Prison, women and prison rules for women

Abstract

Imprisoned women are rather ‘unproblematic’, especially when compared with imprisoned men. However, the seemingly logical expectation of a less harsh prison regime for women is not always implemented and women are sometimes imprisoned in the same or even stricter regimes than men. This paper addresses the enforcement of prison sentences for women in Slovenia. Results of data analysis indicate that imprisoned women in the Slovenian prison system are generally (less) ‘problematic’, but the prison regime is disproportionately (increasingly) strict. The findings indicate that the Slovenian prison system plays a role in broader social mechanisms of gender-based discipline because imprisoned women are serving a double sentence: one for committing a crime and another for being a woman (who committed a crime).