Issues in Managing Women
Inmates
- Since 1980, there has been a 500% increase in the number of women inmates,
representing the fastest growing portion of the inmate population. (N=84,400) 1
- Demographically, the female population is, on average, age 30, of a racial or
ethic minority, a substance abuser, has experienced sexual and/or physical abuse,
unmarried, and has 2-3 minor children. Almost half of women inmates reported they were
unemployed at the time of their arrest. Approximately 64% of women inmates had not
completed high school. 1
- Thirteen percent (13%) of female inmates are reported to have acute and chronic
mental illness (as compared to 7% for males), and 24% of female inmates report chronic
medical problems (as compared to 16% for males).1]
- In state correctional facilities, 3.5% of female inmates are HIV positive,
compared to 2.2% for males. 1
- The number of female inmates reporting prior abuse increased from 43.2% in 1991
to 57.2% in 1997. 1
- Women inmates and probationers in state custody report high rates of abuse prior
to incarceration – 57.2%, compared to 16.1% for male inmates. 2
- Of those women in state custody reporting abuse, 46.5% reported physical abuse
(as compared to 13.4% for males), and 39% reported sexual abuse (as compared to 5.8% for
men). 2
- One-third (33%) of women in state custody report having been raped. 2
- Ninety percent (90%) of women reporting physical or sexual abuse also reporting
abusing drugs; 80% of abused women reported they regularly used drugs. 2
- Abused females reported they were abused as both children and adults; men
reported mistreatment as children. 2
- Female inmates reported that there were most often abused by intimates or family
members. Almost 91% knew their abuser, 40% of abuse was at the hands of a family member,
and 27.2% of abuse at the hands of a parent or guardian. Sixty-one percent of abuse was by
an intimate. 2
- Of women who reported prior abuse, 34% were in prison for violent offenses, as
compared to 21% of women who reported no prior abuse serving sentences for violent
offenses.
- The most common form of sexual misconduct in prisons in the United States is sex
in return for favors, and is often viewed as "consensual" sex. 3
Sources:
- U. S. General Accounting Office, Women in Prison: Issues and Challenges Confronting U.
S. Correctional Systems, December 1999.
- U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Program, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Selected
Findings: Prior Abuse Reported by Inmates and Probationers, May 1999.
- United Nations, Economic and Social Council, Commission on Civil Rights, Violence
Against Women, Report on the Mission to the United States of America on the issue of
violence against women in state and federal prisons; A Report on the Special Rapporteur on
violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy.
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