Women in Prison Around the World

In the article, "Women's Prisons -A Global State of Crisis" Anzia(2008)suggests that women's prisons all around the world are not in proper order."The strategy used in women’s prisons now is one of humiliation rather than rehabilitation," said Jane Evelyn Atwood in her 2007 Amnesty International video documentary.Women in prisons all over the globe are being subjected to "Conditions of improper touching by persons of authority, sanctioned sexual harassment, unnecessary strip searches, lack of proper medical attention or proper food exists in numerous global prison locations" In addition to this, "psychological coercion and/or threats of sexual assault by persons in authority create a constant, unending and intense universal pressure on many incarcerated women".Many American don't even realize what goes on in other parts of the world, let alone the state of women imprisoned in other countries.

In prisons in Afghanistan, women have been put into jail for violating moral norms.According to the article, on the Independent World website the two most common accusations for women in Afghanistan are "escaping from home" & "illegal sexual relations". With the first having a sentence of 10 years, and the sexual relations sentence at 20 years. Even though 2/3 of the women in the prisons are convicted of illegal sexual relations they are actually in prison for being rape victims. The article notes how, "The system does not distinguish between those who have been attacked and those who have chosen to run off with a man". When I read the article I thought of how even though the criminal justice system in America is not running like it was intended to,we still have rights that are granted to us. However the women in Afghanistan have basically no rights. They have to wear burkas and cover themselves. They basically cannot do anything unless their husbands or athers allow them to.If a woman is raped, beside the shame of being raped she has to be ridicled by her government.One of the women Zirdana was shown with a wound most likely infected with flies on it. just reading the description of the image gave me chills, which made me think how can people be so cruel? The article ended with one of the prisoners named Dorma pleading, "Please, please take our words somewhere where people will be kind and help us." This treatment is inhumane is no one should every receive this type cruel and unusual punishment ,unless they are pedophiles who rape and abuse children,rapists, and cold hearted killers who kill people because they like the satisfaction in doing so.


There are three prisons that house female inmates in Iraq.At the Kadhmiya prison in Bagdad, a grandmother is imprisoned with her 8 month old granddaughter. The woman's daughter was killed by be hanged at a lamppost.And the rest of her grandaughter's family are slain. So because the girl was a orphan, she is staying with her grandmother because there is no one to care for her. A complaint at the prison is, "No legal representation, unfair trials".

On the otherhand, we also see countries that are trying to make improvements for their incarcerated women. Taking for example the Siberian region of Russia.In Russia prisons for women, there are beauty pageants that the women can participate in. BBC reported on Beauty pageants in Russia's women's prisons.At UF 91/9 an all women's correctoinal facilitiy 20 miles away from the capital, Novosibirsk. "We wanted to find ways to occupy convicts' free time," says Natalya Baulina, the prison's administrative head. The pageant first started in 1990. It has been quite the news, that even local news stations broadcast the pageant.According to the BBC,When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, the economy collapsed almost overnight and many unemployed women turned to crime. There are 35 womens prisons in Russia.Former inmate Natasha Patalakhova, 29, who served eight years for armed assault, directed the pageant when she was in prison and her involvement helped her secure an early release.What I found interesting about the article was that corrections officials in Siberia region of Russia were doing something productive with the inmates, I also researched the topic and found that Mexico also has women's beauty pageants held for the inmates.

Despite Thailand's bad rept for their state of corrections, especially with the tretament of women prisoners, I have read of the good deeds being doneon behalf of Thailand's Princess."Kamlangjai" means inspire in Thai, and it is also the name of a foundation for Thailand's female inmates.The princess of Thailand,Princess Bajrakitiyabha initated thisproject. This funding for the project getsresources from the government and private sources, and it generates publiunderstanding and much-needed acceptance for offenders.According to the article, Princess Bajrakitiyabha,noted how, "The quality of justice has nothing to do with arresting and throwing them into a cell. It has everything to do with making them better people, as everyone must eventually come back to society". This specific project help Thailand's female inmates by offering counseling,"as well as special health, pregnancy and child care normally unavailable in prison".In addition there are various vocational, and employment programs which provide these women with the skills they can use to find work once released.

From the cruel and inhumane conditions affecting women prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistand I can see hope for women inmates in areas like Thialand and Siberia.Even though there are women around the world who commit crimes and need to be punished, there are also women imprisoned for unjust reasons. I hope that issues like these can be looked into and help the women who are going through unjust treatment.

