The fast growing increase of female in U.S. prisons
Introduction
According to the latest statistics from the Bureau of justice Statistics, US Department of Justice, American, the rate at which a number of women are getting detained and thrown behind bars is despicable. As opposed to their male counterparts, women face an uphill task when they are confined both in prison and jail cells. The major causes for their conviction include mental challenges, pregnancy, sexual abuse, property theft, prostitution, aggravated robbery, family violence, forgery, wanton endangerment, burglary and assault.
The most controversial of them all are the convicts who have been involved in child abuse or sexual crimes. The data further reveals that between 2000and 2009, the number of women who were arrested on the reasons cited above rose to 53%. They resort to drugs as their only hope hoping to overcome the psychological trauma. 9% of all the female inmates that were incarcerated across the U.S. in during this period were already serving life sentences.
The study further revealed that 44% of the female convicts had not even completed high school level of education which in the U.S. is considered so basic. 2.6% of all the female inmates were found to be HIV positive. 57% of them had been sexually abused as opposed to 15% male inmates. I took West Virginia as my case study, where I had a sample 1,100 female inmates that were already in prisons and a further 350 in jail. Citing the same case study from West Virginia, a number of questions were asked that had relation to health issues, substance abuse, personal history and treatment information.
According to the records from the state and federal prisons department, a couple of female population has been in an upward trend to a whooping numbers and as per the statistics it doesn’t seem to slow down any time soon. Women incarceration with the incarceration rate for women growing nearly twice as fast as that of men, the Department of Justice announced Sunday. North Carolina mirrors this national trend, recently experiencing difficulty housing this growing population of female inmates. Last year the percent of female prisoners was up by 3.6 from the previous year
Challenged faced by female inmates in the U.S.
Out of the total inmates in the U.S., female are represented by 7%. They face a number of challenges while they are behind bars: Firstly, the guards who mostly are assigned the role of taking care of them end up soliciting for sexual favor from them in exchange of the basic necessities of life. This can only happen if the female inmates are submissive enough and corporate as part of their bargain. Failure to do so can lender them miserable as they cannot do without this needs that suddenly turn to be privileges. A number of women convicts are forced to have sex so as to be provided with more food, avoid punishment and even at times to be provided with personal hygiene items to use.
Secondly, female inmates are denied access to medical facilities and proper hygienic treatment which are very essential to their well-being. They are vulnerable and easily prone diseases plus the possibility of them being pregnant at the time of arrest. In case of pregnancy, they require sanitary towel and pads that are essential throughout they menstrual cycles. They delay in referring serious cases like asthma, miscarriages and diabetic which may result to death. Obviously there are insufficient resources to cater for women inmates. This in return leads to low number of qualified personnel or in some unfortunate cases people with little know how or even lack expertise end up being their treating them when they fall ill.
Conclusion
In comparison to the male inmates, the chances of a woman convict to have served a preceding charge or sentence are very minimal. Drug abuse or offences related to substance abuse and property allegations were the most common because they are less violent by default. They looked older after being set free, they had served a reduced time for the crime that they were currently charged for. The likelihood of them being rearrested after release was very minimal. Citing the many challenges that the United States is facing, U.S. should rethink the rapidly growing female inmates’ demographics. The meager funds that are available for the American economy should be channeled away from punishment and instead be ploughed back into the economic by making productive investments, for example, rehabilitating the affected families and societies that are living in deplorable conditions due to poverty and violence
References:
Brad Douglas, (2000). Divisions of corrections Adult Female Inmates – Crime & Demographics 21(9), 126-141
Women’s Prison Association. (2004) Focus on women and justice: Trends in arrest and sentencing, Available on live @ www.wpaonline.org,
