Coed Prisons

women has increased significantly, increasing at a rate double to the rate of male incarceration since 1980 (Covington & Bloom, 2006). Braithwaite, Treadwell and Arriola note that incarcerated women have historically been a forgotten population, and despite the rapid growth of the population, their needs have continued to be ignored (2005). In addition to the stigma that comes with being or having been incarcerated,

The prison world is predominately male dominated. As the years go by, female incarceration levels have been rapidly increasing. The prisons in early days didn’t have to worry about dealing with two different types of inmates as there were not that many females incarcerated. While male and female inmates do have some similarities, they also have some distinct differences. The way they conduct themselves in prison are different; as are they way they interact with other inmates. Males typically are in prison for more violent crimes than women, making the maximum security prisons mainly male. Throughout this paper, these differences and a few similarities are discussed.

Only 29 percent of the guards at the Central California Women's Facility are women. This fact worsens the already-ancient problems of troubled women, many of whom are accustomed to coercive relationships, when they are placed in a highly sexualized, paramilitary setting in the custody mostly of men. An ongoing investigation of state prisons by the Human Rights Watch Women's Rights Project found that female inmates experienced some form of custodial sexual misconduct regardless of the prison or state; inappropriate sexual contact, verbal degradation, rape, sexual assault and unwarranted visual supervision were reported from California to New

For centuries the general public have perceived that the deep horrors of the prison system only existed within the majority of incarcerated male inmates. However now due to recent investigations researchers are finding that this is not the case. For a lengthened period of time the female prison system have been given low attention in comparison to male inmates

Male prisoners also continue to make up the majority of the prison population. However, women prisoner rates have been on the rise and have exceeded that of male growth rates since 1995. In fact, due to the increase of the women prison population, various issues have arisen which require women to be treated differently from men. Such issues correctional facility’s face because of this increase include program delivery, housing conditions, medical care, staffing, and security (American Corrections, 2016). These problems are in part due to the different social and economic differences women are faced with in prison and while preparing for their release back to society.

The system unable to adapt for such a small number in comparison to men, incarcerated women are expected to fit into an institution developed by men for men, resulting in worse conditions, less familial contact due to fewer facilities, and more rules as if the women were children, all direct reflections institutionalized sexism and HM both in and out of the corrections arena. Additionally, due to the Madonna-like factor, women who are convicted have a farther fall from grace within society and do not have the luxury of the “good old boy” connections for defense and protection. While gender roles and expectations are assigned by society, believing women should be equal to men demands the acknowledgement that women can offend like men (Pearson, 1998) and therefore should be incarcerated not ‘like men’ but in an equalized manner. Perhaps, rather than revamping institutions developed to house and rehabilitate women, we first investigate the standards currently in play for the policing, convicting and sentencing of men as the foundation of creating a nonsexist criminal justice

Corrections are an important part of the criminal justice system and they work in concert with law enforcement and the courts. Citizens in the United States expect criminals to be monitored, with some in secured facilities, so they will not fear of becoming continual victim of crime. To illustrate this expectation further, there are 2.5 million individuals on probation or parole and 1 million individuals in jails or prisons (Morris & Tonry, 2013, p. 370). However, does every individual confined in jails and prisons still need to be there or is there a better way to deal with certain special prison populations? Due to the large number of prisoners within the correctional system, certain special populations of inmates do not receive the rehabilitation or care needed to successfully reintegrate back into society. Additionally, these special populations create an undue burden on the correctional system in terms of financial costs associated with their confinement. There are changes that can be made to the criminal justice system to accommodate special populations of inmates. This paper will explore the alternative

Throughout history, the criminal justice system has mainly focused on men entering the criminal justice system rather than women. This is not portrayed largely by the media and society because it is not truly considered a highlight topic. Men and women face incarceration on a daily basis, causing them both to have different experiences based on their gender. The crimes and punishment faced by each gender is different and can affect the way society views the person as an individual and/or as a group. The nature and role in society can be a factor of the incarceration and the experience they may face while in the criminal justice system. Although the depiction of men entering the criminal justice system is portrayed regularly, the rate of women entering the criminal justice system has faced a higher increase than men entering the system.

Robertson-James and Nunez (2012) suggests that the needs of incarcerated women have traditionally been ignored due to the tremendous percentages of incarcerated persons being men. While this may be true, women and men have issues that differ from one another and should be treated as separate issues. The physical and mental health needs, as Robertson-James and Nunez (2012) puts it, may be inferior than those of incarcerated men or women in the overall population. It is almost as if the problems of incarcerated women are undetectable or are seen as less important in the criminal justice

Unfortunately minimal data exists about the current prevalence of psychiatric disorders ailing the large population of female prisoners with mental health issues, other than data from years in the past. Lewis explains that the lack of current data impacts the difficulty of addressing the various needs of inmates through the development of new programs (Lewis, 2000). Many of the journal articles within this review address treatment for female inmates with mental health needs.

Simply because inmates are smaller, weaker, or more intimidated by the cell and cellmates they are assigned, they are ultimately categorized as “victims” of these ghastly assaults and thus, their “femininity” determines their fate. Despite the high number of these crimes committed each year, the flawed system in which these facilities are run have yet to truly recognize the danger and harm that is placed upon these male prisoners. Joanne Mariner’s article is therefore an effective attempt to spark reform within the system; just because these inmates have been convicted of crimes does not mean they should not get the proper treatment and justice they too deserve.

After visiting www.womenandprison.org a website created by incarcerated women, I learn the ins and outs of what are some of the leading factors for women and prisons now. Most of the women interviewed have a brutal past with drug addiction, prostitution or abuse. These are the main reasons women today still are being incarcerated. However gender experience in prison expressed by women is very painful. Unlike men women suffer from the state of mind where they are home sick. Those who tend to have made families back home it begins to be tougher for women to be separate from her child. Also it is said to be all mind games a lot of women loose a sense of social control where they are no longer accepting to the reasoning which has brought them to

Why were women inmates treated differently from male inmates during this period? How has this changed?  Women’s inmates were treated differently from male because of lack of services, and behavior issue. There were on matron for the female prisoners at the time. The women’s gave more trouble than five hundred male convicts. The women fight, scratch, pull hair, curse, swear, and yell. Knives had to be taken away form the female department. To prevent the prisoners from cutting each other. By the mid- nineteenth century things stared to change for female prisoners. States had hired matrons to supervise their female convicts. Matrons played a major ideological role in women’s prison reform. Female prisoners by nature needed special treatment that other women could provide. Also change happened with Mount Pleasnat the first female prison in the United States. Mount Pleasnat introduced an education program to women. The women had astronomy, geography, physiology, and physical education. The women prison also had a library were prisoners could take book to their

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)

It is nothing new that relationships occur within the prisons. This includes male and females. However, the article we read stated that male and female relationships are quite different. For males, these relationships are geared with control and violence, as the females it’s quite the opposite.