Women and Incarceration
According
to the ACLU there are more than 200,000 women incarcerated and more than one
million on probation and parole in the U.S. (ACLU American Civil Liberties Unioni, n.d.) . Women involved in the Criminal Justice
system in such a large number is quite surprising. If one stops to think about it, the far
reaching effects of those numbers are astounding. If those women have children or are pregnant
that puts things in a whole new perspective.
A pregnant woman in prison or jail changes the dynamics of her
incarceration. In some instances a woman
gives birth in shackles and then is forced to give her baby away. Also, when women are incarcerated their
children are without their mother. The
same of course if their father is sent to jail/prison, but it seems that more
stigma is placed on the child if the mother is absent. It is important to mention that between
40-88% of the women involved in the Criminal Justice System have been abused. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the abuse leads to drug
abuse. The second is that it leads to violence (Moss, n.d.) . Unfortunately, the nature of their
incarceration leaves them open to even more abuse, and the Prison Rape Act of
2003 (PREA) is designed to protect those in custody. Unfortunately, the PREA has been geared
toward the male population. However,
there are proposed standards that were submitted to Attorney General Holder to
address the needs of women (ACLU American Civil Liberties Unioni, n.d.) .
The please see the link below of stories on women in
jail/prison.
References
ACLU American Civil Liberties Unioni. (n.d.). Retrieved from Women in Prison:
https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/women-prison
Banks, C. (2013). Criminal Justice Ethics (3
ed.). Thousand Oaks, Ca, USA: SAGE Publications.
Moss, A. (n.d.). www.wcl.american.edu.
Retrieved from The Prison Rape Elimination Act: Implications for Women and
Girls:
http://www.wcl.american.edu/endsilence/documents/PREAimplicationsforwomenandgirls.pdf
Christina
ReplyDeleteVery informative post regarding women in prison. Thank you for posting articles about women and the children they leave behind. One of my concerns, as you mentioned, is the children they leave behind. The organization CLAIM is doing a great thing in Illinois to educate and help incarcerated mothers maintain a bond with their children.
Keisha
Wow Christina this is astonishing and it saddens me. I heart immediately went to the children of those women that are incarcerated. There has to be a strong family support group for the children so that they can feel love, support and a sense of belonging after being separated from their mothers. For those 40 -88% of women being constantly abused while incarcerated, do you think they can be rehabilitated and return as model citizens?
ReplyDeleteThis post caught my attention because I am now a new mother of a 5-month old daughter. I could not imagine giving birth under complete supervision and chained to a hospital bed then immediately following my newborn is taken away. I would be devastated. It is very important to form a mother-baby relationship after birth. Do they have programs in which the baby is allowed to stay with the mother in jail?
ReplyDeleteChristina: You have written a thought-provoking blog on women and incarceration. Professor Taylor
ReplyDeleteChristina,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post; the information was very eye-opening! As a mother I cannot imagine what it would be like to be incarcerated while my children are being raised by another person. I can only begin to guess how that would affect a child, negatively. The web link you posted was an excellent addition; some really sad stories about women’s personal experiences living in prisons. That statistic, about abused women, is horrific, and yet it only completes that known pattern; those who are abused tend to live a life of crime and disparity rather than success and happiness.