1. SPREAD POLITICAL RECOMMENDATIONS
ON WORKING WITH MEN PERPETRATORS AND
WOMEN SURVIVORS OF GENDER VIOLENCE IN
EU PRISON

2. RECOMMENDATIONS AT THE EUROPEAN UNION LEVEL
1. Acknowledges the need to improve, at the EU policy level, the knowledge
on the reality of women inmates who have suffered gender violence before
entering prison and the fact that those having suffered gender violence are
overrepresented in this context.
2. Calls on the European Commission to strengthen its actions with both
legislative (EU directive) and soft measures to prevent and eradicate
violence against women taking into account and putting special emphasis
on the situation of women prisoners.

3. RECOMMENDATIONS AT NATIONAL LEVEL (I)
3. Acknowledges the need to improve, at national policy level, the
knowledge on the reality of women inmates who have suffered gender
violence before entering prison and the fact that those having suffered
gender violence are overrepresented in this context.
4. Calls on national governments to elaborate specific legislation and
policies to prevent and eradicate gender violence, taking into account
the needs of imprisoned women survivors and imprisoned men
perpetrators of gender violence.

4. RECOMMENDATIONS AT NATIONAL LEVEL (II)
5. Calls on national governments to create specific bodies (or to assign the
tasks to bodies already existing) to monitor actions being developed within
the penitentiary systems regarding gender equality in general, and gender
violence, in particular.
6. Calls for the recognition of the work carried out by civil society
organisations. Member States should provide assistance to voluntary
bodies and organisations that offer support to women survivors and men
perpetrators of gender violence both outside and inside prison.

5. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE PENITENTIARY
SYSTEM (I)
7. Calls for the design and implementation of intervention programmes with
women survivors and men perpetrators of gender violence. The
programmes should be based on the following recommendations:
a) The programmes should be implemented on a permanent basis.
b) It is essential that professionals implementing programmes have
appropriate knowledge on gender issues, gender violence and the
penitentiary system.
c) The penitentiary centres where the programmes take place need to have
adequate spaces and resources.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE PENITENTIARY
SYSTEM (II)
d) The programmes need to go beyond the traditional approach of in-prison
programmes tackling gender violence, i.e. programmes based on
psychological intervention, where gender violence is considered an
individual problem rather than a structural discrimination due to the
patriarchal system in which we live in, and impulse and anger control
programmes, which forget the gender dimension that lies at the roots of
gender violence.

7. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE PENITENTIARY
SYSTEM (III)
e) The programmes should be implemented by external staff in order to
guarantee confidentiality and foster a trustful atmosphere. If this is not
possible, they should be implemented by internal social or healthcare
professionals with adequate knowledge and expertise.

8. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE PENITENTIARY
SYSTEM (IV)
f) Professional supervision should be provided to those implementing the
programmes.
g) The programmes should be evaluated and all participants should be part
of follow-up activities and monitoring.
h) The programmes should be financed by annually allocated funds from
the state budget.

9. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE PENITENTIARY
SYSTEM (V)
8. Calls for the creation of networks and collaborative work between
different penitentiary centres and between prisons and local communities.
9. Calls upon the penitentiary administration to implement training to prison
staff on human rights, gender equality and gender violence.

10. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE PENITENTIARY
SYSTEM (VI)
10. Acknowledges the need to reconstruct the philosophy and methods of
the penitentiary system, transforming the patriarchal structure into a more
constructive and reintegrating one.
11. Encourages the penitentiary administration to introduce gender
mainstreaming in prison management and organisation.
12. Encourages the professionals implementing the programmes to inform
prisoners on the existing resources on gender violence outside prison.

11. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING RESEARCH ON
GENDER EQUALITY AND GENDER VIOLENCE AND THE
PENITENTIARY SYSTEM (I)
13. Acknowledges the need to make visible the reality of incarcerated
women. Each Member State should promote scientific research,
studies and reflections on the specificity of women’s needs in
prison.
14. Encourages the research on the connections between the
commission of a crime and the situation of social exclusion,
discrimination and gender violence suffered by women.

12. RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING RESEARCH ON
GENDER EQUALITY AND GENDER VIOLENCE AND THE
PENITENTIARY SYSTEM (II)
15. Encourages research on the impact of the implementation of in-
prison programmes tackling gender violence experiences with both
women survivors and men perpetrators of gender violence.

13. RECOMMENDATIONS ON FUNDING (I)
16. Calls on national prison administrations to ensure that all prisoners
have access to in-prison programmes.
17. Calls upon national governments to allocate funds from the state
budget for the design and implementation of in-prison programmes tackling
gender violence and the training of prison staff on gender and gender
violence issues.

14. RECOMMENDATIONS ON FUNDING (II)
18. Encourages the European Commission to ensure that women inmates,
in their diversity, are included as a specific target group in future Daphne
calls for proposals.