The Prison Experience:

1
Chapter 9

• The Prison Experience
• Females

2
Rise of Womens Imprisonment

• Before 1960, relatively few women were in prison
• Men are almost 14 times more likely to be
  incarcerated than women
• The womens correctional population is
  approximately 100,000 and continues to increase

3
Rise of Womens Imprisonment

• Increases in the womens prison population caused
  by
• Mandatory minimums
• Drug laws and accomplice liability
• Get-tough policies
• The equality movement had the unintended
  consequence of eliminating much of the
  paternalistic effect of male chivalry

4
Women in Prison

• Typical female inmates have had a troubled family
  life
• Were at-risk children, products of broken homes
  and the welfare system
• Had experienced a pattern of harsh discipline and
  physical abuse
• Many were victims of domestic violence

5
Women in Prison

• Many display psychological problems
• A significant number of substance abuse issues
• Face a high risk of exposure to HIV

6
Social Structure in Womens Prison

• Make Believe Families development networks of
  family-like ties this is in contrast to male
  prisons
• Same sex relationship model a debatable
  relationship that may be typified as unstable,
  short-lived and explosive
• Kinship networks
• Butch and femme roles

7
Social Structure in Womens Prison

• Is the structure changing?
• Some evidence to suggest this
• Some report violence as common
• Confinement may produce sever anxiety and anger
  because of separation from loved ones
• Unlike men, who direct their anger outward,
  female inmates may be more self-destructive acts
  to cope with their problems

8
Social Structure in Womens Prison

• Kruttschnitt and Gartner identify three major
  ways of coping
• Adopted style
• Convict style
• Isolate style

9
Special Issues in the Incarceration of Women

• Issues faced by women in prison include
• Motherhood in prison
• Programs for incarcerated mothers
• Prison health care
• Sexual abuse

10
Motherhood in Prison

• An estimated two-thirds of incarcerated women
  have children under eighteen
• Womens correctional facilities are often remote,
  negatively impacting family ties
• Family relationships are important for mental
  health as well as post-release success
• Separation from their children can cause women to
  feel emptiness, helplessness, guilt, anger, and
  bitterness

11
Programs for Incarcerated Mothers

• Several states and other countries have
  innovative programs for mothers of young children
• Women, like men, need programming that will help
  them with successful re-entry

12
Prison Health Care

• Heath Care Issues
• Failure to refer seriously ill inmates for
  treatment and delays in treatment
• Lack of qualified personnel
• Inadequate reproductive health care
• Shackling during pregnancy
• Lack of treatment for substance abuse
• Lack of adequate or appropriate mental health
  services

13
Sexual Abuse

• Extensive history of such abuse
• The most vulnerable are first-time offenders, the
  young or mentally ill, lesbian and transgendered
• Many of these women already had a history of
  physical or sexual abuse
• Continued extensive litigation concerning sexual
  mistreatment of female inmates

14
Professionalism in Womens Prisons

• A commitment to develop programming
• Desire to treat inmates with dignity and respect
• Commitment to engage staff in prison management
  and operations
• Refusal to accept abusive treatment from staff
  toward inmates

15
Professionalism in Womens Prisons

• Provide a safe environment for both inmates and
  staff
• Importance of staff training
• Model positive behavior
• Pursue accreditation