The passage of this law is a good first step toward addressing inequalities in criminal policy, but it will not resolve all gender inequalities in our prisons or our society. |

Equality in freedom: Free Women for a fairer criminal policy

Prisons are a reflection of society, and in a sexist society where women face structural inequalities, they suffer even more from the impacts of the prison crisis. But women are resisting, and through the work of organizations such as Mujeres Libres, there is hope that their rights will become a reality.

Por: Juan Sebastián Hernández Moreno | April 27, 2023

This article is part of the #TejidoVivo special, the product of a journalistic alliance between the Dejusticia research center and El Espectador.

“It’s law, it’s law!” was the vigorous chant of several women who marched this March 8 in Colombia. After years of obstacles, President Gustavo Petro finally signed into law the Public Utility Services Law for female heads of household, which will allow vulnerable women who committed minor offenses to support their families (such as non-violent theft or minor drug offenses) to serve their sentences through community service. That is why the news was so significant: after almost ten years since the Constitutional Court declared the prison system in crisis, between three and five thousand women will be able to get relief from a system built for men and which, blind to their situation, simply condemned them as “bad women.”

This is undoubtedly a step in the right direction that will improve not only the guarantee of rights in women’s prisons but also the well-being of their families. A study by the Javeriana University, the Red Cross, and CIDE in 2019 showed that 75% of women in prison are heads of household, 73% lived with their children before, and after incarceration, 38% moved to different households. Losing their primary caregiver exposes their children to violence, increases their vulnerability, and raises the risk they will fall into criminality in the future.

This law would not have been possible without the tenacity of the women who have personally endured violations of their rights in prison. Few can imagine what it means to be a woman deprived of liberty in our country: in addition to enduring the rights violations faced by any person deprived of liberty—such as overcrowding, rotting food, and lack of potable water—women also face shortages of sanitary pads, lack of gynecological care, mistreatment by guards who see them as “bad women,” fewer visits from children and family than men receive, and worse prison conditions overall. Most are vulnerable women who lacked educational opportunities, are responsible for caring for and supporting family members, and face obstacles to finding work. Many have also been victims of domestic or gender-based violence.

But women like Claudia Cardona, director and co-founder of Mujeres Libres, know this reality well. After leaving prison in 2017, Claudia joined a group of civil society organizations monitoring the prison crisis to advocate for women’s rights and raise awareness about the problems they face inside and after leaving prison.

According to Claudia, “Women are trained in work activities such as embroidery or cleaning that reinforce gender stereotypes and do not prepare them to find jobs or reintegrate into life outside. They also face discrimination in the justice system: they receive poor legal defense, face judges and prosecutors who deny them benefits or impose harsh sentences, all because they are seen as ‘bad women,’ ‘bad mothers.’” And their families suffer too, since most committed crimes to support their loved ones and are now unable to provide that support: their children’s grades drop, their families struggle to make ends meet, and now, behind bars, they can only see them when the guards allow it—during the pandemic, almost never.

But Claudia also knows the ordeal doesn’t end upon release. “When women leave prison, they face a society where the stigma of their record prevents them from opening a bank account and makes it nearly impossible to find a job. And if they do find one, they face discrimination, exploitation, and gender-based violence because, as they say, ‘you should be grateful because you were in prison.’” Precisely for this reason, in 2019 she and eight other formerly incarcerated women founded Mujeres Libres, an organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of women who are or have been in prison.

Since then, Mujeres Libres has become one of the most active organizations in the fight for the rights of women deprived of liberty, now with more than 500 members. They have not only spoken in Congress to promote laws improving prison conditions—such as the law guaranteeing free menstrual health products in prisons—but also advocate for reforms to criminal policy, which has historically and wrongly seen prison as the only solution to crime and still resists adopting a cross-cutting gender perspective. Thus, Mujeres Libres advised on the drafting of the Public Utility Services Law and defended it before the Constitutional Court against the unfounded objections of former president Iván Duque.

Mujeres Libres has also advocated for the rights of women deprived of liberty outside of Colombia. They have taken their cause to forums such as the United Nations and the Inter-American Human Rights System, inspiring the creation of similar groups in other countries like Chile, Mexico, and El Salvador. Today, Mujeres Libres leads the Latin American network “Mujeres Libertarias Fundiendo Rejas” and is part of the Organizing Committee of the International Network of Formerly Incarcerated Women, which brings together women from more than 25 countries to fight for their human rights.

And yet, perhaps the most admirable task of Mujeres Libres is not leaving behind women who have been in prison—women abandoned by society. “The first step to claiming a right is knowing it,” says Claudia. This explains why she and her colleagues visit prisons to teach women about their rights enshrined in the Bangkok Rules and other international treaties, and to provide psychosocial support and advice when they leave prison. This has given them a safe space to share their experiences and face the challenge of returning to a society that shuts almost every door.

The approval of this law is a good first step toward addressing the inequalities in criminal policy, but it will not solve all the gender inequities in our prisons or in our society. Much remains to be done—from removing barriers women face in the labor market to adopting a cross-cutting gender perspective in criminal policy. And although these changes will not happen overnight, it will be thanks to women like Claudia Cardona and her Mujeres Libres that Colombia can move toward becoming a more just and equal society, where women can truly be free.