Table 3 Themes arising from the focus groups on the mental wellbeing of female prisoners

Prison regime

Stress

“We are stressed through the work, that they require so much from us” (FG1)

“Here there are prison officers who humiliate you and ill-treat you” FG1

“The prison stresses” (FG1)

“It is a depression to be depending on the officers who suddenly humiliate you, that suddenly mistreat you” (FG2)

“It make me nervous.“ (FG1)

Item 3 - Do not feel relaxed

Item 5 - Do not have energy to spare

Loss of autonomy

“One is not free here to go to bed in the daytime, the bedrooms are closed…Here you cannot make your own decisions about something, about going to eat in peace because the prison officer arrives and tells us ‘Stand up!” (FG1)

“It is that the food here is bad” (FG1)

“Here where I am, there is no telephone, only public telephones nothing else,” (FG2)

“What annoys me most in here is that we are prisoners and because we are prisoners it is like we were sentenced not to speak. we pass as being one animal more” (FG1)

Item 11 – Are not able to make up their own minds about things

Inter-personal

Lack of trusting peer relationships in prison

“Here in the prison, there are no friends.” (FG2)

“Here one feels alone…you don’t have anyone to tell things to because sometimes you trust and afterwards, they know it, you keep everything inside sometimes, huge pains, you have to keep them inside, no more, you can’t tell it because they’ll laugh at you, " (FG2)

“There are no friends here to start with. There are acquaintances and you can’t tell your things to another person because that person is going to talk to another person and in the end everyone knows and it is not something you want them to know because they are personal things and sometimes you need to let off steam with someone but you can’t for the same reasons…I’ve drifted away from many people for these reasons” (FG1)

“The rule…is that here…one cannot (this also gives you depression) express oneself with anyone, tell them…things, because in whatever moment, whatever fight, they will shout it…in front of others, and that makes you feel bad, worse” (FG2)

“What it is, is that here there is a lot of evil and jealousy…egoism and egocentricism” (FG1)

“No, here there is much jealousy…they can be with you for money or for the things that they [your family???] bring you” (FG2)

“it is difficult to find friends” (FG2)

“Not having anyone, suddenly being alone, one believes one is alone buy you are not alone” FG2

“Of course I feel alone, nobody helps me” (FG2)

Item 9 - Do not feel close to others

Difficulty maintaining contact with family outside of prison

“There are girls who get into drugs because they are alone, or they are left alone, and they [the family] don’t come to see them.” (FG2)

“Because they are locked up…because they are alone in these places” (FG2)

Mothers who have children and they don’t come to see them, that contributes much to depression. (FG1)

“I haven’t seen my children for 8 months or my mother or anyone from my family because I have no visits because if one sometimes commits many errors but the family always reminds you of it. My mother reminds me of it always. She won’t let me see my children. She doesn’t bring them to me and that’s why I am ill [cries uncontrollably]” (FG1)

Item 9 - Do not feel close to others

“We are so lacking in affection” (FG1)

“Lack of love” (FG2)

“lack of affection, suddenly one thinks no one loves here” (FG1)

“lack of love, of affection” (FG1)

Item 12 – Do not feel loved