Incarceration of women
Approximately 741,000 women are incarcerated in correctional facilities, a 17% increase since 2010 and the female prison population has been increasing across all continents.[1][2] The list of countries by incarceration rate includes a main table with a column for the historical and current percentage of prisoners who are female.
"Women's prison" and "Prison for women" redirect here. For other uses, see Women's Prison.Prison population[edit]
Globally, the vast majority of incarcerated people are men.[3] Incarcerated women have been and continue to be treated differently by criminal justice systems around the world at every step of the process, from arrest to sentencing, to punitive measures used. This disparity is largely due to tangible demographic differences between the severity of crimes committed by male and female prison populations, as well as a persistent belief by society at large that female criminals are better able to be rehabilitated than their male counterparts.[4]
Although women form a minority in the global prison population, the population of incarcerated women is growing at a rate twice as fast as the male prison population.[5] Those imprisoned in China, Russia, and the United States comprise the great majority of incarcerated people, including women, in the world.[6] Trends observed in the global growth of the female prison population can be partly explained by evolving policies regarding the sentencing and parole of female inmates. As criminal justice systems across the world move towards gender-blind sentencing, this has resulted in a tremendous increase in the rate of female incarceration. Concurrent elimination of parole and toughening of penalties for parole violations in many areas of the world also contribute to high rates of re-entry and re-offending, further driving up rates of incarceration of women.[5]
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime[7] website hosts data[8] regarding prison populations around the world, including "Persons held - by sex, by age group"[9] and "Persons held - by status and sex".[10]
Social and political conditions leading to incarceration[edit]
International developments in the political response to social issues, specifically the global drug epidemic, have catalyzed many changes in the composition of the prison populations and, subsequently, the types of conditions prisoners experience while incarcerated. The War on Drugs has accounted for the large population of female low-level offenders, usually imprisoned for narcotic use or possession.[11] Western powers, particularly the United States, have largely advocated for the global proliferation of the so-called “War on Drugs”.[12]
While there is no globally uniform representation among female prisoners in terms of the types of crimes they are imprisoned for, it is widely acknowledged that there are a number of underlying social inequities which make affected women disproportionately more likely to commit crimes and therefore become incarcerated. The most prominent of these conditions is that of poverty, as well as the conditions that give rise to poverty. Globally, women in poor households tend to bear a disproportionate amount of work in regard to caring for the household, feeding the family, and educating the children.[13] This is in tandem with educational inequalities,[14] pay gaps,[15] pregnancy,[16] and heightened rates of physical and domestic abuses.[17] Another inequity deemed partially culpable for the rate at which impoverished women, in particular, are incarcerated due to the lack of access to mental health care. Many incarcerated women suffer from mental illnesses, and their incarceration can be directly linked to an absence of treatment for their conditions.[6]
Research has shown a significant link between females in prison and brain injury,[18][19][20][21] which supports research that shows incarcerated females are overwhelmingly victims of domestic violence (aka male violence against women).[22][23][24][25][18]
Prison conditions[edit]
Early facilities were considered inhumane with little regard for health and safety. Men and women were housed in a large room where the strong preyed on the weak.[26] As of 1964, in most of the Western world, the guards in female prisons are no longer exclusively female.[27] As of that year, both men and women work as guards in women's prisons in the United States.[28] However, some states have laws requiring female officers as well as a female superintendent. While most states have only one or two institutions for women, some facilities are considered "unisex" and house both male and female inmates in separate areas.[29]
There is massive variation in the quality of living standards both between prisons around the world and between prisons within individual countries. Variations in national wealth, apportionment of national budgets and different approaches to criminal rehabilitation all contribute to the absence of uniformity in prison living standards. Other phenomena, such as the privatisation of prisons in many countries with large prison populations, such as the United States, also give rise to variability in the environmental quality of women's prisons. Once a corporation assumes governance over prison and its budget, the presiding government has relatively little oversight of the maintenance of prison standards and prisoner wellbeing. There are many ongoing political debates surrounding the continuation of private prisons.[11]
Certain prison populations, including women, have special health needs which often go unmet. For example, one study in the journal Health and Social Care in the Community found that in England and Wales, which have the highest prison populations of any European countries, women's specific mental and physical health needs are under-researched and not sufficiently cared for, with 40% of female prisoners reporting long-term health problems in comparison with the male statistic of 33%.[30]
Drug offenders[edit]
Between 2010 and 2011, the rate for the imprisonment of female drug offenders was at 5.7%, a drop from 6% in 2010.[62] The treatment in which female drug offenders receive has also been closely analyzed in the U.S. In the U.S., compared with male prisoners, women offenders have been more likely to report instances of childhood trauma, abuse, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, interpersonal violence, adolescent conduct disorder, homelessness, as well as chronic physical and mental health problems, and because of such problems, women are more likely to commit criminal activity or have severity to addiction.[63] One of the problems female offenders are facing is that they need more special substance abuse treatment for their gender, but the treatment they receive are mostly male-oriented programs such as Therapeutic Community (TC) models.[63] As substance abuse treatment is not fairly granted in prisons across the U.S., recidivism is likely to go up within 2011, with the most serious offense for 59.4% of women incarcerated in federal prisons being drug violations.[64]
Issues in studying the incarceration of women[edit]
Before the 1980s, there was a lack of female representation in criminology around the world, making research in this area very difficult. This low level of representation was due to the fact that gender was not a large topic of debate. When studies would come up regarding the subject of criminology, most theories regarding crime were largely male-modelled due to the significant portion of crime attributed to males. However, due to the feminist movement in the 1960s, demand for information concerning female incarceration arose. Due to this growing demand that gained speed in the 1980s, research in crimes committed by women has surged[39]
Children of incarcerated parents[edit]
The number of children with mothers in prison has doubled during the 17 years from 1990 to 2007, according to a 2007 report run by the Bureau of Justice Statistic (BJS). Mainly, Black and Hispanic children were part of the 1.7 million children whose parents were incarcerated during that span.[65] Sleep disorders and behavioral problems tend to be present on children with mothers in prison.[66][67]
Moreover, a study run by Child Welfare Services (CWS) concludes that the likelihood of being in a vulnerable situation is higher among children whose parents are behind the bars than other children treated by CWS.[68]
The constitutional rights of pregnant inmates in US prisons have been undergoing codification and expansion in the 2000s. Data from 2010 show that female incarceration rates are growing more rapidly than male incarceration rates in the United States.[69] One out of every four women in prison is pregnant. Less than half of prisons in the United States have official policies about medical care for pregnant inmates. About 48% of prisons have prenatal services. Of these 48%, only 15% of prisons have programs implemented to help mothers find suitable work after they give birth. Additionally, only 15% of prisons have policies that require light work or no work for pregnant women. Throughout the United States, pregnant inmates are treated poorly by prison staff because there is a permeating prejudice that pregnant inmates are not "worthy enough to have children".[69] There are psychological stressors experienced by pregnant inmates during pregnancy and during the birthing process. For example, thirty-five states allow women to be chained to the bed while in labor and giving birth. In states where shackling is illegal, there are a significant amount of lawsuits claiming that shackling was used during childbirth. Researchers have argued that allowing women to remain shackled to a bed during birth is inhumane and undignified.[69]
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