Chapter 11: Female Offenders in Correctional Systems

Of the offending population, no more than roughly ______ are women, depending on whether one is talking about jails, prisons, community supervision, or the combination of each of these three.

8%-10%

Which state incarcerates the greatest number of women?

Texas

Which year did the first completely separate female prison open?

1874

What type of correctional institution was developed along with female custodial prisons?

Reformatories

Among women on community supervision (both probation and parole combined), the majority tend to be ______.

Caucasian American

This female activist is perhaps the first person noted for spearheading the rights of women in prison, and her thoughts became known across continents.

Elizabeth Fry

Which relative most often cares for the children of female prison inmates?

the maternal grandmother of the children

Which Supreme Court case resulted in a decree issued for the Michigan Department of Corrections to provide female inmates access to programming that had previously been provided only to male inmates?

Glover v. Johnson (1988)

Incarcerated women report being subjected to the most violence between the ages ______ and ______.

15 ; 24

The ______ hypothesiscontends that there is a bias in the criminal justice system against giving women harsh punishments. This is true so long as the offenses that they commit are considered "gender appropriate," or consistent with the stereotyped role that women are expected to maintain.

Chivalry

History of Women Behind Bars

-Prior to 1800s, women generally imprisoned in same
facilities with men
-Overcrowding of women was common in early prisons
-Sexual abuse reportedly a common occurrence at this
time

Elizabeth Fry

-Activist who fought for women in prison during early 1800s
-Quaker prison reform activist
-Visited Old Newgate Prison in England in early 1800s
-Organized a group of women activists in 1817
-Chivalry hypothesis

Victorian Era

Viewed women from a lens of inflexible femininity where women were to be considered pious and naive of the evils of the world.

Female Criminality From 1850
Onward

-Records for women increased during and after Civil
War
-By midcentury there were enough women inmates to
necessitate emergence of separate women's
quarters
!!!Sarah Smith and Rhoda Coffin

Sarah Smith and Rhoda Coffin

two quakers who were appointed to inspect correctional facilities (Indiana).
-Their work led to the first completely separate female prison in 1874

The Evolution of Separate Custodial
Prisons for Women and Further
Evidence of the Chivalry Hypothesis

-At first, most common form of female incarceration was
attachment to male prisons
-Most common crimes for women in custodial prisons
-Reasons for women committing crime tend to be quite
different than male offenders
-During 1800s, issues related to spouse abuse not
identified as they are nowadays
-hivalry hypothesis and/or stereotyped expectations of
women may have been partial explanation for female criminality
-Even in 1900s, social views related to women and
criminality tied to moralistic outlooks regarding sexuality
and identity as
mothers

Minority Female Offenders Compared
to Caucasian Female Offenders in
American History

-Racial disparities have and continue to exist among the
incarcerated female population
-Women who commit crimes have been demonized
throughout history

why is acknowledgement of disparity important? (two
reasons)

- seldom addressed
-We continue to to see disparity today

Reformaties for Women

Developed as alternatives to the penitentiary's harsh conditions of enforced silence and hard labor
(Reformatory Era)

Women's Reformatories in the Early
Twentieth Century: A Feminist
Perspective

-Reformatories for women
-Activists during this time contended that use of mixed
prisons was problematic
-Women left vulnerable to humiliation, physical abuse, and sexual abuse
-Women in reformatories were of the working class
-Racial discrimination seen among correctional systems
emerged in operation of reformatories
-No institutions devoted to correcting men for "moral"offenses (not a crime for men)
-Feminist criminologists contend reformatories were
institutions of patriarchy

Patriarchy

A male-oriented and male-dominated social structure that defers to men and sees women in subservient position to men.

Issues Related to the Modern-Day
Female Offender Population

1.Most are minority members with few options and limited
economic resources
2.Less likely than men to have committed violent offenses
3.Property offenses often economically driven
4.Face gender-specific life experiences
5.Represent a population marginalized by race, class, and gender

The Female Inmate Subculture and
Coping in Prison

Significant aspect of female coping mechanism is
development of family-like environments

Domestic Violence

Behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other
-reported ages 15-24

_____________ offenders are in greater risk than those in general population for domestic violence.

Female

Physical and Sexual Abuse

-Female offenders abused more frequently than male
offenders (Harlow 1999)
-State prison inmates reported both physical and sexual abuse experienced prior to being sentenced

Sex Industry Activity and Sexually
Transmitted Diseases

-Large body of research shows female criminals often have some history of prostitution
-Rate of HIV/AIDS infection higher for female offenders
than male offenders
-

Drugs

-Drug use a major contributor to female criminality
-Female offenders use drugs more often than male offenders
-Among serious substance abusers, females more likely
to have experienced childhood sexual victimization, have serious thoughts of suicide, and show other signs of mental distress

Violent Crime

-Huge disparity between male and female offenders
-Vast majority of female homicide crimes involve killing
of intimates
-Female chronic offenders likely to be minority group member, single, and a substance abuser, and have history of spouse abuse
-Female offender commonly referred to as victim-turned
-Prior victimization of female offenders held as primary
causal factor in predicting female criminality

Three key points it is hard to refute

1. most crimes that are against women are committed by male perpetrators
2. women tend to only attack men when they have been victimized
3.women commit far fewer crimes that are about power and control

Mental Health Issues

-Mental health issues for female offenders often tied to
stages in life cycle and development
-Depression more pronounced among female offenders
-Socialization provides tolerance for acts of depression
and expression of emotional sorrow

Messina and Grella (2006)

examined the background of female inmates using the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) .
-They found that female offenders were more likely to have childhood traumatic events

James and Glaze (2006)

The study found that female inmates had much higher rates of mental health problems than male inmates

Female Offenders as Mothers pt 1

-Many female offenders face losing custody of their
children
-Process if a mother is not able to place her children
with friends or relatives
-Upon release, mothers face numerous obstacles in reuniting with their children
-Situation further exacerbated by fact that there are
fewer women's prisons

Female Offenders as Mothers pt 2

-Recidivism rates tend to go up when inmate mothers
have diminished contact with their children
-Separation been called collateral damage
-Damage done to children probably more serious than
to adult

Collateral Damage

any damage incidental to an activity

Conditions of Care for Female
Offenders

-Female prisons do not meet needs of inmates as
effectively as male prisons
-Despite legal precedents, appears practices have not
improved substantially

Glover v. Johnson (1988)

lawsuit that declared that female inmates have access to their constitutional rights pg. (308)

Little Hoover Commission

An internal state "watchdog" agency that was tasked with providing recommendations to the state governor and legislature in California

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of
2003 Revisited

-PREA applies to all correctional facilities
-Administrators must be concerned with issues related
to sexual assault
-Much of the sexual assault on women behind bars is
at hands of custodial staff

Female Offenders and Treatment
Implications

-Bloom et al. (2003): Specific recommendations regarding treatment
programs for female offenders
-Dolan et al. (2003): Importance of having gender-specific treatment programs for correctional clients with co-occurring disorders