The Housing of Women in Correctional Facilities: Targeting the Specific Needs of Female Offenders

The number of women incarcerated is growing at a rapid pace. This calls for a reevaluation of our correction institutions to deal with women’s involvement in crime. Increasing numbers of arrests for property crime and public order offenses are outpacing that of men. The “War on Drugs” has a big influence on why our prisons have become overcrowded in the last 25 years. Women are impacted more than ever because they are being convicted equally for drug and other offenses. Female criminal behavior has always been identified as minor compared to Male’s criminal behavior. Over the years women have made up only small part of the offender populations. There is still only a small

& Bender, K. (2009). Effects of correction-based programs for female inmates: a systematic review. Research on Social Work Practice, 21(1), 15-31. doi: 10.1177/1049731509352337

In the past thirty years, the incarceration of women has risen exponentially. Poverty, lack of access to education, abuse, addiction, mental health and parenting issues all impact women’s criminality and health before, during and after they are incarcerated (Hannaher, K., 2007). By 2010 there were nearly 206,000 women currently serving time in the criminal justice system. As the years go by, the numbers are constantly increasing (Women Behind Bars, 2015). The number of pregnant women incarcerated has also been on the rise. Most incarcerated women do not receive proper prenatal care before entering the criminal justice system. Because these women are from mostly poverty neighborhoods, they are more likely to endure domestic violence, poor

It is no secret that the United States’ criminal justice system is majorly flawed in more ways than one. We hear of all of the injustice that many civilians face on a day to day basis, which mostly surrounds the problems related to men, but what about women? Why don’t we hear about the tribulations and sufferings that our women undergo on a day to day basis within our criminal justice system? As mentioned in an article from the American Jail Association, investigation in fields ranging from subjects of general and mental health, substance abuse and addiction relating to drugs and prescriptions, and physical violence against women combined with examination and practice in the criminal justice field, have discovered that women offenders experience challenges that are not only different from their male counterparts, but also greatly influence their involvement in criminal justice systems, including jails and prisons (Ney, 2014). This information alone provides a basis to why imprisoned women should be more of a topic. This literature review will examine the several ways in which women who are incarcerated experience emotional trauma; and in some ways, abuse. My hypothesis is that most of the trauma encountered by incarcerated women majorly branches from preceding events and occurrences that happened prior to becoming imprisoned, and that they worsen as a result of improper treatment and resources within

Research has identified that prison based substance abuse treatment for offenders differs greatly for males and females. Female offenders tend to have numerous triggers for their substance abuse with the research showing female offenders being significantly disadvantaged compared with male offenders when entering treatment programs (Messina, Grella, Cartier, & Torres, 2010). The following essay will summarise research conducted on the topic of substance abuse treatments for incarcerated females, looking at the research conducted by Messina et al. (2010), and how this research fits in with the available literature, and the contribution it has made to the field of research on the topic.

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

In the past 20 years, women inmates have been one of the fastest growing prison populations in the United States. Women inmates represent a myriad of voices that speak to poverty-stricken lives, histories of abuse, separations of mother and child, struggles with substance abuse, health issues, and economic hardships. Women’s prisons have increasingly become a source of intrigue and controversy, particularly through the broadcasting of a number of television documentaries, such as Orange Is the New Black. This explores all the issues and concerns regarding female inmates. Many times women in prison are overlooked, as the prison problems that receive media attention occur primarily at male institutions.

The question for this research survey is the following: are women offenders more likely to be successful if they participate in a gender-response program versus a traditional, non-gender specific program? Women often respond to incarceration and related issues with criminality in a way that is far different from men. With that in mind, the question asked here is one that is in need of answering in order to determine what can be done to help women move forward with their lives and avoid becoming repeat offenders. Without asking the right questions, a survey will not provide true insight (Maxfield & Babbie, 2011). Additionally, the "how" of the issue is often the most important concern when one is conducting a survey that can be used to improve lives in the future (Maxfield & Babbie, 2011). In other words, it is not just about why something needs to be changed, but about how it could be changed in order to provide the highest level of benefit to those who use it (Maxfield & Babbie, 2011).

