The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Article published Dec 16, 2004
Report cites poor services at women’s jail

By J.M. HIRSCH
The Associated Press
“The implications are truly cataclysmic when you add them up,” said Theresa de Langis, the group’s executive director.

In the report, the commission calls for a demographic study of female prisoners and for establishing a statewide planning program to ensure corrections programs meet their needs.

It also said that corrections workers need to be trained to deal specifically with women, noting that female inmates can differ significantly from men in their job skills and rates of sexual and physical abuse.

Corrections Commissioner Stephen Curry said his department will look at the report, but it could be a couple of months before a plan for addressing the issues it raises is formed.

Among the problems cited in the report, the study found that programs for helping inmates deal with anger management, parenting skills and substance abuse get no state funding, relying instead on sporadic volunteer efforts.

“The lack of such programming has a direct impact on expense to the state in an increased likelihood of recidivism and in longer sentences served by female inmates,” the report said of the lack of substance abuse programs.

The commission also was critical of the prison’s limited work and education programs, and the absence of a formal visitation programs for families and inmates, as is available at the prison for men.

The report noted that nearly 90 percent of the inmates are mothers, many of whom complained about difficulties maintaining relationships with their children while in prison.

“These and other examples suggest women face double jeopardy in that, with incarceration they lose not only their liberty, but their children, as well,” the report said.

The report was requested last year by Gov. Craig Benson and Executive Councilor Ruth Griffin. It says the lack of programs for women “contributes to a ‘cycle of incarceration’ for women offenders and a ‘double jeopardy’ for incarcerated mothers, further disrupting families and adding exorbitant cost to the state.”

The women’s prison in Goffstown was built after a 1983 lawsuit by 23 female inmates who complained that the state’s policy of housing them at out-of-state facilities was unfair and denied them access to their children and lawyers.

The state was court-ordered to provide a women’s prison with programs on par with the men’s prison. Yet the report notes that a 2003 review by the National Institute of Corrections called the facility “woefully inadequate” and a “potential legal liability.”

Wednesday’s report said the court ruling and “the reality of a quickly growing female offender population require the deliberate and immediate attention of state leadership.”

The state’s female prisoner population has grown dramatically, from 23 in 1983 to 182 last year.

The study said serving the needs of female prisoners will require a better understanding of who they are, and calls for collecting data on what led them to commit crimes, as well as the number, ages and custodial status of their children.

© 2003, Telegraph Publishing Company, Nashua, New Hampshire