African American Women In Prison

Since the mid 80’s, the number of women incarcerated has tripled.The majority of women incarcerated are unskilled, impoverished and disproportionately women of color. As a result, African American children are nine times more likely to have a parent in prison than a White child.

According to a 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics report found that over half of the inmates in both prisons and in jails had a problem concerning their mental health (James & Glaze, 2006). The estimates in this report were separated by federal prisons, which contained 45 percent of inmates suffering from mental illness, 56 percent in state prisons, and

Women 's prisons in general are much more different and complicated than a men 's prison. When entering a women 's prison, the first thing that you need to know is it has changed significantly over the years. Women first began to make an appearance in prisons in the earlier years, but were not heavily charged as comparison to men. In the earlier years of the 1870’s the United States began placing women in correctional facilities separate from men. It was on July 27, 1873 when the first female prison opened. As well as the men prisons, women faced bad conditions and treatments where they suffered tremendously. Some of the things they experienced were overcrowding, cruel punishments and prohibition to recreation or interaction time. (Timetoast)

The documentary film provided for this assignment focused on the Wayne County Correction System located in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit has been characterized as a city under siege. The city is notoriously known for having one of the highest homicide rates, rapid street crimes, and prison system filled with citizens. In the film, the psychoanalyst emphasized that Wayne County Jail is targeting female offenders that are recidivist, full of rage, and simply out of control. The correction system is perceived to be the “last hope” for many of the female offenders because their life of criminality could lead to life long prison sentences or even worse death. Many of the women are in the film have been convicted of robberies, drug trafficking, prostitution,

On December 12, Classmates and I visited the Central California Women’s Facility. The prison’s warren is Janel Espinoza and her background of rehabilitation method approach encouraging women to make self-improvements through productive decisions (Facility Overview, 2017). The facility is located on large acres of land and surrounded nothing but agriculture for miles. The facility’s location is to reduce inmates’ possibility of escape, thus keeping the society safe. The women prison has a medium security level, which includes multiple barbed wire fence, watchtowers, control centers, etc. to maintain safety and security. A correctional lieutenant guided the tour informs that once women arrive at the facility, they are incarcerated in a separated

Women’s population in the prison system is growing vastly, and continues to grow. Julie Ajinkya (March 8, 2013). Rethinking How to Address the Growing Female Prison Population. Retrieved from www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news. According to the center for progress from the years 2000 through 2009 the number of women incarcerated in state or federal prisons rose by 21.6 percent in comparison to 15.6 percent increase for men. Majority of the women in the prison system struggle with, mental illness, histories of physical and sexual abuse, drug addiction, poverty and a lack of education. These are all contributing factors as to why these women end up incarcerated. This also means that our society still chooses to punish these criminals rather than heal and rehabilitate these offenders. The offenders get pushed away in to the criminal justice system instead of receiving the services they need that could help them live healthy, secure, and productive lives. In the book George, E. (2010). “A Woman Doing Life; Notes from a Prison for Women” R. Johnson (Ed.). New York, NY Oxford University it explains a story of a women’s perspective inside prison looking out. She explains her highs and lows in the prison and the relationships she has with the corrections facility and its employees.

Chapter 17 discusses female offenders, the major crimes they commit, and the issues that come with females in the prison population. Statistics show that the number of women incarcerated has grown rapidly and has only recently started to level off. Most of the women who end up incarcerated share common characteristics; usually unemployed, failure to complete high school, may be addicted to drugs (female inmates are more likely than males to be drug offenders), already have children and receive no help from the father, etc…

Generally when we think and hear about prison we envision men; this is natural because they make up the majority of inmate population. But men are not the only ones who commit crimes and are locked up for it. There is a rising number of incarcerated female as well a growing number of

2001. “Challenges Incarcerated Women Face as They Return to Their Communities: Findings from Life History Interviews”. Crime & Delinquency 47(3): 368-389. Accessed September 21, 2015. doi: 10.1177/0011128701047003005

n environment constructed to diminish the idea of self-worth and freedom, women attempt to recreate a better version of themselves while confronting the disparities between men and women in the criminal justice system. Unless sentenced for life, inmates will eventually be released from the place holding them in captivity for their crimes. Prison, however, should not just be a place that contains convicts, but it should be a place that teaches the rules of a civilized person and it should do so fairly. It may seem unjust to feel the need to bring such uniformity to a group of people, but, as far as anyone knows, once released, being a prisoner was just a label and they need to be able to adapt to a normal life. Without simple rights, such as equality in prison, incarcerated women will never be able to learn what is necessary to sustain life outside of bars based on their unique needs. If they cannot learn or adapt, prison is just a punishment. When it comes to the concept of gender equality, it is commonly applauded. However, these women should hold their applause and reconsider the logic that equal may not always mean fair.

Over the past 35 years there have been a pike in the number of women in our criminal justice system. Two centuries ago women prisons were not heard of. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that “Majority of these women are between the ages of 25 and 45, about half are racial or ethnic minorities, and over a third are serving time for a violent offence” (Clear, T.R; Cole, G.F; Reising, M.D; &Petrosino. C. (2015).The numbers show that the growth is continuing to rise in the United States. Tougher laws, stricter sentences, and law enforcement agencies closing the gap on crime all contribute to more women in the correction arena. There is an estimate of 200, 000 females incarcerated and about one million involved in other community

With women being arrested at a higher rate than men, we have to look at how women are being treated in jails. “My research in local correctional facilities showed that women are often put into facilities where both males and females are held, but where females are isolated in one particular part of the jails”

Women prisoners are one of the most neglected and misrepresented groups of people in society (Belknap, 2015). They are seen as invisible in our society. The reason being is because there is a small proportion of women prisoner in the total jail and prison population (Belknap, 2015). Another reason women incarcerated are seen as invisible is because women incarcerated are less likely to than men incarcerated to cause commotion and make reform demands (Belknap, 2015). Also, when women generally commit crimes they are less serious and dangerous crimes compared to men (Belknap, 2015).

Prison is no picnic for anybody. Regardless of age, race, country of origin, sexuality-- life behind bars is, for lack of a better word, hard. That being said, the number of women in prisons across America has been rising at a staggering rate going from. And the conditions in these facilities, that's another story all together.

The criminal justice system is meant to punish those who commit crimes yet when people are sentenced to serve time in either jail or prison everyone in that persons life is affected by it in some way. Women are incarcerated for the same reasons as men but the problems that they face while incarcerated are vastly different. The number of women being incarcerated has grown in recent years yet the research for improving institutions for women has not. There are few programs in institutions that allow women to develop and remain in contact with their family but the majority of institutions do not. When women are incarcerated it affects their children, their family, and their health both mental and physical.