Incarceration of women - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article discusses the incarceration of women in correctional facilities.

History

In the United States, authorities began housing women in correctional facilities separate from men in the 1870s. The first American female correctional facility with dedicated buildings and staff was the Mount Pleasant Female Prison in Ossining, New York

Ossining (village), New York

Ossining is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 25,060 at the 2010 census. As a village, it is located in the Town of Ossining.-Geography:Ossining borders the eastern shores of the widest part of the Hudson River....

; the facility had some operational dependence on nearby Sing Sing

Sing Sing

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York...

, a men's prison.

In most of the Western world

Western world

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

, female prison guards exclusively guard female prisoners. Until the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act, this was true in the United States. Men usually worked in perimeter posts, such as gate posts, rather than having direct contact with female prisoners. Male employees previously had restricted positions. Both acts integrated the workforce, and after the acts passed male employees gained increasingly direct contact with female prisoners. As of 2007, about 40% of prison guards in American womens' prisons are men. In some facilities, most of the prison guards are men: Silja Talvi, author of Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison System, argued that in theory gender equality makes sense in all occupations, but in practice having male guards watch over female prisoners is problematic.

At the end of 2001, in the United States 93,031 women were incarcerated in federal and state prisons, making up 6.6% of the total incarcerated population. Within the US, the rate of female incarceration increased fivefold in a two decade span ending in 2001; the increase occurred because of increased prosecutions and convictions of offenses related to recreational drugs, increases in the severity of offenses, and a lack of community sanctions and treatment for women who violate drug laws.

Differences between incarcerated women and men

M. L. Lyke, a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...

, said "Women menstruate. They get pregnant. They stress over losing their children to Child Protective Services. Many come into the system physically and sexually abused. Most come in addicted to drugs."

Substance Abuse

According to the December 1999 publication Women Offenders of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1998 40% of women incarcerated in U.S. state prison systems reported that they used drugs while committing the crimes that they were convicted of, while 32% of men in U.S. state prisons used drugs at the times of committing their offenses. Of the women in U.S. state prisons in 1998, according to the publication, one third of them committed their crimes in order to obtain funds for buying drugs. The 2004 publication Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoner of the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that 60% of women in U.S. state prison systems had histories of dependence on drugs. The 1997 publication Substance Abuse and Treatment, State and Federal Prisoner, 1997 that 1/5th of female state prisoners with histories of substance abuses and 1/8th of female federal prisoners with histories of substance abuse receive treatment for addiction.

Health care

In 2005, in U.S. state prisons 73.1% of women had mental health issues, while 55% of men in state prisons had mental health problems. Around April 2005, less than 25% of women in U.S. jails received mental health services, and 12% of women in U.S. jails had severe psychiatric disorders. In 1994 the National Institute of Correction said that American prison systems did not adequately provide gynecological services. During that year half of the state prison systems surveyed by the institute provided female-specific health care services, including mammograms and pap smears. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

said that, in the systems offering those services, many women encountered long waiting lists. Within the American prison system, HIV became more prevalent among women than among men. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, from 1991 to 1998 the number of women prisoners with HIV increased by 69%, while the equivalent figure among male prisoners decreased by 22% during the same time period. The New York State Department of Health

New York State Department of Health

The New York State Department of Health, ', is the governmental body responsible for public health in the state of New York. The cabinet-level department is headed by the Health Commissioner, a position held since January 24, 2011 by Nirav R. Shah, M.D., M.P.H.....

stated in 1999 that women entering New York state prisons had twice as high of an HIV rate as men entering New York state prisons. At the end of the year 2000 women in U.S. state prison systems had a 60% higher likelihood of carrying HIV than men in American state prison systems. According to HIV in Prison by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2004 2.4% (1 in 42) of women in American prisons had HIV, while 1.7% (1 in 59) of men had HIV.

Pregnancy

The female experience of pregnancy and childbirth conflicts with a prison system and attendant services originally designed for men. “In 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that, on average, 5% of women who enter into state prisons are pregnant and in jails 6% of women are pregnant”. Very few of these women receive prenatal care, which can be very detrimental to both the mother and child, especially when coupled with inmates’ histories of inadequate health care as well as sexual, physical and substance abuse. Most of these pregnancies are deemed as high risk. Additionally, a lack of maternity clothes and resources to deal with premature births, false labors, and miscarriages pose serious challenges to prisoners.
Most pregnant women are shackled on grounds of security in labor and delivery. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a statement in 2007, supporting the termination of shackling laboring and delivering mothers because, “physical restraints have interfered with the ability of physicians to safely practice medicine by reducing their ability to assess and evaluate the physical condition of the mother and fetus, and have similarly made the labor and delivery process exceedingly difficult, which puts the health and lives of women and unborn children at risk”. It remains a contentious debate as to whether or not pregnant prisoners should be exempt from being shackled on account of such risks.

