The most vulnerable of the vulnerable: women prisoners in Spanish prisons

Abstract

Introduction. One of the most vulnerable groups in contemporary societies is made up of persons deprived of their liberty. However, within the prison population, there are certain groups that are particularly disadvantaged, such as women prisoners.  The aim of this research is to explore the profile of women prisoners and, especially, the risk factors that this group presents. Methodology. For this purpose, a quantitative empirical study is presented that analyses 302 questionnaires carried out on the female population in six prisons in the south of Spain between 2018 and 2019. Given that the female prison population in Spain is approximately 4,000 inmates, this is a fairly representative sample, and therefore the results of this research can be extrapolated to all female inmates in Spanish prisons. The instrument used is a questionnaire validated and applied in various prisons in Europe and South America (Ravagnani and Romano, 2013) with 69 questions covering personal, socio-family, and police-penal history. Results and discussion. The results show the significant presence of risk factors, especially the high rate of victimization and family breakdown, which place this group in a particularly vulnerable position, allowing us to outline some proposals to guide prison policy in the treatment of women prisoners.