12
The Incarceration of Women
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Forgotten Offenders
A. Women traditionally have received discriminatory treatment from judges, few
program resources from penal administrators, and little attention from criminal
justice scholars.
1. They make up such a small proportion of the correctional population.
2. Their criminality is generally not serious.
3. The criminal justice system reflects the societal attitude that puts women in a
subservient position.
B. Because prisons for women are fewer and smaller than male prisons, Joanne
Belknap argues this results in a three-pronged form of institutional sexism.
1. Women’s prisons are farther from friends and families, making visits from
children, other family, and friends more difficult, particularly for the poor.
2. The relatively small number of women in prison and jail is used to justify the
lack of diverse educational, vocational, and other programs.
3. Relatively small numbers also justifies low levels of specialization in treatment
and failure to segregate the more serious and mentally ill offenders from the
less serious offenders (as is done in male prisons and jails).
C. The Numbers
1. Female offenders are incarcerated in 98 female only facilities and 93 co-ed
facilities.
2. The growth rate in number of incarcerated women has exceeded men since
1981, an increase of 38 percent compared to 27 percent for males.
3. The war on drugs has increased the female population in the federal system.
4. The increase has significantly affected the delivery of programs, housing
conditions, medical care, staffing and security.
5. Women account for 22.5 percent of all arrests tabulated by the UCR (Figure
12.1).
6. Women are more likely than men to be serving sentences for drug offenses
and nonviolent property crimes.
7. Women convicts traditionally receive lighter sentences than men for similar
offenses usually as a result of the belief that women are the weaker sex and
require gentle treatment.
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II. Historical Perspective
A. Not until the 1800's did reformers press for separate facilities and programs for
female offenders. Men and women were housed together and were punished
the same, including being hanged, whipped and transported.
1. Elizabeth Gurney Fry, a middle-class English Quaker pressed for changes.
2. She also pressed for changes in the treatment of children.
3. Elizabeth advocated separate facilities for women, staffed by women.
4. The separate facilities should have a domestic atmosphere.
B. The incarceration of women in the United States
1. Elizabeth Fry’s efforts reached the United States via the Quaker network.
2. Few women were incarcerated in the United States in the 19th century.
3. Only men had the ability to reason and women were motivated by their
emotions, thus women who committed crimes posed a threat to the social
order.
4. Because women couldn’t reason, they couldn’t be reformed.
5. Most incarcerated women were convicted of prostitution, alcoholism and
vagrancy.
6. Incarcerated women were often sexually exploited and forced to do chores to
maintain the prison.
C. The Reformatory Movement
1. The first independent female-run prison was established in Indiana in 1873.
2. Massachusetts Reformatory prison for women opened in 1877.
3. The Western House of Refuge at Albion (Michigan) opened in 1893.
4. Women volunteers became quite active in corrections.
D. Principles of the Reformatory Movement
1. Separation of women prisoners from men
2. Provision of differential care
3. Management of women’s prisons by female staff
4. Women’s reformatories favored rural locations away from the unwholesome
conditions of the city.
5. Reformatories resembled cottages around an administration building.
6. Opportunities were provided for inmates to learn domestic skills.
7. As time passed the original ideals of the reformers failed.
8. By 1935 the women’s reformatory movement had run its course.
E. The Post World War II Years
1. As women increasingly have been arrested for more serious crimes, and
more drug law violators incarcerated, custody has become a more important
goal than reformation.
2. Educational and vocational programs for women have been geared toward
traditionally “feminine” occupations that perpetuate gender stereotypes.
3. Nicole Rafter: “’equal treatment’ usually means less adequate treatment.”
III. Women in Prison
A. Differences From Male Institutions
1. Female facilities are smaller.
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2. Female institutions have looser security and are less structured in terms of
inmate-staff relationships.
3. The underground economy is not as developed in female facilities.
4. Female inmates are less committed to the inmate code.
5. Female institutions lack the high walls, guard towers, and cyclone fences that
characterize male institutions.
6. There is less pressure to design effective treatment programs for women than
for men.
7. Successful programs relate to the social realities from which women come
and to which they will return.
8. The regime of women’s prisons tends to treat women like children and
“domesticate” them.
B. Characteristics of Women in Prison (Figure 12.2)
1. 44 percent of female inmates have not finished high school.
