Chapter Twelve
Incarceration of Women
Learning Objectives
Explain why women prisoners are called
the “forgotten offenders.”
2. Be familiar with the history of the
incarceration of women.
3. Explain how interpersonal relationships in
women’s prisons differ from those in men’s
prisons.
4. Be familiar with the special issues that
incarcerated women face.
5. Discuss the problems women face when
they are released to the community.
1.
Learning Objective 1

Learning objective 1: Explain why women
prisoners are called the “forgotten
offenders.”
Forgotten Offenders
•
Institutionalized sexism:
– Women’s prisons generally located farther
from friends and families
– Small number of women in prison and jail is
used to “justify” lack of diverse educational,
vocational, and other programs available to
incarcerated women.
– Small number used to “justify” low levels of
specialization in treatment and failure to
segregate the more-serious and mentally ill
offenders from the less-serious offenders.
Forgotten Offenders
•
•
•
Women make up 6.8% of federal and
state prison population
More than 114,000 females incarcerated
Women account for 24.2% of all arrests
for serious crimes:
– 68% for arrests for prostitution and
commercialized vice
– 44.1% arrested for fraud
– 38% arrested for forgery
Learning Objective 2

Learning objective 2: Be familiar with the
history of the incarceration of women.
History
•
•
Early 1800s, separate facilities from men
proposed
Late 1800s reform:
– Separation of women prisoners from men
– Provision of differential care
– Management of women’s prison by female staff
•
•
•
Reform movement ran its course by 1935
No distinctive model since 1940s
1970s-1980s, women issue deferred by
concern over rising male prison population
Learning Objective 3

Learning objective 3: Explain how
interpersonal relationships in women’s
prisons differ from those in men’s prisons.
Relationships
Sexual relationships more voluntary than in men’s
prisons
• Female inmates tend to form pseudofamilies:
•
– Father
– Mother
– Daughter
– Sister
Prisons less violent, less gang activity, and do not have
same racial tension.
• Women’s interpersonal relationships were less stable
and less familial in the past.
• Higher levels of mistrust and greater economic
manipulation.
•
Relationships
Informal social structure of female prison
is collectivist.
 Characterized by warmth and mutual aid
extended to family and kinship members:

◦ Male prisoners adapt by self-sufficiency, a
convict code, and solidarity with other
inmates.
Learning Objective 4

Learning objective 4: Be familiar with the
special issues that incarcerated women
face.
Special Issues

Sexual misconduct:
◦ Any behavior that is sexual in nature that is
directed toward an inmate by an employee,
official visitor, or agency representative.
◦ Include:
 Touching genitalia, breast, or buttocks in a way that
is intended to arouse, abuse, or gratify sexual desire
 Using threats or making requests for sexual acts
 Indecent exposure and staff voyeurism for sexual
gratification
Special Issues
•
Educational and Vocational programs:
– Glover v. Johnson
– Most female offenders undereducated and
unskilled
– Women not being prepared for jobs
•
Medical services:
– Women usually have more serious health
problems
– Gynecological problems
Special Issues
◦ Higher percentage of female than male state
prison inmates reported a medical problem
since admission such as:







Arthritis
Asthma
Cancer
Heart problems
Liver problems
Hepatitis
Sexually transmitted disease
Special Issues
•
Mothers and their children:
– Over 60% of female inmates in state prisons
are mothers of minor children.
– Nearly 58% do not see their children during
their sentence.
– Birth in prison
– 90% of states offer parenting classes
– 75% provide special visiting areas
– 28% overnight visits
– 7% nurseries
Learning Objective 5

Learning objective 5: Discuss the
problems women face when they are
released to the community.
Problems Upon Release
Most are poor
 Have lost custody of their children
 Have serious health care needs
 Have extensive substance abuse histories
 60 to 70% have nowhere to go and have
to find a place to live

Chapter Thirteen
Institutional Management
Learning Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
Be familiar with the principles used to
organize the functioning of prisons.
Discuss the importance of prison
governance.
Discuss the different job assignments
that correctional officers are given.
Understand the negative consequences
of boundary violations and job stress
among prison staff.
Learning Objective 1

Learning objective 1: Be familiar with the
principles used to organize the
functioning of prisons.
Concepts of Organization
•
Unity of command:
– Subordinate should report to only one
supervisor
•
Chain of command:
– A series of organizational positions in order of
authority, with each person receiving orders from
the one immediately above and issuing orders to
the one(s) immediately below.
•
Span of control:
– A supervisor can effectively oversee only a
limited number of subordinates.
Concepts of Organization
•
Line personnel:
– Employees who are directly concerned with
furthering the institution’s goals and who are
in direct contact with clients.
•
•
•
•
Custody force
Industry and agricultural supervisors
Counselors
Medical technicians
– Majority of personnel
– Organized along military lines
Concepts of Organization

