Trapped by patriarchy: Women in prison
by Temima Fruchter
Off Our Backs, Feb 2001
"Females are secondary."
This statement, made in 1998 by Andrew Winston, the chairman of the Virginia
Board of Corrections, essentially sums up the position of women in the larger
scheme of the U.S. prison hierarchy. Winston conceded that this is the unfortunate
case in terms of the design of many American prisons and inmate services.
Most of these services, he stated at the 1998 Friends of Incarcerated Women
conference, are built to benefit males.
Because of this still-true case of nationwide neglect, such things as "male
guards touching prisoners' breasts and genitals during daily pat-down and
strip searches, watching women as they shower and dress and...selling women
to male inmates for sex" were cited as being "common practice" by a 1999
Report by Amnesty International entitled "Not Part of My Sentence: Violations
of the Human Rights of Women in Custody."
And, reports Amnesty International, sexual abuse and harassment are not
the only things women prisoners have to deal with--and are not protected from--on
a daily basis. Women prisoners are also subjected to inadequate and often
abusive medical "care," unnecessary separation from children, lesser access
to facilities and privilege that male prisoners might have, and, in some
cases, unnecessarily harsh measures such as extended isolation and restraints.
What follows are just a few notable facts and statistics gleaned from articles
written within the last four years--including the relatively comprehensive
Amnesty report--on the treatment and conditions of women in prison in the
United States.
Between 1985 and 1997, the number of women in prison more than tripled
to a total of 138,000 women.
The rapid increase of female incarceration is primarily a result of the
war on drugs which was launched in the 1980s. The number of women sentenced
to state prisons for drug crimes increased tenfold between 1986 and 1996.
The most common type of crime that women have been imprisoned for in recent
years is violation of laws prohibiting the possession or sale of drugs.
Women are rarely imprisoned for violent crimes, and much less so than incarcerated
men.
As of 1999, the rate of imprisonment of black women was more than eight
times the rate of the imprisonment of white women. The rate of imprisonment
of Hispanic women at this time also exceeded that of white women, by almost
four times. The "war on drugs," specifically, has had an impact on minority
women disproportionately more significant than that on white women.
As of 1999, there were estimated to be more than 80,000 mothers among the
women in prison and jail, with approximately 200,000 children under 18 years
of age.
The majority of women in prison:
- are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes
- are mothers and are incarcerated at great distance from their children
- are more likely to suffer from HIV and mental illness than men.
More than a third of women in state prisons and jails reported that they
were physically or sexually abused as children, twice the rate of abuse
reported by all women. The rate of reported child abuse for incarcerated
men is far lower than that for women, but about double that of the general
male population.
More than 36% of women inmates reported that they had been abused sexually
or physically by age 17. Studies conducted among the general population
found that 12 to 17 percent had been abused as children.
Nearly 50% of women in prison, jail or on probation had been physically
abused at any age compared with 10% of men.
One third of women in state prisons said they had been raped before they
were incarcerated.
More than half of women inmates who reported abuse had been abused by spouses
or boyfriends.
According to a 1997 survey of 52 Departments of Corrections, only 27 of
them reported providing substance abuse programs tailored to women; only 19
provided domestic violence programs; and only 9 provided women's health education.
According to Human Rights Watch, lesbian and transgendered prisoners are
often targeted for sexual abuse.
Incidents of the sexual abuse of female inmates by prison officials are
not often reported--victims fear retaliation by officials, and such retaliation
has been documented. While international standards for humane treatment
of prisoners call for mostly female supervision of female inmates, most
women's prisons in the US employ male guards and do not monitor or establish
restrictions regarding treatment of women prisoners by male guards. As a
consequence, touching and viewing of female prisoners' bodies by male jail
and prison officials is permitted under US law.
Seventy percent of those who guard women prisoners are men. In Canada,
91 percent of guards in women's prisons are women
A women prisoner who is the victim of abusive or improper treatment by
male guards cannot legitimately use prison or jail complaints procedures
unless this harmful treatment transgresses the standards of that specific
jail or prison.
The 1999 Amnesty report cites numerous examples of pregnant women, women
in labor, and women giving birth being shackled to their beds, in many cases
unable even to roll over in an attempt to lessen their discomfort.
In 1997, 3.5% of women State prisoners were HIV positive compared to 2.2%
of male State prisoners.
The health care of women in prison is inadequate in light of such statistics.
In a 1996 national survey of jail inmates, fewer than half of the women
(only 47%) had received even a basic medical examination upon admittance
to the facility. There are also limited mental health resources for women.
As of 1999, there were about ten times as many women in U.S. prisons and
jails as there were in Western European countries.