10. Imprisonment of female prisoners  

10.1 Number of prisoners

In 2001 there were 692 female prisoners in the Bavarian prisons in average. At March 31^st 2002 472 female convicted prisoners were imprisoned, 29 of them juvenile convicted prisoners and 213 female remand prisoners. Female prisoners in the measure of detention for security reasons are not existing at the moment.

10.2 Prisons

The female prisoners are accommodated in 10 prisons. The prison of Aichach which was originally a prison only for female prisoners is equipped with the most quartering places (439) and has now more than 123 - locally separated - quartering places for male convicted prisoners. The department for female prisoners in the prison of Würzburg has a quartering capacity of 75 quartering places, the department for female prisoners in the prison of Munich has a quartering capacity of 72 quartering places. In the 6 other prisons with departments for female prisoners between 12 and 60 female prisoners can be kept.

10.3 Competence

Imprisonment of more than 3 months is executed almost exclusively in the prison of Aichach, which further is competent for the execution of juvenile punishment as well as for the execution of the imprisonment on remand and the convictional imprisonment for pregnant prisoners at the end of the 6th month of the pregnancy. There a mother and child department with 10 quartering places is established for mothers with children who can be accommodated up to the age of four years with their imprisoned mothers.

(Mother and child department of the prison of Aichach)

In the other prisons only convicted prisoners with short term imprisonment as well as remand prisoners are accommodated; an exception is the prison of St. Georgen-Bayreuth to which female prisoners suffering from tuberculosis are assigned.

On average almost 90% of the female convicted prisoners in Bavaria are accommodated in the prison of Aichach.

10.4 Accommodation

In the prison of Aichach the rate of single accommodation is even now at just 70%. After the end of the reconstruction measures almost all female prisoners will be able to be accommodated separately. In Munich the rate of single accommodation amounts to 2/3, in Nuremberg almost to the half. In the other - smaller - departments for female prisoners the ratio between single accommodation and group accommodation is variing.

10.5 Training and Work

The essential education and working facilities are located in the prison of Aichach. For female prisoners there are available qualified training places in acknowledged jobs like for example baker, fashion sewer, dressmaker, electrician, hairdresser and carpenter. In the other prisons, in which only short time imprisonment is executed, female prisoners who are not entrusted with houseworks as a rule are occupied with works which are easy to learn and to handle, e.g. the assembly of electrotechnical articles, sewings, general assembly works, packing and unpacking works and easier assembly works.

10.6 Special Problems

Because of the relatively low number of female prisoners a stronger centralization is necessary as with male prisoners. For the female prisoners this can result in obstacles in maintaining and establishing familiar or other social connections (approximately 31% of the adult female convicted prisoners are married, 26% divorced; the corresponding numbers with the male convicted prisoners are 23% and 18%).

Therefore, the prisons are endeavoured to promote particularly positive social contacts of the female prisoners and to support them as far as possible with the maintenance of their familiar connections. This happens, for example, by measures of marriage guidance and family counselling, mediation to organizations or responsible persons who are honorarily active, family-friendly visiting regulations and - with suitable prisoners - the grant of relaxation of conditions of imprisonment and leave from custody.