women inmates being
offered activities which have been deemed “appropriate” for them (such as sewing or handicrafts),
whilst male prisoners are offered training of a far more vocational nature.
In the view of the CPT, such a discriminatory approach can only serve to reinforce
outmoded stereotypes of the social role of women. Moreover, depending upon the circumstances,
denying women equal access to regime activities could be qualified as degrading treatment.