SOURCES:
www.youtube.com

"The Afghan Women Jailed for Being Victims if Rape" August 2008, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-afghan-women-jailed-for-being-victims-of-rape-900658.html

Anzia, Lys, "Women's Prisons- A Global State of Crisis" Sept. 2008, Womens News Network

Maria Yatskova March 11, 2008 "Siberian women's beauty pageant" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/7281761.stm

Hill, Gary, "Thai Princess Comes to the Aid Of Female Inmates" Corrections Compendium, 2009. Vol. 34, Iss. 2, p. 32-33

Damon,Arwa, "Gloom , Despair on Display at Iraqi Women’s Prison" May 2007 http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/10/damon.iraqprison/index.html

Females and Reentry after Incarceration

According to www.prisons.org, "There are 12,000 women on parole with 1,000 bed(openings) available for drug treatment as an alternative to re-incarceration for petty drug use or possession parole violations. Drug treatment could cut recidivism by 80%.Only 20% of parolees are in any kind of program assisting them in any way"
(2010).How can we as the public truthfully say that parolees can make a change if they try,but the communities we live in lack the services to help them succesfully reintegrate into the communities we live in?

According to the article, "Supervision Strategies and Approaches for Female Parolees" there are important needs that female parolees are just not receiving. One might remark: Well why should these people who have violated the law get special treatment? Female parolees face special issues upon release. Heilbrum,DeMatteo,Fretz,Erickson,Gerardi,&Halper(2006) note that,"Research on the female parolee population is important to gain insight into the needs of this population and the availability of genderresponsive approaches for addressing these needs"(p.451).A study was conducted of 452 female parolees. Some important topics covered included:housing transition, family reunification,education & job programs,substance abuse & treatment. What I found most interesting about the article was that how ,"Becoming financially self-sufficient is a critical need for female offenders. Without needed education and job skills programming, female parolees are at an increased risk of recidivating while under community supervision".It is hard enough being a single parent or not having enough income to support your family, however it would be much more stressful with the criminal record attached to the woman trying to support her family which would make it so much more harderd to find meaningful employment to support a family in these hard economic times.So ultimately for female parolees to be succesful in their reentry into the community they need some kind of support factor, such as family and friends to help them, mostly for that emotional component.

Women reentering the community after being incarcerated face a number of issues which can include: Heilbrum,DeMatteo,Fretz,Erickson,Gerardi & Halper(2006)suggest that,"reestablishing a home and family life, including regaining legal and physical custody of children; finding affordable housing and meeting other basic needs; securing employment that pays a sufficient income; creating a new social network that may or may not include intimate relationships; fulfilling the multiple conditions of a parole plan, (including continued sobriety, if not recovery, from alcohol or drug addiction); and finally, negotiating the stigmatized perception of women ex-prisoners by the general public-potential employers, landlords, and community members".

First of all just having a criminal record in general makes finding employment so much harder for a women who has been previously incarcerated. But finding employment that would actually allow her to support her family, without the need of social services is extremely hard without the proper education, or skills to obtain promising employment And to make matters even more difficult, the maximum amount of years an individual can receive social services such as welfare in California for example is 5 years. So the temptation to make money illegally to provide for a family is realistic, if there is no other way to support a family.Before being incarcerated there are a large percentage of women who were the sole providers of their families.So as a result of their absense from their families, both the emotional and the financial factors dissapear as well. The readjustment for the women, from prison to their families can be difficult at first, however with the proper mentoring, and resources it can be a much more easier transition, providing the mother and her family has support.

In the article, "Criminal Recidivism of Female Offenders: The Importance of Structured, Community Based Aftercare" Two groups of female parolees were interviewed (one consisted of 176 females, the other, 241 all paroled in New Jersey.The first group received a,"structured, gender specific assessment and treatment program" and the second group only had the ususal conditions of parole. After being reviewed for six months the first group had a re arrest rate of 6% while the group that did not receive the strustured aftercare had a rearrest precent of 12%These results indicate the importance of gender specific treatment for women parolees. Women face issues on parole that are specifically different than those of male parolees, and if they are not receiving the proper treatment their chance of making it in society after incarceration are very difficult.