Sexual Abuse

Specific female concerns include the threat of sexual vulnerability and victimization. Research documents numerous cases in which women are at a significantly higher risk than men for being sexually abused before and during prison. Sexual aggression and abuse by male prison staff is widespread. “In 2008 [according to recent Bureau of Justice Statistics], more than 216,600 people were sexually abused in prisons and jails…overall, that’s almost six hundred people a day- twenty-five an hour”. The majority of women incarcerated experience abuse before prison and while incarcerated and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Sexual offenses against women prisoners can include rape, assault, and groping during pat frisks. Male correctional officials often violate women prisoners’ privacy by watching them undress, shower, and go to the bathroom. Research suggests that, “women with histories of abuse are more likely to accept sexual misconduct from prison staff because they are already conditioned to respond to coercion and threats by acquiescing to protect themselves from further violence”. “In federal women’s correction facilities, 70% of guards are male,” reinforcing female inmates’ powerlessness.
There have been numerous legal cases challenging these abusive conditions of confinement. In 2003, President Bush signed the “Prison Rape Elimination Act into law, legally addressing prisoner rape; calling for a study of prison rape and developing guidelines for states on how to address the problem.” However, its primary focus was on prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in male prisons, and it failed to mention the sexual abuse in female facilities. In 2005, “the Office of the Inspector General and the DOJ released a report documenting widespread sexual abuse by prison employees nationwide, noting that only 37% had faced some kind of legal action. Of those, ¾ walked away with no more than probation. It took all of this evidence for the BOP to finally criminalize sexual contact as a felony in 2006, so that guards can actually face up to five years in prison”. However, “when authorities confimed that corrections staff had sexually abused inmates in their care, only 42% of those officers had their cases referred to prosecution; only 23% were arrested, and only 3% charged, indicted, or convicted. Fifteen per cent were actually allowed to keep their jobs”.
Despite such legislative progress, women are fully dependent on the guards for basic necessities and privileges, and in many states, guards have access to inmates’ personal history files which can empower them to threaten prisoners’ children if the women retaliate. Female inmates who retaliate also face the loss of ‘good time’ for early parole in addition to prolonged periods of disciplinary segregation, and detrimental write-ups, which further deters acts of resistance. The fear incited by such threats as well as the concern that no one will believe them or that no one really cares can successfully silence women. Experience of sexual abuse in prison can greatly impede women’s capacity to reintegrate into society upon release.

Barriers to Reentry

Of women in U.S. state prisons, 44% do not have a high school diploma or equivalent (GED

GED

General Educational Development tests are a group of five subject tests which, when passed, certify that the taker has American or Canadian high school-level academic skills...

). As they reenter their communities, former inmates confront sparse job opportunities, limited options for stable and affordable housing, denials of public assistance, as well as the challenge of reestablishing relationships with family and friends. However, relationships, in particular among family, provide an extremely beneficial support system for prisoners returning home upon their release. Dififculties with employment, housing, and ostracism can decrease successful transitions and lead to a cycle in and out of prison.

Effects on Motherhood/Family Structure

One major effect of prison includes the assault on relationships between parents and their children. Many of the women incarcerated are single mothers who are subsequently characterized as inadequate, incompetent, and unable to provide for their children during and after imprisonment. At the same time, “separation from and concern about the well-being of their children are among the most damaging aspects of prison for women, and the problem is exacerbated by a lack of contact”. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “54% of mothers in state prisons as of 2000 had had no personal visits with their children since their admission”. Obstacles that inhibit contact between mothers and their children include geographical distance, lack of transportation, lack of privacy, inability to cover travel expenses and the inappropriate environments of correctional facilities. Statistics indicate “that a majority of parents in state and federal prisons are held over 100 miles from their prior residence; in federal prison 43% of parents are held 500 miles away from their last home, and over half of female prisoners have never had a visit from their children and very few mothers speak with their children by phone while incarcerated”.
Recent legislation has further impeded incarcerated parents’, mothers in particular, ability to sustain custody of their children. The Adoption and Safe Families Act

Adoption and Safe Families Act

The Adoption and Safe Families Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 19, 1997 after having been approved by the United States Congress earlier in the month....

, enacted in 1997, “authorizes the termination of parental rights once a child has been in foster care for 15 or more months of a 22-month period. Incarcerated women serve an average of 18 months in prison. Therefore, the average female prisoner whose children are placed in foster care could lose the right to reunite with her children upon release”. These stipulations expedite the termination of parental rights due to the narrow time frame. A 2003 study found that, “termination proceedings involving incarcerated parents increased from approximately 260 in 1997, the year of ASFA’s enactment, to 909 in 2002”. In general, unlike male inmates’ whose children might remain in the custody of their wives, girlfriends, and mothers, women prisoners experience a high chance of losing their children to the State. According to a 2000 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, "1/3 of incarcerated mothers lived alone with their children and over 2/3 of women prisoners have children under the age of 18; among them only 28% said that their children were living with the father while 90% of male prisoners with minor children said their children were living with their mothers."