The United Nations in a
recent report has confirmed reports of daunting rights violations that
women face in American prisons and correctional facilities.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women
released a report on Friday confirming among other things the story of a
former inmate at Central California Women’s Facility, Beverly Henry.
“Inadequate access to health services in prison and detention
facilities is characterized by delays, neglect, and mistreatment of
inmates and detainees,” the UN report said.
During her 12 years of being in the facility, Henry witnessed
hundreds of women dying due to mistreatment. “I watched 17 women die in
one year,” she said.
“I’ve seen things that make me wish the mind was not so unique that we have the ability to store memories.”
“Guards have sex [with inmates] and women are harassed by the guards,” said Henry.
The facility is the largest female prison and one of the most
overcrowded ones in the US, as it contains nearly twice the amount of
inmates it is built for, the Huffington Post reported.
Cynthia Chandler, director of Justice Now — a prison-rights
organization — described how due to desperate needs for basic
necessities such as toilet paper, tampons and soap female inmates are
forced to acts of…
