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The Real Cost of Prisons for Women and Their Children

Abolitionism and its Enemies
By Wendy Cranmer, St Giles Trust. Presented at "Time to Make a Difference: the Abolition of Prison for Women", conference, London, 27 June 2006.
http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/Abolitionism_and_its_enemies-women.doc

CASASARD: Intensive Case Management Program for Drug-Addicted Mothers
A new approach to helping drug-addicted women on welfare that treats substance abuse and addiction as a chronic disease promises better outcomes of sobriety and employment than current approaches that focus on employment first, according to new research from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. Researchers found that the case-management group had three times greater rates of treatment initiation, engagement and retention, were almost twice as likely to be abstinent at 12- and 24-month follow-ups, and were more than twice as likely to be employed full-time after two years. The study was published in the February 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
http://www.jointogether.org/resources/pdf/casasard-white-paper.pdf

Caught in the Net: The Impact of Drug Policy on Women and Families
(2005). By the ACLU, Break the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs, the Brennan Center at NYU School of Law
http://www.fairlaws4families.org

Dignity Denied: the Price of Imprisoning Older Women in California
Documents the conditions of confinement for the more than 350 women over the age of 55 in state prisons. Because of the "Three Strikes" law and a reluctance to grant parole, more Californians are growing older in prison than ever before. It is estimated that by 2022, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) will incarcerate about 30,000 elders. Due to health-related expenses, the annual cost of imprisoning an older person, at a conservative estimate, is at least $70,000, twice that of a younger prisoner. The report questions the wisdom of committing such vast economic resources for the continued punishment of older prisoners, the group with the lowest recidivism rate of any segment of the prison population.
http://prisonerswithchildren.org/news/dignity.htm

From Prison to Home: The Effect of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities Incarceration. Reentry, and Social Capital: Social Networks in the Balance
By Dina R. Rose and Todd R. Clear, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/prison2home02/Rose.htm

A Higher Hurdle: Barriers to Employment for Formerly Incarcerated Women
By Morris, Sumner and Borja. The Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. December 2008. The Henderson Center created resumes that were sent in pairs to Bay Area employers who had advertised job openings. For each job listing, one resume in the pair included a period of incarceration, the other did not. Key results included: When resumes indicated a recent period of incarceration, applicants were 31% less likely to receive a positive response compared to women whose resumes did not indicate a recent period of incarceration. Resumes submitted by African American women received the fewest positive responses.
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/A_Higher_Hurdle_December_2008.pdf

Annotated bibliography: The Henderson Center also completed an annotated bibliography, summarizing the findings of more than 50 research studies and other articles. The summaries provide an overview of the challenges faced by formerly incarcerated people as they struggle to reenter the workforce and their communities after being released.
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/December_2008_FIP_Annotated_Bibliography.pdf

The Hurt Inside: The Imprisonment of Women and Girls in Northern Ireland
Rev. Edition 2005. By Phil Scranton and Linda Moore. Rev. edition. Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/the_hurt_inside.pdf

Incarcerated Parents and Their Children: Trends, 1991-2007
"Incarcerated Parents and Their Children: Trends, 1991-2007" reviews data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and documents the growing impact of incarceration on children and families. As of 2007, 1.7 million children had a parent in prison, an 82% increase from the figure of 936,000 in 1991. The racial/ethnic variation among this group is quite broad: 1 in 15 African-American children has a parent in prison, as does 1 in 42 Latino children and 1 in 111 white children. Due to the distance from home in which many parents are incarcerated - 62% of parents in state prisons are more than 100 miles from home - visits from children are declining over time. In 2004, more than half of parents in state prisons and nearly half in federal prisons had never had a visit from their children. The Sentencing Project. February 2009.
http://www.sentencingproject.org/Ad...cations/inc_incarceratedparents.pdf

International Profile of Womens Prisons
April 2008, International Centre for Prison Studies, King's College London, University of London.
http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/a...prisons_int_review_final_report.pdf

Invisible Bars: Barriers to Women's Health and Well-Being During and After Incarceration
By Kim Carter, Time for Change Foundation. A new study of women, health care, and other needs, in the CA Institution for Women in San Bernardino and the needs of women after they leave prison. The study was done by women who have been incarcerated and who others who advocate for women.
http://www.timeforchange.us/news/9_12_06.pdf

MA Department of Correction Advisory Council's Recommendations Regarding Female Offenders
Preliminary report, July 2005.
http://www.mass.gov/Eeops/docs/doc/DOCAC_prelim_report.pdf

Mothers, Infants and Imprisonment
Women's Prison Association. "Mothers, Infants and Imprisonment" profiles existing and soon-to-open prison nursery programs in nine states: California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia, and also looks at community-based residential parenting programs in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Vermont. In addition, residential parenting programs operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and West Virginia are discussed. Many women parenting their infants in prison nurseries could be doing so in the community instead, the report finds. The profile of women in prison nurseries is nearly identical to that of participants in community-based programs. Women in both types of programs are serving relatively short sentences for non-violent offenses, and will continue primary caretaking responsibility for their child(ren) upon release. Further, most women in prison nursery programs present little risk to public safety. Women's Prison Association (May 2009)
http://www.wpaonline.org/pdf/Mothers%20Infants%20and%20Imprisonment%202009.pdf

The Nation's Most Punitive States For Women
July 2007 fact sheet by National Council On Crime and Delinquency.
http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pubs/2007_MPS_factsheet.pdf