Assessing the consequences of our country’s soaring imprison rates has less to do with the question of guilt versus innocence than it does with the question of who among us truly deserves to go to prison and face the restrictive and sometimes brutally repressive conditions found there. We are adding more than one thousand prisoners to our prison and jail systems every single week. The number of women in prisons and jails has reached a sad new milestone. As women become entangled with the war on drugs, the number in prison has increased if not double the rate of incarceration for men. The impact of their incarceration devastates thousands of children, who lose their primary caregiver when Mom goes to prison.

Females are increasingly becoming more active in the juvenile justice system and this is said to be happening at alarming rates. It is important to learn more about why and how girls commit crimes so that we may also attempt intervention in an effective manner to prevent potential offenders and rehabilitate the girls who have already committed offenses. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has produced a report that includes a review of how these girls are getting into these situations, how states are dealing with this population of offenders, the national efforts that have taken place to attempt to address the needs of the adolescent female offender including training for individuals who work with these females and

Female Criminality consists of several outdated statistics regarding the rise of female offending. However, in viewing the current research on the subject, it appears that the overall theme of this dissertation's discussion is still relevant despite changes in the accompanying statistics as seen in viewing the following topics: the rise in female offending; the continual rise that females are committing more crimes than men; and the types of crimes that women are committing. In viewing Bruce Gross's 2009 article, "Battle of the Sexes: The Nature of Female Delinquency," as well as Elizabeth Cauffman's 2008 article, "Understanding the Female Offender," one can begin to see where current statistics regarding the female criminal lie.

In prison, women are considered to be less violent than male inmate. This difference is not taken into account upon constructing prisons for female offenders. In fact, construction is based on the correctional model about men being violent. Each gender interacts within prisons differently as well. For instance, males form gangs within prisons. They act territorially and fight to maintain power. In addition, men are more likely to congregate by race. On the other hand, females look to form small families that are not racially specific. Women will fight due to jealousy. However, they are more likely to vent their hostility upon themselves through self mutilation. The way the prison is set up also creates a difference. Prisons for males dived prisoners via classification based on the dangerousness of the crime. In contrast women’s prisons generally allow incarcerated women to mix freely (Stuart von Wormer & Bartollas, 2011).

Statistics show that the number of female offenders in the legal system has been increasing steadily. The number of female offenders entering the American justice system is growing at a rate faster than males. Statistics from the United States in 2010 show the female offender population to be increasing by 2.7% each year, compared to the male population at a rate of 1.8% each year, with similar statistics being seen in other Western countries (West & Sabol, 2010). The continued increase has made understanding female offenders and their catalysts for committing crime more imperative.

To explain criminal and deviant behavior inflicted by women it is essential to use classical and contemporary feminist theories. To quantify the women criminal behavior, we can take in to account the women’s prison population. According to Criminology: Connecting Theory, Research, and Practice 2nd edition, by Aida Hass, Chris Moloney, and William J. Chambliss, women prison populations has been increasing throughout the past several years.

It is an undeniable fact that there are gendered experiences in relation to the criminal justice system. The experiences men and women face whilst incarcerated differ greatly, and the reasons and types of offending contrast significantly. For these reasons, the importance of foregrounding gender when considering the criminal justice system is imperative. A factor that is important to address is, that incarcerated women are more likely to have dependent children before they entered prison than their male counterparts. Within the New Zealand context it is estimated that 47% of female prisoners had dependent children upon the time of their incarceration compared to 35% of males (Department of Corrections, 2001; Stanley, 2011). This leads to further gendered differences due to the fact women face greater difficulties in regards to the care of their children whilst imprisoned. Feminist theories and strain theory will be used to analyse the need for a gendered approach in regards to women offenders within the criminal justice system.