Women are closing the gender gap in incarceration - that's not a good thing
drug arrests are fueling an explosion in female incarceration, according to a report from the Prison Policy Initiative
This week we go over a report on the trends of incarcerated women from the Prison Policy Institute.
23% - the increase of women in city and county jails from 2009 to 2018.
10% - the percentage of the incarcerated population that is women
25% - the amount arrests of women have risen over the last 35 years while men’s decreased 33%.
Drugs: what is driving the arrests. Over the past almost four decades drug related arrests increased nearly 216% for women versus compared to 48% for men.
Drug arrests for women rose in both rural, urban and suburban counties over the last decade (25%, 23%, 26%)
Black and Hispanic women are still incarcerated at higher rates than white women. BUT incarceration is rising more for white women specifically - 2% from 2010 to 2019.
Where: women are more likely to be incarcerated in county or city jails than prisons unlike men.
60% of these women are being held pretrial and are not convicted of a crime.
25% of women in jail are there for drug crimes.
IMPORTANT
Correctional facilities are particularly inhumane and unequipped to care for women.
Women behind bars are more likely to have a history of abuse, trauma, and mental health problems than incarcerated men.
Women also must face prison with reproductive needs including pregnancy at times.
Female incarceration is particularly devastating to families. Women are usually the primary caretakers of their kids before their incarceration.
Read the full report here.
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