"Most women on parole meet with their parole officer for only 15 minutes per month. Over 70% of those on parole will return to prison, and two-thirds of those returning will return for a technical violation of parole, and 1/3 for committing a new crime"(anewwayoflife.org).I believe it should be very important for people waiting to be paroled to have a set plan. A plan for how they will live their life, and not just "a maybe" or "I think", but a plan on how they will straighten out their lives, and properly reintegrate into society. Since it's so expensive to house inmates in our nations prisons, prisoners should either have the choice of taking part in a program, educational, technical & treatment for their issue or crime, or hard labor. It is as simple as that. It is way too expensive for tax payers to fund prison sentences, however if people are doing their time and at the same time trying to straighten out their lives, in the long run alot of money will be saved on future prison sentences.It is rare when a news story reports a ex offender who has succesfully adjusted their lives after incarceration, however there are many news stories on ex offenders who have re offended committing terrible crimes.


SOURCES:
Heilbrum M.,DeMatteo D.,Fretz R.,Erickson J.,Gerardi D.,& Halper (2008) "Criminal Recidivism of Female Offfenders: The Importance of Structured, Community Based Aftercare" Vol.33:2

D. McShane,Pamela J. Schram, Barbara A. Koons-Witt, Frank P. Williams, III and Marilyn (2006)"Examining the Link Between Unmet Needs and Parolee Outcome
Supervision Strategies and Approaches for Female Parolees:Examining the Link Between Unmet Needs and Parolee Outcome" Crime Delinquency 52; 450

www.prisons.org

www.anewwayoflife.org

Female Parole Agents

The Division of Adult Parole Operations is important in monitoring people after they are released from our nation's correctional facilities.Even though women are being seen, and heard more in the criminal justice system, alot of coverage about females working in the criminal justice system is on women in law enforement,noted Berg & Ireland(2007).

In the article, "Women in Parole: Gendered Adaptations of Female Parole Agents in California" female parole agents are interviewed about their role in developing and maintaining a positivity for females in a typically male dominated career. In the study, 12 female parole agents were interviewed. 5 of whom were the first women to be employeed with the Dept. of Corrections for the State of Calfiornia.Each of the participants were asked questions which included their backgrounds, family life, what made them choose this career, and ,their supervising choice when dealing with parolees.The participants were a mix of races and backgrounds.Particpants were recommended because of their accomplishments while working in CDCR, with most being adminstrators.Their ages varied starting from their 40's all the way into their 90's, with the average age of around 50.
One of the participants explained, "I believe that rapport and intuition are very important in all aspects: for parolee compliance and agent safety. I liked most of them. I was never afraid of them.” In general to be a parole officer you have to understand that you cannot be afraid of parolees,because if you show even one bit of fear the parolee will most likely pick it up like that and use is to his or her advantage.

According o Berg & Ireland(2007), "these female parole agents relied heavily on the traditionally female trait of intuition in their daily field duties with parolees and, consequently, indicated that they felt little fear while conducting their parole agent activities"(p.482).An important factor I discovered was,"Research suggests female officers are equal in inherent competenceto their male counterparts in many respects, and that there is no difference between male and female officer performance records". However all of the agents that noted the prevelance discrmination, gender bias, and harassment in some form or another. One particpant shared her experience, that occured while in the parole academy. After being criticised repeatedly for not making the target during firerams training, she took it upon herself to take extra training and rangemaster courses. She eventually became a marksman, and a rangemaster, traning other agents how to shoot effectively.

Just like correctional officers, parole agents have to trust in their intuition to effectively do their jobs.These women and men, essentially put their lives on the line to make sure the public is safe with people who are paroled from correctional facilities. To make matters even more stressful parole agents usually have latge workloads, more than they should have. Agents sometimes even have to put their family and loved ones aside, to make sure their duties of being an agents are fullfilled.
I have interned at the Fairfield parole office since October 2008.In fact on my first day was when I realized I wanted to be a Parole Agent. These women and men who maintain the peace by monitoring and even counseling parolees have a huge impact on the safety of our communities. However,the public doesn't always realize what kind of person it takes to take such a huge responsibility.



SOURCES:
Berg B. & Ireland C."Women in Parole: Gendered Adaptations of Female Parole Agents in California"

Female Inmate Prison Programs

Prison programs are both beneficial to the inmates, and to the public. These programs provide hope, positivity, and the much needed skills/training/education for inmates. Once inmates are released, the rates of returning to prison are very likely. Especially in California, with recidivism rates in the area of about 68%. How can one not question the effectiveness of America's prison systems? Even though there are many different types of prison programs, I will talk about five which I thought highlight female prison programs. These 5 programs include:prison nurseries, dogs in prison, female inmate fire crews, drug treatment, and education.

