Chapter 12

Incarceration of Women

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Central California Women’s Facility largest female prison; Chowchilla, Ca.

world’s Clear & Cole,

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Death row in a women’s prison: Central California Women’s Facility death row (holding 12 women) is the small, screened portion of an administrative segregation unit Clear & Cole,

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why women tend to be the “forgotten offenders”     

women commit fewer crimes than men female criminality tends to be less serious than male criminality historically, women have tended more often than men to be “excluded” from the justice system, by lenient treatment women constitute a small proportion correctional population (6%) of the popular social attitude tends to put all females in a subservient position

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Institutionalized “sexism”: caused by low status of female criminality   

women’s prisons are located farther friends & family, inhibiting visits, especially for the poor from women’s prisons lack diverse educational, vocational, and other programs available in men’s prisons women’s prisons lack specialization in treatment and who present special problems or have special needs fail to segregate offenders

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women (vs. men) doing time

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 94% 6% prisons 89% male female 11% jails

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more women doing time

% increase in men vs. women in state & federal prisons, from 1990 108% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 77% male female

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gender and crime: who’s arrested for what?

proportion of men vs. women arrested for specific index crimes 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 89% 11% murder 99% rape 1% 90% 10% 80% 20% 87% 13% 65% 35% robbery agg.

assault burglary larceny theft 84% auto theft 16% 85% 15% arson male female

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evolution of women’s prisons

1st female-run

prison for women

Indiana, 1873 run for women, by women House of Shelter Detroit, post civil war 1st reformatory for women.

run by Zebulon Brockway Alderson Prison West Virginia, 1927 1st federal prison for women.

Mary Belle Harris, warden Women’s Prison Asso.

New York, 1844 created to improve treatment of & separate females from male inmates END of reformatory movement “ran its course” by 1935; no new correctional models Elizabeth Fry 1780 - 1845 1st to press for reform in treatment of women & children

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female prison reform in 1800s principles guiding  

separation

of women from men provision of

differential care

for



women

management

of women’s prisons by female staff

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features distinguishing female from male prisons

smaller looser security inmate-staff relations less structured women’s prisons shorter sentences less committed to inmate code less physical violence less developed underground economy

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female inmate profiles     

predominately Black (46%) or White (36%) between ages of 25 - 34 (50%) never married (45%) some high school (46%) or graduated (23%) Similar to characteristics of male inmates

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women and men doing time, by commitment offense

50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 34% 28% 26% 11% female 20% 49% 21% 10% drug- related violent property public order male

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female prison subcultures (per Heffernan)   

“ square ” (like ‘gleaning’)

 

“the life ” (like ‘jailing’)

  

situational offender adheres to conventional norms & values persistent offenders act in prison as they did on the outside antisocial, stand firm against authority represent about half of female prisoners



“ cool ” (like ‘doing time’)



professionals; controlled & manipulative; ‘keep busy, play around, stay out of trouble and get out’

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“pseudo-families” definition 

a distinguishing hallmark of the “ subculture ” in many women’s prisons (as compared with men’s)



women often cope with the stresses incarceration by bonding together in extended “families” of convenience.

of



different women cousins play the roles of various members of the family , including father, mother, siblings, grandchildren, even

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key issues in the incarceration of women   

educational & vocational training



female programs tend to reflect stereotypical “female” occupations



women’s programs less ambitious than men’s

medical services



women have more serious health problems

mothers & their children

 

167,000 American children (2/3 of whom are under 10) have a mother in jail or prison 65% of incarcerated mothers were single caretakers of minor children.

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official sexual misconduct in prison   

number of cases of misconduct by male officers in on increase, with increase in female inmates



eg, Houston Cagle & Susan Smith, 2000

Officers may abuse authority to compel sex by withholding goods and privileges to prisoners or by rewarding them with same 42 states have enacted legislation prohibiting sexual misconduct

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