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May 23, 2006
Women's Prison Assoc. New Report on Incarceration of Women
I want to add a cautionary note to new report from the Women’s Prison Association, “Hard Hit: the growth in the imprisonment of women, 1977-2004." ( http://www.wpaonline.org/institute/hardhit/index.htm). The report states: “Neighboring Massachusetts is also remarkable for its equally low incarceration rate; the small share of prison beds the state devotes to women (4.3 percent); and a 9 percent reduction in the female prison population that has taken place in the last half-decade.”
While it is true that the incarceration rate for women in Framingham prison from 1999-2004 was -9%, the incarceration rate from 1977-2004 increased 382%. As the report shows, the number of women incarcerated in Framingham experienced a modest decline. However, the number of women incarcerated in jails continues to climb.
In Massachusetts women and men can be incarcerated in “county” jails up to 2 ½ years. (“County” jails in MA are distinctive not only in the length of sentences but also because county government was abolished in 1998). In Massachusetts, a new regional jail for women from the four western counties is now being constructed. The current jail was designed to hold 130 women. The jail to be completed next spring was to have 240 “beds” but due to overcrowding, the sheriff has just asked the legislature for an additional 56 “beds”, bringing the total to more than twice the current number.
It might appear that tossing jails and prison together is mixing apples and oranges; in fact, women serving up to 30 months are in jails in Massachusetts and in prison in other states. Are these apples and oranges? As the Corrections bureaucracy comes up with ever more marketable names for their products and processes---“civil commitment” for sex offenders or “secure facilities” for women in California--- it becomes all the more important that we be clear about our categories and language so as not to lend credence to progress where it does not exist. A possible consequence of the WPA report in Massachusetts is that it may be used by people advocating for more and bigger jails and as approval for policies and practices which, from the point of view of someone working to organize against the new jail and the increasing incarceration of women, should not be endorsed.
Lois Ahrens
Real Cost of Prisons Project
"Hard Hit: the growth in the imprisonment of women, 1977-2004" a new report from WPA's new Institute on Women and Criminal Justice (Part One authored by the Justice Strategies YIMBY team) see http://www.wpaonline.org/institute/hardhit/index.htm
washingtonpost.com
Mountain States Imprisoning More Women
By DAVID CRARY
The Associated Press
Sunday, May 21, 2006; 2:28 AM
Oklahoma had the highest per capita imprisonment rate for women _ 129 behind bars for every 100,000 women in its population. Mississippi was second with a rate of 107. Women in those states were roughly 10 times more likely to be imprisoned than women in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which shared the lowest rate of 11.
Nationwide, there were 1.42 million inmates in state and federal prisons at the end of 2004, including 96,125 women _ up from 11,212 in 1977.
Though the overall surge of women behind bars has continued in recent years, it has tapered off in the Northeast, the report said. From 1999 to 2004, it said, the number of female inmates dropped by 23 percent in New York and 21 percent in New Jersey _ part of broader reductions that also cut the number of male inmates.
The report concurred with previous analyses attributing much of the nationwide increase in women's imprisonment to the war on drugs. The proportion of women serving time for drug offenses has risen sharply in recent years, while the proportion convicted of serious violent crimes has dropped, it said.
Bob Anez, a Corrections Department spokesman in Montana, confirmed that drug offenses _ especially related to methamphetamine _ were a major factor in the high proportion of female inmates in the state. Half the women imprisoned from January through March had committed meth-related offenses, he said.
Jerry Massie of Oklahoma's Corrections Department also said rising drug convictions were a factor in the high number of imprisoned women, but he noted that Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates for men as well as for women.
Ann Jacobs, executive director of the Women's Prison Association, said states with high rates of women behind bars should look closely at alternative sentencing, particularly mandatory treatment as an option for drug offenders.
"It's startling to think that Oklahoma incarcerates 129 of every 100,000 women, while other states can provide public safety by incarcerating 11 of every 100,000," she said. "Women in Oklahoma can't possibly be 10 times worse."
K.C. Moon, executive director of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center, said the state's high incarceration rate is linked to the types of crimes that are felonies _ including simple drug possession and relatively minor thefts.
"Those are two types of crimes that are typically committed by women," Moon said. "In Oklahoma, we choose to make lower-level crimes felonies, therefore we stand out like a sore thumb."
The Women's Prison Association and like-minded groups focus attention on female inmates in part because they are more likely than men to be primary caretakers of children, and their incarceration can place severe strains on families.
The report urged an expansion of research to identify factors that have contributed to the increase of female inmates and to develop policies which help at-risk women lead law-abiding, self-sufficient lives. Jacobs said the reduction of female inmates now occurring in some Northeast states would be worth celebrating only if coupled with investment in social programs that could reduce recidivism.
Associated Press writer Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
On the Net:
Women's Prison Association: http://www.wpaonline.org
Posted by lois at May 23, 2006 10:54 AM