FEMALE INMATE FIRE CREWS

In the article, “Inmates doing time on Calif. fire lines” women inmate fire crews are observed in Goleta, California. Female inmates from the Conservation Camp Program, near Santa Barbara have the opportunity to help fight fires. The Conservation Camp Program has both male, and female inmates, with about 350 female inmates participating in this particular program. The inmates “are trained to fight fires and do forestry work on public lands”. “The women do the same work as their male counterparts, and while they're not as strong or fast, they're more precise", said Lt. Angela R. Alexander, supervisor of the Goleta fire crew. He also noted how much cleaner the female fire crew lines were, compared to the men. And in addition, Alexander noted the close knit “buddy systems” the women prisoners have. The only real difference between the inmates, and the non inmate fire crews is that the inmates cannot use the torches used for setting backfires. For the hard work these females inmates do, "they earn a $1 an hour and two days off their sentence for every day worked”. I think that is great that inmates both male, and female can participate in helping put out brush and forest fires. They are being productive with their sentence while helping out society. Even though it is understandable how not every inmate can qualify to participate, the fact that they are effectively using their time controlling and maintaining brush and forest fires is terrific.



PAWS IN PRISON/PATRIOT PAWS

There are two programs involving dogs interacting with inmates, specifically females in a prison environment.Lori Stevens, runs a non profit called Patriot Paws which was founded in 2006. This program takes service dogs, and lets female inmates train them for veterans who are disabled. Patriot Paws runs on donations, however Stevens says, "there is never enough funding”. She also notes, “the hardest part is asking for money”. The training of the dogs start when the puppies are 6-18 months, and according to Stevens, “They are usually Labs because they are smart, eager to learn and friendly” . Stevens has over 20 years of dog training experience, and is a certified dog trainer. The second dog program I will note on is Paws In Prison, which I also posted a video from youtube about the program. Paws in Prison runs out of a Womens Correctional Facility in Lockhart, Texas.This specific program takes homeless dogs, and assigns them to qualified female inmates. For eight weeks, the dogs are then assigned to a primary, and secondary offender trainer. The dogs are basically trained to be socialized, and to receive basic training. This training makes the dogs useful in for a family environment.The female inmates attend classes twice a week with professional dog trainer to help in them with the training process. Once the dogs complete their training during the program,they “graduate” and are” ready for adoption by families found through the local collaborating agencies” Both of these dog prison programs show how beneficial these programs really. These animals provide these women with self esteem,better moods, and even provide social support.




PRISON NURSERIES


According to wpaoline.org(2010), there are only nine states (Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota, Washington, California, and West Virginia)in the U.S. that offer prison nurseries for female inmates with young infants, and children. Four of those prison nursery programs were created within the last five years. As noted in my earlier blog on Female Inmates, the incarcerations rates of females in the past thirty years have risen significantly. So it’s understandable to see the increase in the number of women in entering prison pregnant, and then having the baby while in custody. According to wpaonline.org (2009) prison nurseries programs were being fully operated up until the 1950’s, and by the 1970’s every state prison system except New York had closed their nurseries entirely. So as a result when women would give birth in prison, their babies would instantly taken away from them. Consequently, their babies would be adopted, sent to foster care, or be turned over to a family member to raise.

People opposed to prison nurseries tend to say how a correctional prison setting is not an appropriate place, to raise small children. The environment would hinder the children from properly developing. In addition, the fact that these women have “broken the law” and deserve the consequences, even if that means being separated from her children. Simply these women should not “have the privilege of parenting”.I feel that those arguments could be arguable however, the children of inmates should not suffer at the cost of their mother’s wrongdoing. Instead the children should be able to have a chance at having their mother raise them even if it is in prison.“When adequate resources are available for prison nursery programs, women who participate show lower rates of recidivism, and their children show no adverse affects as a result of their participation”(wpaonline.org)

To be qualified to enroll in a prison nursery program the inmates must not have been convicted of a violent crime, or have a history of any type of child abuse(neglect, physical, or sexual). And the maximum amount of the stay of the children varies among the different nursery programs across the United States. However most of the prison nurseries maximum time allowed is 12-18 months.



SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT

According to waponline.org(2010), "Women continue to be hard hit by the war on drugs. Between 1997 and 2006, women’s arrests for drug abuse violations rose by 29.9%, while men’s arrests for the same type of crimes rose by 15.7%. Over 200,000 adult women were arrested for drug abuse violations in 2006, an increase of nearly 23% from 2002".I have attempted to show the progress of prison programs for female inmates. However, in reality the availability, and funding for these programs isn’t always possible. Substance abuse is a very serious problem that is affecting both male, and female inmate populations and society as a whole.
In the article, “As rehab programs are cut, prisons do less to keep inmates from returning”, the issue of California’s state budget affecting prison programs are focused on. “Officials plan to chop $250 million a year from rehabilitation services, more than 40% of what the state now devotes to them and a quarter of the $1 billion it is slicing from its prison system”. It is quite sad what is happening with the budget, 20% of state workers wages were cut, higher education is hiked up, social services/programs are being cut. This is affecting everyone in California in one way or another. However the state needs to think of ways to make the state budget work for everyone. If we cut these prison programs, inmates who will be released at some point in time will not have the resources/training/treatment to help them survive out in the real world. As a result, many parolees will most likely resort to criminal activity to survive. Thois will in turn affect the safety of the public. Specifically, focusing on substance abuse programs, “At eight prisons, substance-abuse programs will close; scaled-down versions will remain at only 12 of the state's 33 lockups and one of its privately run prisons”. With the war on drugs which is also a SES issue, the situtation will in my opinion just get worse as more and more families undergoing loss of employment, and financial hardships with the state of the US economy.

EDUCATION IN PRISON

In the article, “Inmate education is found to lower risk a new arrest” two studies done on inmate...the Dept. of Education conducted a study on female inmates who received education in prison.The study revealed that inmates who receive highschool, and/or college education are less likely to return to prison within three years of their release. In this study more than 3,000 inmates were Maryland, Minnesota, and Ohio. According to public official..., “We found that for every dollar you spend on education, you save two dollars by avoiding the cost of re-incarceration”. A second study was conducted only on women, at the New York state maximum-security women's prison, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.According to the study which was conducted by the Open Society Institute, "a philanthropy backed by George Soros, fewer than 8 percent of the former inmates who attended college classes in prison returned to prison after three years, compared with almost 30 percent of the women who had not participated in the college program”. However the funding for these education programs in prisons isn’t always available. “In 1994, when politicians nationwide were trying to show they were tough on crime, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, making people convicted of felonies ineligible for Pell grants, the federal tuition assistance for the poor. Prison education accounted for less than 1 percent of the Pell grant budget”. However now things are changing for the better, “ under the Higher Education Act's Grants for Youthful Offenders program, the federal government has begun providing about $17 million for postsecondary education, mostly vocational, for inmates under 25 with less than five years to serve”.

Prison programs provide inmates with a more productive way of serving their time as well as self esteem, vocational/educational skills, compassion, and social skills.In addition to the inmates benefit, I believe entire prison can benefit with the type of environemnt prison programs promotes within in the prison. Even though funding for prison programs isn't always available, I hope that the public can see just how much these programs benefit everyone. Inmates and the public both benefit....Even though I just talked about five programs, there are many more options out there such as religion based programs,contemplative programs

SOURCES:

Lewen, Tamar,NY Times 2001 Nov. 16,“Inmate Education Is Found To Lower Risk of New Arrest”

Rothfield, Michael Los Angeles Times ,October 17, 2009 “As rehab programs are cut, prisons do less to keep inmates from returnin” http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/17/local/me-rehab17

Paws In Prison
www.wpaonline.org- A Look at Prison Nurseries May 2009

“Females doing time on Calif. fire lines” 2008 USA Today

Berger , Joseph “Prison Puppies” NY Times, June 1, 2008 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E1D91F39F932A35755C0A96E9C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

http://www.thechowchillanews.com/2010/02/03/20205/prisons-substance-abuse-program.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/mothers-rocking-the-priso_b_108625.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/16/us/inmate-education-is-found-to-lower-risk-of-new-arrest.html?pagewanted=1

Abshire, Richard , June 1, 2009 The Dallas News, “Female felons train Rockwall nonprofit's canine”

