November 11, 2014

The Case for Closing Down Women's Prisons

"Essentially, the case for closing women’s prisons is the same as the case for imprisoning fewer men. It is the case against the prison industrial complex and for community-based treatment where it works better than incarceration. But there is evidence that prison harms women more than men, so why not start there?"

This important piece by Patricia O'Brien, associate professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at University of Illinois at Chicago, was published in The Conversation on Nov. 6, 2014, and posted on truthout on Nov. 10.

The article begins:
"It sounds like a radical idea. Stop incarcerating women, and close down women’s prisons. But in the UK, there is a growing movement, sponsored by a peer in the House of Lords, to do just that.

The argument is actually quite straightforward: there are many fewer women in prison than men to start with – women make up just 7% of the total prison population. This means that these women are disproportionately affected by a system designed for men.

But could women’s prisons actually be eliminated in the US, where women’s incarceration rate has risen by 646% in the past 30 years? The context is different, but many of the arguments stay the same.

Essentially, the case for closing women’s prisons is the same as the case for imprisoning fewer men. It is the case against the prison industrial complex and for community-based treatment where it works better than incarceration. But there is evidence that prison harms women more than men, so why not start there?

Any examination of the women who are in prison in the US reveals that the majority are nonviolent offenders with poor education, little employment experience and multiple histories of abuse from childhood through adulthood. Women are also more likely than men to have children who rely on them for support – 147,000 American children have mothers in prison."...

Read full article here