2. 30 percent were receiving welfare benefits just before being arrested.
3. 63 percent were Hispanic or African American.
4. 32 percent of female inmates were serving sentences for violent offenses.
5. Women receive shorter maximum sentences than men do.
6. Approximately half of females in prison were using mind-altering substances
at the time of their most recent offense.
7. Drug use before incarceration is higher for females than males.
C. The Subculture of Women’s Prisons
1. There have been less extensive studies of female subculture.
2. Same-sex relationships are found, but are more voluntary than coerced.
3. Female inmates tend to form pseudofamilies in which they adopted various
roles (mother, father, sister, etc).
4. The pseudofamilies help relive the tensions of prison life and assist in the
socialization of new inmates.
5. There is less violence and gang activity in female facilities.
6. Researchers do not seem to have a consensus on the extent and nature of
same sex relationships in women’s prisons.
7. Esther Heffernan discovered 3 adaptive roles: the “square” who adheres to
conventional norms and values; those who are “in the life” who act in prison
as they did on the outside and are antisocial; those who are “cool” who make
a “controlled, pleasurable manipulative response to a situation.”
D. Male versus Female Subcultures: Research finds great similarities but also major
differences.
1. Nearly half of males, but only 1/3 of females are serving time for violent
offenses.
2. There is less violence in women’s prisons than men’s.
3. Men’s prison populations are divided by security levels, female populations
are mixed.
4. Men tend to segregate themselves by race; this is less true with women.
5. Men rarely become intimate with their keepers, many women share lives with
officers.
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6. In male prisons individuals act for themselves and are evaluated by how they
adhere to subculture norms that emphasize autonomy, self-sufficiency, and
the ability to cope with one’s own problems.
7. Women placed less emphasis on achieving status or recognition within
prisoner community; close ties seem to exist among small groups.
8. The differences between male and female prison subcultures have been
ascribed to nurturing, maternal qualities of women.
IV. Issues in the Incarceration of Women
A. Sexual Misconduct
1. As the number of female inmates has increased, cases of sexual misconduct
by male correctional officers have escalated.
2. Sexual misconduct includes many behaviors such as assault, abuse,
harassment, and contact of a sexual nature.
3. Sexual misconduct jeopardizes security, creates stress for those involved and
creates a hostile work environment.
4. Monetary civil judgments awarded to women for mistreatment while in prison
have grown.
5. All but 8 states have enacted statutes prohibiting sexual misconduct with
correctional clients.
B. Educational and Vocational Programs
1. Female prisons lack the variety of vocational and educational programs
usually available in male institutions.
2. Existing programs tend to conform to stereotypes of “feminine” occupations
(cosmetology, food service, sewing, etc).
3. Few work assignments for incarcerated women marketable job skills.
4. Since most women prisoners have no one to depend on but themselves once
they are released, programs to train offenders for post release vocations are
essential for success in the community.
C. Medical Services
1. Women’s prisons lack proper medical services despite the fact that they
have more serious health problems than men due to their socioeconomic
status and limited access to preventative medical care.
2. HIV, tuberculosis, drug addiction, and mental illness affect female prisoners
more than male prisoners.
3. About 25 percent of incarcerated women are pregnant upon admission.
4. Pregnant women require special medical and nutritional resources.
5. Leslie Acoca argues that the failure to provide women with basic preventive
and medical treatments such as immunizations, breast cancer screening, and
management of chronic diseases results “in the development of more serious
health problems that are more expensive to treat.”
D. Mothers and Their Children
1. Incarcerated women are most concerned with the fate of their children.
2. Over 65 percent of female inmates are mothers.
3. Many of these women were single caretakers.
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4. Enforced separation of children from their mothers can be devastating for
both.
5. Babies born in prison must be placed with a family member or a social
agency within three weeks of birth.
6. Imprisoned mothers have difficulty maintaining contact with their children
because female institutions are located far away and transportation is
difficult.
7. Innovative programs that address the needs of imprisoned mothers and their
children are being designed.
E. Release to the Community
1. The limited data available indicate that women are just as successful as men
on parole.
2. Women need more postrelease training and support services than men, not
only employment help but also medical care, counseling for drug and alcohol
abuse, and help reestablishing family relationships.
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