Women's Role In The American Corrections System

For the last forty years, women have been steadily increasing the prison populations. The United States has one third of the world’s female prison population. Incarceration rates for females have increased more drastically than for males since the early 1970s. By 2010, the women’s incarceration rate ascended twice as fast as the male prison population. One of the biggest reasons women have become

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.

Women are being incarcerated in today’s prisons at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, disparities in policies, women’s programs, and treatment options in the criminal justice system are virtually non-existent which are causing major problems with overcrowding, health issues, and drug abuse problems.

This research paper consists of brief history of how female correctional officers came to be in the system and the court cases that hindered and helped their process. It also consists of the stereotypes and struggles the officers are faced with in this line of work; such as weaknesses and home life association. Sexual harassment and discrimination is a problematic topic that is unavoidable. Statistics will also be mentioned and explained throughout the paper. Being a female correctional officer is extremely difficult and is not encouraged, but it is possible.

Women face losing their family and friends, making it harder on them to locked up (Bohm and Haley). In retrospect, I believe women are more sensitive and have better coping skills than men do. They tend to bond together because they understand what the other is dealing with. A lot of women turn to one another for support and end up with make-believe families (Bohm and Haley). There are times that in these make-believe family’s homosexuality exists and it is more accepting and consensual in the female prison than in the male prisons. Gangs are a lot more prominent in male prisons also. With a lot of gangs there tends to be racism which leads to interracial tension. Men tend to be more temperamental and do not how to control their anger.

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

There were two types: custodial institutions (what the average person thinks of when they hear prison) and reformatories. These reformatories were designed to rehabilitate women who found themselves on the fringe of society. They were placed in these facilities for crimes such as “lewd and lascivious conduct, fornication, serial premarital pregnancies, adultery [and] venereal disease”. Unladylike

An incident at New York’s Auburn Prison involved a female inmate that conceived while in custody and was later killed from a brutal beating while she was 5 months pregnant. After scandals of sexual abuse occurred in prisons, more women were appointed as matrons to help protect female inmates from physical and sexual abuse from other inmates and male staff members. They also assisted with organizing and providing recreational activities for women offenders. Matrons were always subordinate to the wardens of the facilities they worked in, prior to 1870, were always male job positions (Smith, 2012, p. 1695). Women’s role in corrections was limited: even during the Reform Movement, which lasted from the late nineteenth century until the early twentieth century. Women were only allowed to work in institutions with female offenders. Matrons originally performed custodial purposes, but later advanced to positive role models in the institutional milieu. Matrons were expected to emulate sober, hardworking, godly, self-disciplined women. By the 1860s, it was a requirement for matrons to set high examples, in order to teach female prisoners how to become better members of society (Smith, 2012, p. 1696).

As we see more and more women enter the criminal justice system, the need has arose for more female correctional officers, police officers, and other personnel to assist with this change. As our culture has changed over the years, and more jobs open to women and the age gap slowly narrows, we see the integration of women into various jobs they weren’t formally part of. This can bring both positive and negative reactions from their male counterparts, both from corrections and law enforcement and from inmates. Some positive aspects from women working inside the prison, as listed in the book, are that male inmates seemed more likely to treat women officers with respect, and

Women enter the criminal justice system for two reasons. First, they want to become part of the criminal justice machine and acquire some professional and legal status. Second, they commit a crime and must go to prison. The focus of the present critique is on the study that tested the validity of a prison inmate inventory and its implications for the criminal justice field.

This research paper will focusing on incarcerated female inmates in the US prison system. Mainly the systemacy, environment and also the ills which is hindering its advancement of this sector of the criminal justice system. Also, diving into the diversity, political affiliations etc.

Law enforcement jobs such as women in corrections have a subculture which inmates tend to conduct themselves in a sexist