Female Incarceration Essay

666 Words2 Pages

Within society, more men than women are imprisoned. However, women’s incarceration rates have significantly increased since the 1980s. International Centre for Prison Studies found that more than 200,000 US women are confined in the prison population in 2013. Despite the figure, most women were serving sentences for nonviolent offenses. Women were usually incarcerated primarily for property crimes, drug offenses and victims of domestic violence. Statistic found that only one-third of imprisoned women were sentenced for violent crimes. While 56 percent of imprisoned women were sentenced for non-violence crimes. This essay will critically discuss the different experiences of female prisoners. This essay will also highlight the issues faced by …show more content…

For many women, one of their primary roles relates to motherhood. This means that once a woman returns back to their family, she must take on the caregiver role again. However, the separation between women offenders and their children often strained family reunification. It was noted that such reunification could not take place without securing the custody of their children through stable housing and economic support. Many women face difficulties in their attempts to regain custody of their children as they cannot meet the criteria. This is due to the social stigma attached to being a prisoner which pull back women's capability towards gaining sustain employment in society to financially regain the custody to reintegrate with their children. These difficulties are exacerbated by the prevalence of mental and physical health issues within the female prison population. Once a woman is released from prison these health problems result in the difficulty towards securing housing, employment, and predicts reoffending.

In conclusion, female prisoners experience differently compared to male prisoners. The differences of the pains women suffer in imprisonment, include the separation from family and the adaptation of the prison environment. Upon female inmates release, they also suffer a second punishment such as the effect of family reunification and the struggle of mental and physical health problems. Yet the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to deal with these

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