Staff personnel:
◦ Employees who provide services in support of
line personnel; examples of staff personnel
including training officers and accountants.
 Usually work under the deputy warden for
management
Concepts of Organization

Warden
◦ Chief executive of institution
◦ Institution’s main contact with the outside
world
Concepts of Organization
Learning Objective 2

Learning objective 2: Discuss the
importance of prison governance.
Governing Prisons

Inmate balance theory:
◦ For a prison system to operate effectively,
officials must tolerate minor infractions, relax
security measures, and allow inmate leaders
to keep order.

Administrative control theory:
◦ Prison disorder results from unstable, divided,
or otherwise weak management.
Governing Prisons

Effects of administrative breakdown:
◦ Inmates believe their conditions of
confinement are not only bad, but unjust.
◦ Officials become indifferent to routine
security measures and day-to-day tasks of
prison management.
◦ Permits gangs and other illicit groups to
flourish, may help mobilize disturbances.
Governing Prisons

Most important factor in governing
prisons:
◦ Sound and firm management of inmates and
staff.
 Order
 Absence of individual or group misconduct threatening the
safety of others.
 Amenity
 Anything that enhances the inmates’ creature comforts.
 Service
 Programs designed to improve the life prospects of inmates.
Governing Prisons

Four factors that make governing prisons
different from administering other public
institutions:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Defects of total power
Limited rewards and punishment
Co-optation of correctional officers
Strength of inmate leadership
Governing Prisons

Accommodative relationships between
officers and inmates:
◦ Negotiations are central to prisoner control,
correctional officers cannot have total control over
inmates.
◦ Once an officer defines a set of informal rules with
prisoners, the rules must be respected by all parties.
◦ Some rule violations are “normal” and consequently
do not merit officers’ attention or sanctioning.
Governing Prisons

Management is successful when prison
directors:
◦ Are in office long enough to learn the job, make plans,
and implement them.
◦ Project an appealing image to a wide range of people,
both inside and outside of the organization.
◦ Are dedicated and loyal to the department, seeing
themselves as engaged in a noble and challenging
profession.
◦ Are highly hands-on and proactive.
Learning Objective 3

Learning objective 3: Discuss the different
job assignments that correctional officers
are given
Correctional Officers

Block officer:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Closest contact with prisoners
Oversee unit maintenance
Watch for potential breaches of security
Handle inmates’ personal problems and
answer questions
◦ Enforce rules
◦ Inmate safety
◦ Carry out orders of warden
Correctional Officers

Work detail supervisors:
◦ Supervise various work details connected with inmate
labor.
◦ Inmate-officer relationship can be analogous to
worker and foreman in a factory.

Industrial shop and school officers
◦ Maintenance and security responsibilities
◦ Work alongside civilians, shop supervisors, teachers,
and counselors.
◦ Keep attendance
Correctional Officers

Yard officers:
◦ Yard most unstructured environment in the
prison
◦ Supervising inmates

Administration building assignments:
◦ Very little contact with inmates
◦ Interact with administrators, commissioner’s
office, and civilians
Correctional Officers

Wall posts:
◦
◦
◦
◦

Towers
Generally no contact with inmates
Solitary and boring
Typically new recruits
Relief officers:
◦ Variety of tasks, fill in vacancies of other
positions
Learning Objective 4

Learning objective 4: Understand the
negative consequences of boundary
violations and job stress among prison
staff.
Boundary Violations

Behavior than blurs, minimizes, or disrupts
the social distance between prison staff
and inmates, resulting in violations of
departmental policy.
◦ One study found:
 80% of violations involved dual-relationships,
consensual
 8 %, general boundary violations
 12% staff-inmate sexual contact
Boundary Violations

Violations contribute to:
◦ Disorder
◦ Potentially jeopardize officers’ safety
◦ Costly lawsuits
Job Stress

Factors:
◦ Relationships with co-workers
◦ Departmental policies
◦ Length of time on job

Consequences:
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
More sick time
More problems at home
Heart disease
Eating disorders
Substance abuse
Job Stress

Advantages of reducing stress and
burnout:
◦ Financial savings
◦ Fewer resources expended
 Overtime
 Hiring
◦ Safety levels
◦ Staff morale