People, Places, and Things: The Social Process of Reentry for Female Ex-Offenders
By Andrea M. Leverentz. August 2006. Source: National Institute of Justice. This study examined the social lives of female with felony convictions to determine the features of their relationships after their release from prison.
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/215178.pdf

Pierce the Future for Hope: Mothers and Prisoners in the Post-Keynesian California Landscape
By Ruth Wilson Gilmore
http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/TTT_paper4.pdf

The Prison Within: The Imprisonment of Women At Hydebank Wood
2004-2006. By Phil Scranton and Linda Moore. Rev. edition. Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/the_prison_within.pdf

The Real Cost of Prisons on Women and Children
Background Paper prepared by Kiaran Honderich for the Real Cost of Prisons workshop.
http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/rcpp_background_women.pdf

Reducing the Incarceration of Women: Community-Based Alternatives
By Andrea Wolf. National Council on Crime and Delinquency. August 2006. "BACKGROUND: Currently, there are over 10,000 women in jail, 12,000 women in prison, and 12,000 women on parole in California. NCCD's report, Reducing the Incarceration of Women: Community-Based Alternatives, spells out an effective strategy for reform for over two-thirds of the women in prison in our state. Recent research reveals that women could be much more effectively rehabilitated in their home communities, close to their children-the best known motivator for change. Women in community programs that provide comprehensive services and give them frequent contact with their children in a healthy environment re-offend at a rate of just 14 percent -- a sharp contrast with the typical rate of 46 percent. Assembly Bill 1XX, introduced by Assemblywoman Lieber, provides community- based facilities for 4,500 women inmates." My question is, if 87% of the 12,000 women who are in prison in CA are there for non-violent convictions, why is that this proposal wants 4,500 of them to be incarcerated in secure "community-based" facilities?
http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/WIP_Special_Report_Final.pdf

Reproductive Rights in Theory and Practice: The Meaning of Roe v. Wade for Women in Prison
By Rachel Roth. January 20, 2006. Center for American Progress. In 1973, when the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, there were about 14,000 women incarcerated in the United States; today, there are over 180,000. If the ultimate legacy of Roe is that women have the freedom to make decisions about pregnancy and motherhood, then what does this anniversary mean to women who are literally not free, those in jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers? Because prisons are shielded from public scrutiny, and the women in them are "out of sight and out of mind," their concerns rarely enter the debate about reproductive rights and health.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1365971

State Standards for Pregnancy-Related Health Care in Prisons
ACLU on-line Guide provides a short summary of minimum national standards for pregnancy care in correctional facilities; an overview of how different state policies measure up; and a state-by-state directory where you can view pregnancy-related correctional policies available online, or find contact information to request policies from state department of corrections.

For additional information about the rights of pregnant women who are incarcerated, and the ACLU's work to secure these rights in prison and jails throughout the country go to http://www.aclu.org/reproductiverights/abortion/index.html.
http://72.3.233.244/reproductiverights/gen/pregnancycareinprison.html

Stop the Expansion of Women's Prisons
From Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), December 2006. 30 pages. Statements and position papers from CURB, academia, the community, legislators and others focusing on organizing to stop the expansion of community-based jails for women in CA.
http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/CURB_packet.pdf

When Free Means Losing Your Mother: The Collision of Child Welfare and the Incarceration of Women in New York State
This report by the Correctional Association of New York examines the damaging, far-reaching and often overlooked collateral consequences of maternal incarceration on children and families. The report includes interviews with caregivers, foster care workers, formerly incarcerated mothers and young people with mothers in prison, and offers practical recommendations for criminal justice, corrections and child welfare policy reforms."

"This report by the Correctional Association of New York examines the damaging, far-reaching and often overlooked collateral consequences of maternal incarceration on children and families. The report includes interviews with caregivers, foster care workers, formerly incarcerated mothers and young people with mothers in prison, and offers practical recommendations for criminal justice, corrections and child welfare policy reforms." February 2006.
http://www.njisj.org/pubdocs/2006/red_031606_mother.pdf

Women in Prison in Massachusetts: Maintaining Family Connections
A Research Report, March 2005. Erika Kates, Paige Ransford and Carol Cardozo.
http://www.umb.edu/news/2005news/releases/march/prison_report.doc

Women in the Criminal Justice System
May 2007. The Sentencing Project. The series documents the gender implications of changes that have occurred over the last 20 years within the criminal justice system, including expansive law enforcement, stiffer drug sentencing laws and re-entry barriers. Women in the Criminal Justice System notes that since 1985 the number of women in prison has increased at almost double the rate of incarcerated men - 404 percent vs. 209 percent. Reasons for the increasing rate for women are directly related to the 'war on drugs,' economic disadvantage, and the criminal justice system's failure to carefully consider women's involvement in crimes. The analysis also reports that 30 percent of all females incarcerated are black and 16 percent are Hispanic. Further, the briefing sheets delve into family, socioeconomic and physical and mental health issues that women - and their families - face as a result of being incarcerated. Women in the Criminal Justice System contains five sections: Overview; Involvement in Crime; Mothers in Prison; Inadequacies in Prison Services; and Barriers to Re-entering the Community.
http://sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/news/womenincj_total.pdf

Women's Prison Association Articles and Factsheets:
A Portrait of Women in Prison (December 2003)
Trends in Incarceration (October 2003)
Barriers to Re-entry for Women (October 2003)
http://realcostofprisons.org