Female Inmates (Corrections) - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages This statistics are an increase of 10 to 64 female inmates per 100,000 female residents from 1977 to 2004. Even though the female arrest rate in US is less than that of male arrests rate, the growth rate of the female prisoners in US far exceeds that of the male inmates. Since 1985, United States of America has witnessed an average growth of 11.1 %, and this is relatively above the 7.6 % rise in the male inmates’ population. Currently, there are over 200,000 female inmates in the United States; this is a growth of over 800% over the three decades. The male population grew by 416% over the same period of time (CHRLR 14-18).
Type of Women in Prison
As noted above, the fastest growing segment of the United States prison population comprises of the women. The women held up in the prisons are due to variety of reasons. The offences committed by the females are diverse but a close examination of the women indicate that there are demographic and experiences common among the female offenders. Most of the women inmates are drug addicts who were involved in the drug addiction in order to escape from the life hardships and trauma faced by these women in their past life. The majority of these female inmates were arrested while acting as mules in the drug trade. Half of women in the national and state correction centres attest to have committed the crime they are incarcerated for under the influence of drugs or alcohol. From 1999 to 2008, the arrests of women due to cases rated to drug violation accounted for 19 % increase compared to a mere10 % increase for men. Many women in prison happen to have been involved in domestic violence in their lives and a common characteristic is that most of the female inmates are from poor backgrounds. It is worthy to note that nearly half of all women in prison are serving sentences for non violent offence and had been jailed in the past for a non violent offence. Two thirds of the female inmates had two or fewer convictions prior to the one they are serving. This indicates high rates of recidivism among the female inmates. According to Koon (5), the following experiences are common among the female inmates: Most of the female inmates are likely to have had a high school education. It’s also critical to understand that most of the female inmates are single; they have never been married or had a divorce. Most of the female prison inmates were arrested and convicted when they were unemployed. Physical abuse is also a common feature of the women in prisons; the inmates are likely to have experienced domestic violence or sexual abuse in their lives. The trauma could then have led them to drug and alcohol, which then later led to their offences. As of 2004, the percentage of women in jail due to physical related consequences was 73% compared to 53% of men who had the history of sexual or physical abuse. Historical Treatment of Female Inmates Even though the rate of increase of the female inmates has remained to be higher than that of men, majority of inmates are male. This has led to prison programs being tailored to address the issues related or faced by the male prisoners and tends to overlook those faced by the female inmates. This is despite of various researches that show that female inmates face more stress and hardships in prisons unlike the male counterparts. Emotional stress due to family breakdown from their children often affects female inmates much more compared to the male inmates. The female prisoners have been discriminated and ...Download file to see next pagesRead More