WWW.YOUTUBE.COM

Female Inmates

“The female prison population grew up 832% from 1977-2007. The male prison population grew 416% during the same period”. Even though there are much fewer women in prison today versus men, the rate at which women are being incarcerated as increased at an alarming rate. A majority of the crimes women commit are non violent, such as drug and property offenses. In the United States there are approximately 200,000 females behind bars. California is the state that has the largest amount of prisoners, currently at 5,010 inmates. In addition California “hosts” the world’s largest women’s prison, the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. There are 3 major women’s prisons in California. Besides, CCWF, there is Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW), also in the Central Valley, and the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Corona. There are many issues that women in prison must face: medical care, parenting, lack of proper resources, and sexual abuse. In trying to better understand incarcerated females, I will talk about a brief history of women inmates in the early 1900’s as well as women’s offenses and issues of interest with women inmates. In doing so I will attempt to answer the question: Who are these women being incarcerated in the United States?

In the beginning of the 19th century, there were few women imprisoned, and as a result, these small numbers were subjected to particularly harsh conditions. Both men, and women prisoners in the early 1900’s had to endure harsh treatment, filthy conditions, and overcrowding. However, because of the lack of women matrons(women that oversaw female inmates) for female prisoners, women were defenseless, and “vulnerable to attack from prison guards”. In addition women were not allowed to go to mess halls, exercise yards, workshops and had less access to physicians compared to male prisoners. Instead women were stuck in their cells, with their meals brought to them, basically left to die for the remainder of their sentences. Taking for example, the Auburn Penitentiary in New York in the 1920’s.Women were housed together in a one room attic, the windows were sealed preventing communication with men. The only options for women prisoners were penitentiaries, and custodial units which followed a “masculine model” . This model focused on “hard labor and harsh discipline”. The women’s reformatory movement emerged in the 1870’s with the development of reformatories which had more humane conditions and focused on actual rehabilitation. However in the 1930’s, during the Great Depression these reformatories were merged with custodial units, and because of lack of funding Reformatories lost their focus.



A typical female in the prison system is African American, or Latina. Unfortunately, a majority of these women have minimal education, and job skills. “Ninety-three out of every 100,000 white women were incarcerated at midyear 2008. During the same time period, 349 out every 100,000 black women and 147 out of every 100,000 Hispanic women were incarcerated”. This shocking statistic is just one of the many which exhibit the racial bias in our criminal justice system. According to prisonpolicy.org Black Women compared to White Women are, “over-arrested, over-indicted, under-defended and over-sentenced”.

Women in prison have many distinctive healthcare issues from male inmates. “As of December 31, 2005, 65.7% of women in California prisons were imprisoned for non-violent offenses, the majority of which were drug-related”(CDCR). A majority of female inmates have drug problems. Unfortunately even though many women entering prison have drug related problems, there is a lack of programs which therefore prevent women from getting the treatment they need to overcome their addictions. Another increasing problem, is the high rates of HIV and AIDS among female inmates. Since a majority of female inmates have problems with abusing drugs and prostitution. “57% of women in State prison report that they were physically or sexually abused prior to incarceration”(www.prisons.org).In regards to reproductive issues, women who give birth in prison are shackled. Because of the restrictive manner in which women inmates give birth in prison their babies are at risk. Studies have shown that women who are shackled during childbirth, develop complications such as decreased fetal heart rate. And in addition if a women needs a c-section, because of the increased time due to being shackled while birthing the child, the extra time(delay) can cause brain damage in the baby. A lot of women inmates have histories of physical, and sexual abuse. These histories, are often as a result of abusive male family members, husbands, or intimate partners. Because of histories of sexual, and physical abuse, a lot of incarcerated women have mental issues such as post traumatic stress disorder. However there are very few female prisons that offer the proper counseling services for these women.


“Most women prisoners are mothers. 64% have minor children, and 60% were living with their kids when arrested”(www.prisons.org). The issue of women inmates and their families are considerably different than men and their families. A majority of women in prison were the main providers for their families. So as a result, their families often get separated during their imprisonment. Often children of incarcerated females get “lost” in the foster care system. In addition many female prisons across the country are located in rural areas. A lot of women who get sent to prison come from urban, low income families. Taking California’s female prisons, for example. Two of the three women’s prisons are in Chowchilla (central California), and the third is located in Corona in southern California. For many families without cars, the trip to the prisons can be a difficult one. Unfortunately children are the ones who have to pay the price, for their mothers incarcerations. For many young toddlers an school age children the experiences along of just visiting their mothers can be traumatizing. According to the TIMES article, Mothers in Prison, children are subjected to strip searches.


