Incarcerating, Punishing and Treating Offending Women and Girls

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Chapter 5

• Incarcerating, Punishing and Treating Offending
  Women and Girls

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• First major studies on women prisoners were not
  conducted until the 1960s
• Little was known about the prisons
• Most studies focused on homosexuality or
  deplorable conditions

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• 3 reasons have been offered for the invisibility
  of incarcerated women
• Women are a small proportion of prison and jail
  population
• Usually incarcerated for less serious and
  dangerous crimes
• Less likely to riot, make demands etc

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History of Institutionalizing Females

• Women and men were subject to the same penalties
  in pre-industrial societies
• Burnings at the stake
• Whippings
• Hangings
• Public ridicule

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• Confinement for long periods of time was uncommon
  until the late 16th century
• Women could be punished for crimes against their
  husbands
• Burned to death for committing adultery or
  murdering a spouse
• Men who did the same thing were rarely punished

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• Could be punished by the church and the state
• 1923, ½ of the women in prisons were convicted of
  sex offenses
• 1700s in England convicts were transported to
  Australia
• Even for petty crimes

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• Women often forced into prostitution in Australia
• Men and women were often housed in the same
  institutions
• Women faced a high risk of rape
• Often resulted in pregnancy and floggings that
  caused death

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• Prisons were unwilling to hire female guards
• Reform in imprisonment 19th century conducted
  by wealthy white women
• Thought women were victims in a male economic and
  criminal justice system

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• Elizabeth Fry 1816
• Started the Ladies Society for Promoting the
  Reformation of Female Prisoners in England
• Quaker
• Said that women have different needs
• Needlework, personal hygiene, religious
  instruction, and hire female guards

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• Many of her ideas were unpopular but by 1948 she
  did get passed segregation in prisons, female
  guards, decreasing hard labor

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• U.S. reform movement started later
• 1830 Magdalen Home
• Reform prostitutes
• Remold rather than punish
• After the Civil War the jails were filled with
  women who were punished when they were simply
  trying to get by

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• High mortality rate of infants born to
  incarcerated women
• Reformatories designed to house women offenders
• Reflect the gender stereotypes for treatment and
  activities

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• Viewed women as more child like
• Discouraged them from acting like independent
  adults
• Many sent to reformatories for minor sex offenses
  (prostitution, pregnancy out of wedlock)
• Men were not punished for these crimes

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• Some reformatories had nurseries, kitchens,
  living rooms
• If paroled, the idea was for the women to be a
  domestic servant in a good Christian home

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• 1900-1920
• New reformers who were education
• Lots of doctors and psychiatrists in the prisons
• Questioned the treatment of traditional roles

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• Reformers believed that the cause of womens
  crime low wages and limited opportunities in
  work and education
• 1915 more prostitutes and drug users in prisons
• Increase in African American women in prisons
• Racially segregated cottages

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• Depression many institutions closed
• Reform in the 1970s get rid of gender
  stereotypes

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Womens Prisons Today

• Women actually make a small proportion of
  prisoners
• Few womens prisons
• Institutionalized sexism in prisons

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• 1. womens prisons are further distance from
  family
• 2. small number of women in prisons is used to
  justify a lack of programs
• 3. low levels of treatment

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• Most law suits from women since the 1970s have to
  do with equal treatment jobs, pay, visits, etc
• Many female offenders are survivors of sexual
  assault yet programming to help them is not
  available

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• Vaginal exams are frequent yet yearly paps are
  often not given
• Law libraries are not always available
• Often no education regarding contraception,
  reproduction education etc.
• 5-6 of women come to prison pregnant
• Some get pregnant while in prison

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Rates of Imprisonment

• The number of women in prisons tripled during the
  1980s
• Most are in prison for property crimes, drug
  offenses, public order offenses

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Who is in womens prisons?

