Female inmates: Mothers in Prin prison populations may create a sense of security in the community, there are
numerous detrimental effects which result from incarcerating less serious offend-
ers. Among the most important issues regarding incarcerated women is their status
as mothers. Therefore, confinement serves to emotionally and physically separate
mothers from children, which in turn creates a host of debilitating effects on both
the women and their children. Additionally, the majority of women prisoners have a
substance abuse problem for which they do not receive treatment while imprisoned
(Bouciin, 1998). The lack of services provided to women prisoners contributes
greatly to their perpetual criminal behavior, and this is connected to their drug
addiction. The following case depicts a scenario which is quite typical of women
prisoners.
Nancy is a 28-year-old Latino woman who is currently being incarcerated for the
eighth time in her life. She was 15 years old when she was arrested tor the first time. All
of her charges have been drug related. Nancy has a long history of substance abuse that
began when she was 11 years old, at which time her lather gave her some of his cocaine.
Nancy has three children under the age of 10 for whom she is the sole provider.
Nancy's most recent arrest was 5 months ago for possession of narcotics. As a result
of her incarceration, all of her children are now in separate foster homes. The first few
tunes that Nancy was incarcerated, her mother took care of her children. However, Child
Protective Services has now insured that the Court has custody of the children and is
initiating a movement to have Nancy's parental rights terminated.
While Nancy does have a lengthy history of incarceration and substance abuse, she has
never received any treatment for her substance abuse problem. The correctional officers
know Nancy very well and refer to her as one of the inmates caught in the "revolving
door." Without proper substance abuse treatment for her drug and alcohol addictions,
it is likely that Nancy will continue to engage in the same behaviors upon release from
prison and thus continue her pattern of incarceration.
While Nancy is serving her punishment, her children are separated from one another
as well as from their mother. They live over UK) miles from Nancy's place of incarceration
and approximately 45 miles from one another, thereby making visitation next to impos-
sible. The family has lost all physical contact with one another. As a result, Nancy and
all of her children are exhibiting signs of severe emotional distress including depression,
suicidal ideation, guilt, and a variety of acting-out behaviors.Literature Review
Women comprise one of the fastest growing prison populations in the United
States (Reed & Reed, 1998). In the 9-year period between 1986 and 1995, the
number of incarcerated women in the United States increased by more than 250%
(A. J. Beck & Gilliard, 1995). The criminal justice system is much more likely to
sentence a woman to prison now than ever before (Watterson, 1996b). Further,
women are receiving much longer prison sentences at both the state and the federal
levels (Watterson, 1996). However, this is not to suggest that women are becoming
more violent or committing more crimes than they were previously; rather, the
criminal justice system has broadened the scope of criminal behavior for which