La exclusión de las excluidas. ¿Atiende el sistema penitenciario a las necesidades de género? Una visión andaluza

Abstract

This article aims to present and disscuss the results obtained in a quantitative and qualitative research on women incarcerated in Andalousian prisons, a population amounting a 21% of the female inmatescurrently serving sentences in Spain. This study includes the triangulation of data obtained from 60% of women inmates in Anadalousia, concerning their socio-economic characteristics, cultural backround, and previous victimization traits as well as obtained from the prison authorities in charge of these centers (100%). The present findings are reinforced when confronted with the results obtained from an aditional comparative research on male and female inmates in two prisons in southern Spain. Our research supports the criminological assertion settled in the international literature on incarcerated women, that is, that for a wide range of female inmates, prison is mainly a power-imbalance issue, a harsh gender regime, especially insensitive to charges of social discrimination and violence. We welcome the timid gender-adaptative measures implemented so far in Sapanish prisons, but we oppose prison policies, sensitive or not, as favourite tools for coping with most of these social problems.