Finally I will touch on the topic of sexual misconduct occurring in female US prisons. There have been many accounts of female inmates being raped, coerced to have sex, pat down searches which were inappropriate, or have been violated in some way by correctional staff(medical, officers). Rule 53 of the United Nations’ Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners declares that women prisoners must be supervised only by female officers. However the predominately male percentage of correctional officers, observe female inmates at all times. Some examples include: taking showers, dressing, and going to the bathroom. Until early 2006, male guards were allowed to pat search female prisoners in California (California Prison Focus). However because of a series of human rights campaigns in 2005,CDCR ended cross gender pat searches of women prisoners in California.

Even though women in our nation’s prisons and jails have committed crimes, there are special circumstances surrounding women and imprisonment. There are issues that women have to deal such as sexual abuse, reproductive and mental health issues, substances abuse issues, and lack of job/employment skills. Because of these issues, when these inmates are eventually released it will be like a cycle. A cycle that will not fix the problem, the problem surrounding women inmates in the criminal justice system.




Sources:
M Kay Harris (1998)Women’s Imprisonment in the United states, Corrections Today 60,7; Criminal Justice periodicals p.74
Kursham, Nancy “Women and Imprisonment in the US” www.prisonactivist.org
“Women & Criminal Justice-2009” http://www.wpaonline.org/pdf/Quick%20Facts%20Women%20and%20CJ%202009.pdf
“Women in Prison” America, 5/29/2006, Vol. 194 Issue 19, p5-5, 1p;
www.cdcr.com California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Drummond, Tammerlin “Mothers in Prison” TIME magazine Oct. 9, 2009
Women Prisoners: Altering the Cycle of Abuse. By: Fettig, Amy, Human Rights: Journal of the Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities, 00468185, Spring2009, Vol. 36, Issue 2
www.prisonpolicy.org
http://www.womenprisoners.org/resources/critical_statistics.html

Female Correctional Officers

In 2005 it was reported that women make up 23% of Correctional Officers in the United States. Even though women make up a small percentage of correctional officers in the United States ( not to mention around the world), they have recently been growing in numbers like never before. According to L. Mayes & R. Ruddell (2008),Women correctional officers are more commonly found in exclusively women’s prisons (almost half of employees). Even though there are considerable amounts of women working in male prisons as well. The number of women employed in corrections in 2000, was 141,727 which was a 41% increase from 1995. (p.180)

Throughout history, the American Criminal Justice System was generally male dominated. From ”criminal law codified by male legislators, enforced by male police officers, and interpreted my male judges”. Crimes were generally committed my males, and so by and large studies in criminology and theories on crime focused on males in a “by men for men” explanation. According to J. Holland(2008) in the article,” The Feminization of the Community Corrections Workforce” even though women have worked in the area of corrections since the 1900’s, they were not actually able to work in male institutions till the 1970’s. “In 1969, the Joint Commission of Correctional Manpower and Training reported that although women made up 40% of the general workforce, they accounted for only 12% of the correctional workforce". By 1990 the number of women in the correctional workforce had increased to 43%, with probation and parole agencies reporting the greatest rate of increase” According to the National Institute of Corrections, “women have been the “outsiders” in a traditionally male dominated field of corrections, where both the clientele and co-workers are predominately male.





Our society has for so many years seemingly predetermined a woman’s place in the workplace. A woman’s occupational choice should not be based on her external qualities. I feel that for way too long women have been judged, and criticized for making their own choices independently from a male. When I tell people I want to become a correctional officer, the responses I get regardless of the individual can make someone doubtful if they weren’t as set as myself on becoming an correctional officer. The comments I get from both men, and women drive me crazy, ”You are a pretty girl, why did you want to get involved in a career like that?” ,“You do know that you are going to get hit on”, or “You think that YOU could actually bring a huge inmate down?!”. It is true for the most part that physically, a typical woman does not have equal strength to that of a man, however women and men differ in what they can bring to a correctional setting. Women can offer a more holistic approach to dealing with inmates which a male officer would typically would not use. A correctional officer's worth in the field should not be based on gender but on what he or she can bring to the table.Basically,to effectively take on the requirements and duties of the job title.