• Page 168 and 169
• Prior to 1865, African American women were
  disproportionately incarcerated
• After the civil war, the rates increased
• Most females are poor
• Survived sexual abuse/physical violence
• Drugs, prostitution

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Girls Correctional Institutions

• Start in solitary confinement
• Risk of sexual assault
• Many have thought about or attempted suicide

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Psychological Aspects of Imprisonment

• Many treatment policies are to treat women as
  though they are sick
• High rates of self mutilation
• High suicide rates
• Women internalize anger
• Many receive medication for emotional disorders

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• Why do women received more meds?
• Experience imprisonment more than males
• More pain due to separation from kids
• Social control of females

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• Many are drug users
• Programs are often not available
• Lots of guilt and worry about separation from
  families
• Feel guilty about incarceration
• Doubly traumatized

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• Often receive less visits from families unlike
  male offenders
• Different values are placed on male inmates

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Parenthood

• Incarcerated women are far more likely than
  incarcerated men to be the emotional and
  financial providers for children
• Children are far more likely to be affected by an
  incarcerated mother than an incarcerated father

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• Grandparents most likely take the grandchild when
  parents are in prison
• Children often have to change schools
• Less well off financially
• Higher rate of drug use and dropping out of
  school
• Higher crime rates/chances of going to prison

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• Average number of children for each incarcerated
  mom 2 or 3
• Can be difficult to visit parent in prison
• This has devastating and lasting effects on
  children
• Should infants be allowed to stay with moms?

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• Early womens reformatories often allowed
  children until they were 2
• Some prisons allow extended visits
• Some allow few contact visits
• Women often worry about retaining custody once
  they are out

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• Incarcerated women are more likely than
  incarcerated men to have their parental rights
  revoked
• Mothers report desertion or divorce by their male
  partners or husbands

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Educational, vocational and recreational programs

• Women prisoners have typically been viewed as
  unworthy or incapable or training or education
• Programs are usually poorer in quantity

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• Lack of womens prison programs women
  constitute a small percentage of prisoners and
  that they are in prison for relatively short time
  periods compared to men
• Page 180 paragraph

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• 1/3 of all incarcerated females hold a high
  school degree at intake

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Health care services

• Women in prison may have more serious health
  problems
• Living in poverty, limited access to medical
  care, poor nutrition, chemical dependency,
  limited education on health

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• Easy to get illegal drugs in prison but
  prescription meds can be difficult to obtain
• Incarcerated males are 4 times as likely as
  female prisoners to see a physician
• Often have greater medical needs and the care is
  not available

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• HIV in womens prisons
• Often given unnecessary hysterectomies
• Health care issues of women who are pregnant and
  addicted to drugs

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• Inadequate resources for false labor,
  miscarriages etc
• Lack of maternity clothes
• Social workers are often more available than
  medical personnel

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• Often report that women will want to see a doctor
  but after weeks of not being able to see one,
  they get better

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Prison Subculture

• Males adapt to incarceration by isolating
  themselves
• Females form close relationships with other
  inmates
• Pseudo-families close and sexual bonds

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• Male prisoners stick together more to the
  convict code more than women
• More afraid than men of losing days due to rule
  violations
• Women focus on how to quickly get out to be with
  their families

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• Women miss relationships and create these
  families to replace what they have lost and to
  cope
• Females play various roles, even male roles
• Psychological well being
• Not necessarily sexual more affection

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• Some will only assume lesbian status while
  incarcerated
• Not all women in prison who love other women are
  lesbian
• They learn to love other women as a way to cope
• Many say that they feel better about themselves
  and their bodies

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• Jealousy can be a big issue
• Most lesbian relationships end when one gets out
  of prison

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• Do not confuse consensual homosexuality and
  prison rape. They are 2 separate things
• In mens prisons homosexual rape is accepted but
  consensual gay relationships are not always
  accepted

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• Problems of sexual abuse by staff and
  administrators
• Male inmates are more likely to be rape by other
  inmates
• Females are more likely to be raped by staff
  (guards) and administrators

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• Some women may be forced to have abortions so the
  men are not caught
• Can be difficult for a women to retaliate against
  the perpetrator

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Co-corrections

• Some facilities house both males and females (not
  together)
• Idea began in the 1970s hoping that sex
  integration would normalize the prison experience
• Work and eat together

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• Reduces sex discrimination in work, treatment and
  programs
• Allows for prisons to be more accommodating for
  visitors
• More sexual control would be needed
• Pregnancies
• prostitution

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Women and the Death Penalty

• Little research on this issue
• Between 1632 and 1997 executions of 357 women
• Murder convictions