For Erin George, everything stopped spinning and her world began to disintegrate when Judge Ann Simpson sentenced her to 603 years in prison. Hearing that you have been sentenced to 603 years in prison, is nothing short of ____. In A Woman Doing Life: Notes From A Prison for Women, Erin George gives us an insight as to what its like to go from living at Rappahannock Regional Jail to making Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women her new “home”. No one prepared Erin for what was to come, with her new sentence, but she knew she had to create some sort of comfort for herself in order to survive. George also allows us to see her vulnerable side while enduring the hardships of both, her personal life she left back home, and the new life she …show more content…
When being transferred from RRJ to FCCW, she was surprised at how the prison looked like an office park rather than a prison (George, Johnson, & Martin, 2014). Once she arrived at Fluvanna, reality strikes her and she realized quickly, from here, there was nowhere else to go, ever (George, Johnson, & Martin, 2014). George spirals into a dark world by planning her suicide down to every detail so that she were successful. Until, the sergeant pulled her aside and asked her if whether or not she needed to go to mental health, and Erin swiftly regrouped and began to fake it to cope, in return she began to heal (George, Johnson, & Martin, 2014). George was classified into security level 3, which is one of the highest level for women, this was all based on a numerical rating system where certain factors, are worth a predetermined number of points (George, Johnson, & Martin, 2014). Donna, George’s friend, had her own opinions as to how inmates should be classified. For example those who don 't shower, should be placed in one room, those who steal, in another, and inmates that enjoy fighting, in a room locked so that they can has things out (George, Johnson, & Martin, 2014). Moreover, George always looked forward to mail call. She enjoyed the most, when he mother would send her newspapers articles, song lyrics, pictures of her family, or crossword puzzles (George, Johnson, & Martin, 2014). Lastly, George expresses how her privacy diminished, after the
"Count!" The prison guard yelled on a brisk Saturday in Maidens, Virginia. I watched as the prisoners lined the walls of the James River Correctional Facility. While the majority of my friends spent their Saturdays enjoying pizza and ice cream with their family, my Saturdays consisted of being in a prison visitation room. My father was serving a thirty year sentence for distributing crack cocaine. As the years went on, I began to look forward to seeing the barbed wire and prison guards. I knew that in the midst of the penitentiary environment, I would at least be able to see a father figure for a few hours.
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,
After reading about the population of females in correction facilities, I came across the issue of incarcerating mothers. “Approximately 7 in 10 women under correctional sanction have minor children” (women offenders pg.7). Before reading this chapter, I have never put any importance to the challenge of sending mothers to prison. For the most part, I believe that judges and juries should consider the “motherhood” as a mitigating circumstance during a sentence. However, the age of the child and the crime should also play a role in the type of sentence given to a woman.
A women doing life is a book that talks openly about women in prison. The author of the book who is also an inmate is known as Erin George. She explains vividly about women life in prison and what she was going through as an inmate. The book also gives other stories about other female inmates. The book presents a realistic of what women goes through on daily basis in prison. The issues addressed are both physical and psychological challenges. She talks on behalf of those women facing challenges on daily basis in prison. The books explain life events that tragic and heartbreaking those changes later to be uplifting and humorous. She gives a story of how she is able to cope and manage in hard situations. The women’s humanity inside the
Piper Kerman, a freelance producer living in New York City with her boyfriend, was incarcerated in 2004 for money laundering and drug trafficking. She tells this story in her memoir, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison. Kerman tells her audience about her escapades in her twenties, and her normal life afterwards. But one day she is greeted with two police officers at her door, and things go downhill from there. Kerman is later arrested after a very lengthy court case and taken to federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Kerman makes light of her year spent in prison, writing about the different people she met and the experiences she had. Overall, Kerman’s memoir is an easy and fun read
Hassine begins his narrative as he is entering prison but this time as an inmate. Prior to his incarceration, Hassine was an attorney (Hassine, 2011). Even then as an attorney, the high walls of prison intimated Hassine (Hassine, 2011). As Hassine was being processed into the system, he expressed how he systematically became hopeless from the very prison structure itself as well as because of the intimidation he felt by uniforms. Prisons of the past actually had a goal to aid individuals through rehabilitation by instilling new values in order to correct the wrongs that one may have committed during their lifetime but today this is no longer true. . Hassine draws colorful depictions of how dim and unfamiliar a prison can be in which instills fear in an individual soon as he or she
Women usually have the same type of story, on the reason they decided to get involved in drugs. Some women have the drugs introduced to them by their family or friends (Mallicoat, 2012). Others began this habit to cope with violence or abuse in their early childhood (Mallicoat, 2012). About half of the women who are incarcerated are in prison for some sort of drug offense; either for selling or for drug use. Introducing prevention programs, life skills training, mental health training, and other basic needs can help reduce the percentage of women going back to their habit and staying away from incarceration (Mcvay et. al, 2004). By just putting women in prison, instead of actually looking into the reason they are using drugs are not helping them and might even increase the risk of them returning to prison or the risk of further criminal activity. Treating drug use as a medical problem, with programs for drug addiction, can help the women from getting incarcerated. Viewing women as victims in scenarios like drug use being a medical problem or prostitution can ultimately help reduce the percentage of incarcerated women.
