Women in Prison - the Increase of Women Sent to Prison

The day in the life of a woman is always a hand full of responsibilities and because of that a number of women are placed behind bars for issues that they stumble upon. Many people think that women who are placed behind bars are very different from that of men. The fact is, is that those women in prison go through a lot more than one would think. This paper will discuss the life of women in prison, involving the high increase of women sent to prison, the different reasons they are sent to prison, the way they function with work and education, the medical treatment they undergo and the relationships they have both in and outside of prison.

Women in Prison

The increase of women sent to Prison

Since the year 1980, the number of women incarcerated has tripled over the years in the United States. Over ninety thousand women are imprisoned within our prisons and jails. In 1992, there were 50,493 women incarcerated in federal and state prisons. Amazingly, the rate of women's imprisonment grew from 6 per 100,000 in 1925 to 37 per 100,000 in 1992. According to the May 1994 issue report of Women's Economic Agenda Project things you should know about women in prison in the United States: There are over 90,000 women in prison in the United States today. The number of women in prison has increased 138% in the last ten years. This is partly due to the worsening of economic conditions for women, and also due to the increase in arrest rates due to the "war on crime" and "war on drugs" (http://www.prisonactivist.org/articles/women-prison)

Reasons for going to prison

The majority are in prison for economic crimes. The most typical convictions resulting in imprisonment for women are property crimes, such as check forgery and illegal credit card use. 80% of women in prison report incomes of less than $2,000 per year in the year before their arrest, and 92% report incomes under $10,000. Of the women convicted of violent crimes, the vast majority were convicted for defending themselves or their children from abuse. In California alone there are 600 women in prison for killing their abusers in self-defense. Average prison terms are twice as long for killing husbands as for killing wives. 3. 54% of women in prison are women of color. 4. Ninety percent of women in prison are single mothers. ((http://www.prisonactivist.org/articles/women-prison)

Health and Safety

Medical Treatment and Care

Growing evidence indicates that women in prison are particularly vulnerable to many negative health outcomes, including cervical cancer. The Papanicolaou (Pap) test is an effective tool to screen for this disease. Although the silent and insidious killers of women--breast, ovarian and cervical cancer--are finally commanding pink-ribbon