Women prisoners not allowed to wash their underwear?

That’s a ridiculously over simplified way of looking at things. Firstly there’s a big difference between “having fun” and being treated with a basic level of dignity. Things like having adequate clothing that fits, and washing facilities isn’t having fun. It’s a basic need. Secondly there’s vast majority of these women will have trauma/mental health issues etc. And they won’t be in there for life. Putting damaged people into horrible, undignified conditions where their cause needs aren’t being met, doesn’t make for well rounded rehabilitated individuals about to be let back into society. As a society we shouldn’t be aiming for people to be more damaged than when they went in. It’s bad for the individual, but if you don’t care about them, it’s horrendous for society and likely to result in more recidivism and other anti-social behaviour, plus more pressure on services.

I suspect it's because how would they know who's was who's. The clothes they wear in british prisons .they just get a clean set every wash day the size you need washed but not specifically yours .the only thing your in prison your shoes and underwear

That makes sense as men’s pants are presumably S, M, L etc so easy to share.

Women need their own bras because of the huge variety of sizes. Many bras also specify handwashing in the washing instructions (even if most of us just chuck them in the machine) and the prison could be held liable for replacements if they are washed “incorrectly”.

Your assuming that the woman was able to pack clothes. It's not uncommon to be arrested and held in prison until trial without the chance to pack anything having only the clothes on your back

Do male prisoners have to wash their underwear??

Who mentioned anything about having fun. Unless you call washing your knickers in the machine having fun.. We're talking about the unfairness of men getting their underwear properly cleaned and women having to do it by hand which let's face it is not going to get the m cleaned as good as a machine would do.

I would go further and argue that the worst, most evil woman in the world deserves the dignity of clean underwear. I'd argue it through gritted teeth for some women, but still.

But given, as you say, many of these women are in prison for minor, non-violent crimes, and many have been victims themselves, I agree even more strongly.

There are only 12 women’s prisons (out of 117 in total) in England and Wales. Most of them are YOI alongside. As a result, women are often many miles from home. Women make up only 5% of the prison population. Women are more likely to serve shorter sentences than men - 60% are on sentences of less than 6 months. More than 50% have suffered domestic violence, and 53% faced emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child. 82% of women prisoners reported they had some form of mental health problem.

These are all government statistics.

A huge proportion of these women are in for what we'd consider minor offences like failing to pay a TV licence.

Damn right they should be offered the dignity of clean underwear.

Thank you ItGhoul. 👏There is a shocking lack of empathy in this thread. If we treat people like garbage in prison how is that turning their lives around. As a previous poster said prison should be rehabilitative not purely punitive. The cycles will continue if we don't treat people like human beings.

Do you really not understand that both of these things can be true at the same time?

Prisoners - of both sexes - are statistically highly likely to have suffered neglect, abuse and violence as children and adults. That doesn’t mean they aren’t guilty of their crimes. But an awful lot of prisoners would not have ended up committing crimes if they hadn’t led appalling lives of abuse and poverty first.

LOL at people saying ‘Well surely you’d pack more than one pair’ as if prison is a week in CentreParcs.

There will be prisoners who have not been bailed prior to their trial and have no family to fetch clothes for them when they’re sentenced. There will be prisoners who were sleeping rough or living in desperate poverty and only owned one or two pairs of knickers. There will be prisoners whose only clothes in prison are secondhand ones donated by prison charities. There will be prisoners with serious mental illnesses, addictions and learning disabilities who are barely capable of making themselves a sandwich, let alone packing a case of belongings thoughtfully.

Regarding the issue in the report, women prisoners aren’t treated worse than men. Prison is miserable whether you’re male or female. I don’t think women should have to wash their knickers in their cell once a week, but frankly there are far worse things in prisons that I’d be inclined want addressed before they prioritise the knicker washing regime.

Not providing adequate underwear is failing to treat women with dignity.

And that is before you look at all the incidences of poor maternal care leading to the death of babies and women being left to give birth alone in their cells.

Also the fact that women are more likely to incarcerated for non violent crimes than men.

Most women in prisons are actually victims be that of abuse as a child or adult or other causes they are putting people in prison for being victims?! NOT because they've broken the law, been arrested and been to court and found guilty of a crime?! That's appalling!!

I presume some women don’t have the opportunity to pack, if you’re deemed dangerous or a flight risk you wouldn’t be going home once arrested, presumably if you don’t have family support willing and/or able to travel to prison you’re a bit stuck. Not providing adequate underwear is failing to treat women with dignity. Most women in prison have a history of abuse and trauma. We need to do better, otherwise prison just doesn’t work and people get into cycles of criminality.

I agree.
They are all volunteers.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/1046265/ListofitemsallowedinDetentionCentresandPrisons-Jan2022.pdf

list of clothing and stuff you can take with you
There are lots of guides, I’ve never thought to look before.

https://prisonguide.co.uk/items-allowed-in-prison/

I was just thinking the same as I was brushing my teeth 😂
I am sure there is some information online that you would check before being "admitted". I would be inclined to think that I'd pack undies and socks as if I was going on holiday and at least a set of PJs and trackies.
There is someone up thread who works in prison who may correct me but my understanding is that you wear prison issued clothes until you get to enhanced level which is when you are allowed to wear your own clothes.

I wonder if they give you an information sheet on what to pack? Are you allowed other stuff? I genuinely had no idea you would need to pack for prison. I sort of assumed you’d strip on entry all your stuff goes in a box and you only have prison issue clothes to wear for the duration of your stay.

Ig might just be in American films though.

Exactly. Going to prison, the restriction of liberty is the punishment, not what happens there, which should be about rehabilitation.

But you should be treated with some dignity. If prison is to be used as rehabilitation then they deserve the chances to do this in a dignified and safe manner. Most women in prisons are actually victims be that of abuse as a child or adult or other causes, they still deserve dignity and a chance to better themselves.

If I am to believe in the report it shows that they are. Why would you think other wise?

Less visiting times, better activities put on for male prisoners etc......

It’s prison.. I don’t care! If you’re in there you aren’t meant to be having fun!

It's in a government report about the state of women's prisons. It was also reported in the guardian.
It's an absolute disgrace. I read the guardian article and they are being treated with a massive lack of dignity and it's fuelling self harm and mental health issues. They are often over 50 miles away from families and only allowed one phone call/video call to their family a month. I was shocked when I read it. One woman came to prison with one pair of knickers, they wouldn't provide her with any more, so she had to hand wash the same pair every night. Wearing prison issues clothes designed for men. There was just loads of stuff that was unacceptable.

Some of the issues in the article are presented a bit weirdly. I.e. a woman complaining that she "arrived with only one pair of underwear". Well, duh.. you pack more, surely. I don't see how this is specifically a prison's issue.
Also not sure why washing underwear and using the same bowl to shave is unhygienic if you can rinse it in-between. Unless they have no sinks in the cell and are given one bowl of water per week.
The rest of the stuff like not being able to call home when arriving to prison, lack of f2f visits etc. is exactly the same for men. I literally just finished a book by Chris Atkins about his "stay" in Wandsworth.
Prison are not nice places, despite popular opinion.

You cannot seriously think that men are treated better in prison than woman are?!