In her defense, going in the prison has its own ethical concerns, and her status as female researcher does not fit into the prison environment –where she can experience emotional and perhaps physical danger. Ultimately, she implemented the sociological approach by disclosing narratives to get as close to first-hand experience as possible, while maintain research
The number of women in prison has substantially increased over the last several decades, with a 60 percent rise worldwide. This phenomena is especially apparent in the United States of America, with some states recording rises up to 400 percent over the last thirty years. Despite women only representing 7 percent of the prison population, their incarceration has a major impact on society. With the majority of women in prison being mothers, over one million U.S children are said to be directly affected by these statistics. It is widely recognized that incarcerated mothers and their children represent a high-risk group. Many incarcerated women have or still are experiencing a number of difficulties that may directly or indirectly impact their
After reading A Woman Doing Life : Notes from a Prison for Women, I learned a lot more than I thought I knew about the life of women in jails or prisons. Erin George , the main character , gives readers an ethnographic insight on the struggles women face in prison. The hardships women face in prison consist of, and are limited to harsh shakedowns, poor medical treatment, and changes within the prison system that intentionally dehumanizes women inmates. Erin George before prison was a middle class women who seem to live a decent life, she is a mother of 3 and had a great support system within her family. She was happily married until she was convicted of murdering her husband which landed her six-hundred-three years in prison.
the unique circumstances for female offenders are that, there are six institutions for female offenders across the country, including a healing lodge. All these six institutions apart from the healing lodge have sub divisions of different levels such as minimum, medium, and maximum security for female offenders. Healing lodges only accommodate women who are known to be minimum or medium security level. Women classified as minimum and medium security level are given the chance to live in a housing facility within community living areas, where these women are responsible for their daily needs in live such as doing the laundry, cooking as well as cleaning. Women known to be as medium or minimum security level who suffer mental health issues,
In many countries, the female prison population has increased dramatically over the last years. This has generated widespread awareness in our society, leading people to question why the percentage multiplied exponentially. In the past, female offenders have not only been compared to their male counterparts, but to society’s view of the role of women; this role categorized them as housewives and mothers. But how did these housewives and mothers go from the home to the prisons? In most countries, women represent a minority of the prison population: normally between 2% and 8%. There are now more than 600,000 women behind bars and more than one million on probation and parole, (Bastick and Townhead 2008) most of these women are sentenced to prison for non-violent crimes. Many of these women in prison struggle with substance abuse, mental illness, and histories of physical and sexual abuse. According to the researchers Bastick and Townhead, all over the world women in prison suffer from intersecting
For countless years now, women have been struggling for equal rights in society. I chose to write my essay on the topic of women in prison because they need support but often overlooked by society. These women go through many obstacles like mental health, sexual harassment, and inequality. The number of females in prison is currently rising every day, in spite of the fact that men still the leading numbers in jail. Women are in prison due to different causes many are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes. Simply because they need to survive in a society that is very sexist and racist. It's hard to find a stable job that's why some females support their families by becoming a prostitute, steal or sell drugs. Once incarcerated, women not only have limited access to job coaching programs, education and several other services they are also sexually abused. Basically, inside prison females go through the same discrimination and abuse they go through outside.
The War on Drugs has led to an increase in the mass incarceration of people of color and minorities, which is a problem in the United States. In the past thirty years, the number of females jailed across the country, many of whom are poor with mental health and drug problems. The increase in the incarceration of females has had a devastating impact on their children, families and communities. This paper will describe the authors of Upper Bunkies Unit and Orange Is the New Black who wrote their respective books about the same prison, the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, a low-security female prison. Both books contain many themes, such as broken families, limited services available and substance abuse treatment. This paper will also explore many factors influencing the success or failure of incarcerated females in reintegrating after their release from prison. Literature will be used to provide insight into the lives of females behind bars by focusing on their well-being and resources available. In addition, the current trend in treatment, such as substance abuse and mental health treatments will be discussed. Lastly, collateral consequences will be explored.
Journalist Silja Talvi’s Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in The U.S Prison System is an overview of issues affecting incarcerated women. The goal of the book Women