Women in Prison - Deprivations of Prison Life

The paper presents the results of an empirical study of prison deprivations suffered by women, conducted at the Female Department of Correctional Facility in Pozarevac within the scope of a wider study of women's prison system. It was supposed that female prisoners in this penal institution face similar prison experience and suffer the same or similar deprivations as women in other penal institutions do. The research sample included female prisoners sentenced to more than one year, staying in prison for more than a year (54 female prisoners, i.e. more than 50% prisoners sentenced to long prison terms). Prisoners were interviewed employing a questionnaire measuring different types of deprivations using 26 indicators. Using the method of factor analysis - which was here used for the first time to study prison deprivations - six factors of women's prison deprivations were extracted: deprivation of maternity; deprivation of autonomy; deprivation of individuality; deprivation of human kindness and empathy; deprivation of a key role - a woman's role, and deprivation of friendship relations. The outcomes of this research, together with the findings of other researchers, affirm the assumption that these types of deprivations are realistic and dominant types of women's prison deprivations.