Completion of European Union project "FEFI-Finding Education for Female Inmates" on the training landscape for women prisoners in various European countries
Women's prisons should also be places of learning, with a focus on the needs and problems of women prisoners, along with appropriate training opportunities. This call-to-arms is one of the main findings of the multi-lateral project "FEFI – Finding Education for Female Inmates".
Organisations from academia and practice from Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Italy, France, Malta, Belgium and Turkey have been working together on this project, since November 2013.
The European Union (EU) has been funding FEFI – coordinated by the Centre for Continuing Academic Education at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz – for the past two years, with an overall budget of €400,000 as part of the EU GRUNDTVIG Programme.
The objective was to develop new training and qualification schemes, based on a consultation process with women prisoners and prison staff about their wishes and needs. Additionally, it was planned to draw up recommendations for successfully reintegrating women prisoners to society through broadened and improved options for formal and informal education.
In all of the countries taking part in the project, women prisoners are an underrepresented group due to the fact that they make up a small proportion – three to seven per cent – of all prisoners.
Assessment of the survey results drawn from 440 women prisoners and 133 prison officers by FEFI partners clearly shows that women prisoners have specific needs: their low numbers makes it difficult to set up groups to train in a particular subject, as does the fact that the length of sentences varies.
Many women prisoners have suffered some kind of abuse in the past, have psychological problems and are addicted to drugs or alcohol. They are separated from their children and in some countries, they have lost custody of their children on being sentenced to prison.
They have low self-esteem with respect to their past learning and their role as mothers. They are not aware of their strengths and weaknesses. All this means that it is more difficult to arrange general and vocational education for women prisoners than in men's prisons; furthermore, suitable education is usually not provided in the prisons or by prison staff in most cases.
Additionally, the survey results make it clear that there are cultural differences in term of the staff, facilities and the length of prison terms between northern and southern participating countries. FEFI partners have used these survey results to develop new education and training schemes for women prisoners.
The schemes based on the results have been adapted to suit the specific results from the individual countries and the situation on the ground. In order to take a systematic approach, there is a focus on the following three issues: measures for inmates, measures for staff and measures relating to the general conditions in women's prisons.
Most of the measures, which were developed in the participating countries themselves, consisted of training to be offered directly to women prisoners, since this seemed to be where there was the most urgent need. While this training was being made available, it became clear that the other two areas of focus needed to be taken into account, as was being done in Malta and Rhineland-Palatinate in particular.
FEFI partners and their work were oriented towards preparing women prisoners to reintegrate into society, in such a way that the prisoners and their needs remained central to the overall approach.
To achieve this, prisons need to be seen as places of learning, where women prisoners have the necessary support and opportunities to develop personal, social and vocational skills for the time after they leave prison.
To improve their chances of successfully reintegrating in society, joined-up thinking is needed, involving all prison stakeholders – social workers, security personnel and management – as well as the women prisoners themselves. The prisoners need support in all aspects of their lives, including health, family, training and a place to live.
A holistic approach is needed for the training and support and the inmates need to be involved with developing and contributing to what is on offer. "Only an approach focussing on a successful return to society, which understands learning as an ongoing process and involves women prisoners in its design has a chance of long-term success," emphasised project leader Iris Thimm-Netenjakob from the Centre for Continuing Academic Education.
Since 2009, the centre has been involved in a number of European projects on the topic of education in prisons and always endeavours to encourage expert dialogue at a national and international level.
The joint recommendations drawn up by the FEFI partners at the end of the project are seen as vital to ensure women prisoners return successfully to society and therefore to reduce criminality in Europe over the long term.
These include the need to place women prisoners at the centre of their learning process and to organise women's prisons so that they enable these women to make a successful return to society and to take part in an ongoing process of learning and training.
In order to support this, prison staff need to be appropriately qualified and acquire an awareness of the relevant issues, so that they can take on the role of motivating and supporting women prisoners for education, rehabilitation and work opportunities.
With the measures and recommendations together, the FEFI project clearly shows how successful learning and educational approaches in prison can be drawn up and implemented. FEFI partners are working at a national and European level for broader, appropriate and holistic training projects for women prisoners.
However, such projects can only be implemented over the long-term by investing in financial and human resources.