INTRODUCTION

Few would deny that the imprisonment of women is a subject deserving the most careful study and requiring policy decisions that reflect the most diligent consideration of the results of such study. It is also hard to deny that the subject has received insufficient attention, and that decisions and policies concerning women's imprisonment are often inadequate and little more than minor adaptations of those designed to deal with the imprisonment of men. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners date from 1957 and, as is stated in the Annex to the Bangkok Rules, do not draw sufficient attention to women's particular needs. The Bangkok Rules are a major step for ward in addressing that deficiency.

A basic requirement when planning improvements in accordance with the Bangkok Rules is to know how many people we are talking about. How many women prisoners are there? Are there significant discrepancies between the levels of female imprisonment in different continents and in different countries? Is the situation static or are there identifiable trends? Until recently there was a lack of statistical information concerning prisoners in general and women prisoners in particular. Most countries know how many people they have in prison, and how many women there are among the total, but they are less likely to know how their level of female imprisonment compares to that of their neighbours, the rest of their continent or the rest of the world.

There are many reasons why it is useful to know about imprisonment levels in other countries. The ability to make such comparisons enables administrations to think more deeply about their use of imprisonment, and to look to the practice and experience of others to help them understand what policies lead to higher or lower levels.

This chapter will demonstrate the variations in the levels of female imprisonment around the world - differences between countries, regions and continents; and will draw attention to the changes in the levels of female imprisonment since the turn of the millennium. The official figures that will be reported here are the latest obtained concerning female prison population levels up to the beginning of 2013. As such they update those in the second edition of the World Female Imprisonment List.