Issues in the Incarceration of Women - Essay Example

Issues in the Incarceration of Women ID Lecturer There are serious issues in the wake of incarcerating women. Women are usually known to be weak and feeble and putting them behind bars is a heinous crime, to start with. However women have been stigmatized by peculiar criminals who have gone the distance and became slaughters of all and sundry. They have thus put all the women under a scenario where they could be seen as hostages. As far as incarceration and custodial measures are concerned, women have faced a number of different hardships and their problems have generally been compounded due to a host of distinct reasons. This paper explores the basis of incarceration of women and how the different problems have lingered on since time immemorial. The male correctional officers have posed as serious issues for the incarcerated women. This has happened within the ranks of sexual misconduct where cases of rape and sexual torture have been repeatedly documented. The different sexual behaviors have been manifested for a long time and these have usually been taking place from the male correctional officers. Different kinds of abuse, harassment, contacts and so on, have usually been the top most areas under the sexual misconduct. Women are thus made to suffer for no mistake of theirs. The authorities usually back up each other well and hide such stories to leak out of the domains of jails and torture cells. The incarcerated women are not allowed to speak to anyone, hence their sagas go unnoticed. Sexual misconduct also takes place when conversations of intimate nature are carried out by the jail inmates or by the correctional officers. This kind of misconduct exposes the shortcomings on the part of the officers, the environment under which these women are kept and a sense of hostility gets ignited for all the wrong reasons (Clear, Cole & Reisig, 2009). There is a great deal of stress and trauma within the prison cells and security regimes stand violated and transgressed. Sexual misconduct usually goes unreported and the women do not raise much hue and cry since they fear the men and the prison hierarchies more than anything else. They know beforehand that they would be made to pay for their problems and hence normally choose to remain silent. However legal rights of these women remain with them and they are free to exercise them. But the manner in which jail issues are conducted by the correctional officers and the attitude of the jail inmates, suggests that women usually choose to remain silent spectators. This essentially makes them look very weak and dull, which is usually the case with their mental disintegration happening on a phenomenal rate. So instead of making these women tick, the incarceration puts them under all possible traumas and ailments. The lack of educational and vocational programs within prisons is something which is looked upon with an eye of skepticism. This is because prisons are usually known to be the correctional places for men and women. If the same is missing, it means women have got nothing to do. Their reform thus does not happen and this is a serious anomaly within the prevalent system. One must understand that educational and vocational programs serve as the torchbearers behind keeping these women active and at par with the women who are not incarcerated (free to live their lives). It would be in the interest of the incarcerated women if they learn something or the other during their stay within the prison cells. Confinement should teach them a thing or two and it must not make them feeling high and dry after they have completed their punishment. Different kinds of training would make them ready for the real world jobs and thus would give them a chance to be a part of the active society – an aim that all incarcerated women usually have. They must be taught the fundamentals of spending the rest of their lives in a decent manner and effort must be paid on making their lives smooth (Kellam, 2001). If the incarcerated women want to pursue a job after they complete their tenure at the jail, certain programs which aim to educate them must be incorporated. This would mean that these women are now ready to face the hardships posed by the world and thus looking to solve the problems which come their way. Once these women get released, they have no one to look after them and thus they are generally at the mercy of the society. Thus it would be a blessing for them if they are guided beforehand and shown the correct methodology which they need to adopt in order to move ahead with their respective lives. One of the most fundamental issues with the incarceration of women lies in the manner they are treated medically. Usually the conditions are abysmal and one cannot write home about such settings. However certain remedial measures have usually been taken from time to time in order to bring sanity within the relevant ranks. The women are now being given proper healthcare facilities, which would make them feel physically sound and healthy. This is an underlying requirement because the incarcerated women need to work whilst remaining within the confinements and those women who lack proper medical regimes in their personalities are usually the ones who end up doing less work within the whole population of incarcerated women. Similarly, pregnant women need special care and attention whilst they are under confinements (Newkirk, 2006). This means that they will need to receive consistent medical advice, assistance of a gynecologist and free supplies of medicine so that the delivery happens in a smooth manner. These women should not be left high and dry by the jail inmates as well as the correctional officers, and their care must be of supreme significance. Maintaining balanced diets for such women, instituting diet plans, looking after the abortion rights, delivery room permissions and all other facets that come under the domains of pregnancy need to be properly touched upon by the medical authorities, present within the auspices of the prison cells and confinement areas. Medical services need to be guaranteed because these are aspects which have a lot of bearing on the way women conduct their own selves, within the domains of prison cells and confinement regimes. There is a definite need to understand as to how these women will be treated once they fall under the trap of a disease or illness. The medical services need to give them the much needed cover so that they remain on their feet and their mental growth keeps on happening. Those women who have children staying with them have more problems than the women who are alone. These women have to fight for not only their own survival but also of their kids. This means that their jobs get increased as and when their kids are born. They usually cut back on their meals in order to feed their babies, which essentially speak of the apathy that is happening within the settings of confinements and prison cells. There have been reports of the women complaining that their young ones do not get the required diets which suggest that there are a host of anomalies within the incarceration ranks (Cherry, 2007). These mothers usually remain anxious about their children and thus fall under all forms of illnesses themselves. They are unable to take care of them on a proactive basis and hence neglect seems to be the correct word which can be used for these women and their children. The correctional officers must understand that these women have all the rights in the world to make their young ones go free, but since there is no one to look after them, these women usually disallow the same from happening. An important consideration is the manner in which enforced separation of the young ones takes place from their mothers. This is a traumatic experience for the mother as well as the child, and the jail authorities need to understand these issues before they decide to take the plunge of separating the child from the mother. In the end, it would be suffice to state that incarceration of women leads to a host of serious issues for these women. They suffer on all counts and their growth and development receives jolts left, right and center. The inmates within these confinements do not help either. They resort to different inhuman activities which can only make an incarcerated woman so much more depressed and ill at the end of the day. There is a clear cut need to comprehend how correctional measures could be enacted in the best form possible. Adhering to such standards must be the key ingredient for these officers and the like. It is with the collective efforts of all and sundry that sanity will in essence start to prevail here. Women must be given the room to understand their lives in a much better way, whilst remaining incarcerated. They must not be ‘used’ for ulterior motives. References Cherry, A. (2007). The Detention, Confinement, and Incarceration of Pregnant Women for the Benefit of Fetal Health. Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, Vol. 16 Clear, T., Cole, G. & Reisig, M. (2009). American Corrections. Thomson Wadsworth, 8th Edition Kellam, L. (2001). These Boots Are Made for Women. Corrections Today, Vol. 63, February Newkirk, C. (2006). Health Issues among Incarcerated Women. Rutgers University Press Word Count: 1,503 Read More