Discussing History of Female Incarceration

The result is that the number of mothers of children who ar being incarcerated is growing."

Over the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of womanishs incarcerated on an one-year basis in the U.S. Crawford (p. 8) reports that the increase is fivefold, from 11 female inmates per 100,000 to 51 per 100,000. Females still represent less than ten percent of the fare inmate population in the U.S., but this ploughshare has increase from 3.9 percent in 1980 to 6.1 percent in 1996, (Crawford, p. 8). It is likely the percentage is currently higher. There are some similarities in trends betwixt the male and female inmate population. These include the fact that more(prenominal) inmates are minority females than non-minority females, female inmates of lower socioeconomic terra firma makeup more of the population than those of higher socioeconomic background, and eminence females appear to receive more lenient treatment than female inmates of typical status.

Martha Stewart was recently sentenced to five months at the country's oldest correctional quickness for women, Alderson Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia. The facility has been labeled "camp cupcake," because of its numerous privileges and minimum-security status, (Smolowe, p. 75). However, despite the widespread precept t

hat the U.S. justice carcass is more lenient on celebrities, corrections ship's officers argue to the contrary. unrivalled of the female corrections officers at Alderson maintains that Stewart will be about monitored and her behavior held to the highest standards of compliance with rules and regulations, "Mrs. Stewart's going to be held to the pickiest rules that other inmates may not?to avoid any appearance of favoritism," (Smolowe, p. 76).

Another sweet corrections facility in California has tackled the special demand of women as caregivers for their children. The first of its kind in the nation, Family Foundations is a assure run facility that enables female inmates to serve their sentence with their children.

locate in the suburb of Santa Fe Springs, the facility opened in 1999 and houses 35 inmates who may each serve their sentence with up to two children, (Meadows and Sheff-Cahan, p. 117). The creative and model approach taken by Family Foundations is for non-violent offenders and permits women to live with their children in a combination detention nitty-gritty and boarding house. The program is aimed at rehabilitation, an effort to turn mothers away(predicate) from substance abuse and toward childrearing and their children. As one corrections officer at the facility maintains, Family Foundations is "the centerpiece of the state's efforts to rehabilitate non-violent offenders serving on the spur of the moment terms for do drugs and property crimes," (Meadows, p. 117). In light of the change magnitude number of non-violent offenders who are mothers being sentenced to time in prison, such(prenominal) alternative approaches may prove much more effective for mothers, children, and society.

One of the reasons for the increase in female inmates aside from decide disregarding family responsibilities arises from harsher drug sentencing guidelines and the increase in arrests of female drug users. Crawford (p. 8) maintains that the "major category that has contributed to the increase in incarcerations for women is drug offe
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