In addition, to dealing with the bias perceptions of females (in a historically male dominated career choice), women also deal with negativity from other women working in corrections. According to the study, “Surrendering Solidarity” Considering the Relationships of Female Officers, women correctional officers were asked of their perceptions on fellow female correctional officers. Before even attempting to read the study, one would think that just because women were being interviewed on their perceptions of other women, they would be pro women, and have “woman power” type of vibe. However, the results proved to be the exact opposite. There were several negative labels: “The Weak/Incapable Officer”, “The Flirty/Sexual Officer”, “The Resistant Female Officer”, “The Overly Friendly with inmates Officer”, and the “Gossip Officer”. Taking two of these negative labels; the “weak/incapable officer” was describes as being overly emotional, easily taken advantage of by inmates, not physically strong enough to control inmates, and naïve. In addition the “weak/capable” officer was viewed as not being mentally unprepared for a job in corrections as an officer and overly feminine.

When I briefly talked to a female correctional officer at California State Prison, Solano she told me she does her nails, and makeup and doesn’t think twice about doing so. Just because I am feminine does not mean I am not not capable of doing my job” was her direct response to be question of being femine in the prison.The other negative label I will point out was the “flirty/sexual” officer, who as a result of these negative labels , where these officers seemed more interested in getting dates male officers or getting compliments for the inmates. This label I see as something that could definitely get in the way of doing your job effectively. I hear so many stories from people employed in the prisons where female officers are getting involved with male inmates or in love triangles with other officers. One would think that just because of the extensive backgrounds checks that prospective correctional officers have to go through does not always detect morality and self control. So as a result of these bad labels, these women officers are viewing each other in a negative light. To make matters worse these women correctional officers have a hard time gaining respect from male co workers, as well as getting male inmates to respect their authority.

Women have definitely made progress in the field of corrections in the past forty years. Women have transitioned to positions such as correctional officers , correctional counselors, and administrators where they have direct contact with male inmates. This differs from the past , where women only worked in clerical positions and jobs that didn’t require contact with inmates. However, like with any change there is a process. With the progress women have made over the years, they had to overcome gender biases,and similar struggles. However I feel there will continue to be progress for women working as correctional officers in the many years to come.


Sources:
Jo G. Holland (August, .L
2008) “The Feminization of the Community Corrections Workforce” Corrections Today 70,4; Criminal Justice Periodicals pg.44
Rader, Nicole E. (2007)”Surrendering Solidarity” Considering the Relationships of Female Officers, Women & Criminal Justice, 16:3 27-42
G. Larry Mays & Rick Ruddell (2008) Making Sense of Criminal Justice

Introduction to Women in Corrections & Rehabilitation

Corrections and Rehabilitation is a complex, yet interesting topic in our society. however the public isn't always aware of this topic because it is not always highlighted in research, or the media.There are so many important issues a lot of which involves the Corrections and Rehabilitation aspects of thein our Criminal Justice System. Some of these topics include: prison overcrowding, the death penalty, prisons gangs, substance abuse, wrongful sentencing, and the recidivism rates are just some of the many issues in Americas prisons. However the female presence in the Criminal Justice System is underrepresented in the both media, and in the general public at hand.
Within the last twenty years the female presence in the Criminal Justice system has grown incredibly. More specifically the increase of females in Corrections and Rehabilitation –both throughemploymented, andas well as incarceratedion. Nevertheless, female’s experiences in the criminal justice system are not as representative as our male counterparts. Beginning in the 1970’s, in the US, women were being allowed to work as positions within the criminal justice system that were typically male dominated. Even today there are males, and females who believe that a women’s place in society does not involve working in typically male domination careers such as a correctional officer. That women working in those positions would be viewed merely as sex objects, and not physically nor mentally/psychologically capable of handling such a complex, and demanding career. Besides the increase of women working in the criminal justice field, women are also dramatically increasing in their incarceration rates.
“The female prison population grew by 832% from 1977 to 2007. The male prison population grew 416% during the same time period”. (WPAonline.org) Even though the female prison populations is still substantially smaller than male prison population, they are growing at an alarming rate than ever before. Women who are incarcerated tend to have histories of domestic abuse, substance abuse, and are non violent offenders. With better representation of these very different areas in Corrections and Rehabiliation in the United States, the public will have a better understanding which will therefore initate change, and positivity for the future of women in the Criminal justice System.I believe that by better media coverage and through education in schools, thepublic can be more educated on the both the progress and downfalls of women and their presence in corrections and rehabilitation in the US and ultimately around the world.