Tara Gray, G Larry Mays, Mary K Stohr. Prison Journal. Volume 75, Issue 2, June 1995.
Women in jail account for almost 10% of the nation’s jail inmates (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1991). Perhaps because of their relatively small numbers, little is known about women inmates generally and about women in jail particularly (Bergsmann, 1989; Jalbert, 1987; Mann, 1984; Ross & Fabiano, 1986; Simon & Landis, 1991). Similarly, less is known about jails than is known about other institutions in the justice system, and even less is known about women’s jails (American Jail Association, 1991). There have been few studies of women’s jails before this study, including what we call “the BJS study,” the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (1992) Women in Jail 1989 (Connolly, 1983; Glick & Neto, 1982; Neto, 1981; Sims, 1976). In the current study, we surveyed women in five exclusively women’s jails about their needs and the nature and extent of available programming. We also compared these data to the data from other national studies on women in mostly mixed population jails, including the BJS study and Neto (1981).
Programming for women in jail has traditionally been lacking in breadth and restricted in access. In 1969, a study of 41 Pennsylvania jails that incarcerated women or girls found that programs for females were virtually nonexistent. Half of the jails had some kind of work program, mostly maintenance, but only 12 women were on work release. Of the 43 jails, only 2 had vocational training and only 5 had educational programs. Although 24 jails permitted children to visit their mothers, only 12 allowed them to visit without glass, screens, or bars between them. In addition, 12 of the jails retained a 24-hour lockup (Velimesis, 1969, pp. 29-36).
This description may sound like a throwback from an earlier century, but when Connolly (1983) published a follow-up study on the Pennsylvania jails 14 years later, she found that “the status of women offenders in Pennsylvania seems unchanged since 1967; the few gains have probably been outweighed by new losses” (p. 102). In 1983, women received programming only in those jails with entirely separate sections for women. Even these jails featured only a barebones selection of Alcoholics Anonymous, Adult Basic Education, and weekly group therapy with the county psychologist. The most highly attended program was a Bingo game with prizes from the kitchen (ice cream) or the commissary (shampoo, candy). Work details were minimal, and the only jobs available to women were kitchen work, cleaning, and minor clerical work. The national study by Glick and Neto (1982) yielded many of the same findings. For example, work programs were found to be sex stereotyped, with much emphasis on cosmetology, clerical skills, and food service. Many jails did not have work programs or any programs except religious ones.
Much has been written about the inadequate medical services that jails provide to women. One study found that half of the medical problems of incarcerated women were gynecological or obstetrical, but the medical services of jails, when provided, were usually provided by physicians who are accustomed to and primarily concerned with men. Another study found similar results and concluded that “adequate health care in jails is rare … Gynecological and obstetrical care are often unavailable” (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1979, p. 31).
Just as the medical services provided to women in jail are often inadequate, the programming is inferior. The programming available to the inmates of the Cook County Women’s Correctional Center were found to be “far better” than that provided to women in most jails, but the services were “not equal” to those provided to men (Bigman, 1980, p. 36). As a result, by 1983 some states had active litigation regarding gender equality in educational programs (13 states), vocational programs (12 states), and prison industries (8 states) (Ryan, 1984).
These lawsuits reflect a change from the special needs approach, in which women are thought to have different needs from men, to the equality approach, in which women are thought to require equal treatment to men. Although recent rulings have caused programs in women’s prisons and jails to be expanded, another logical application of the equality approach would be to reduce the number of programs for men. Chesney-Lind and Pollock (1995) point out that in economic hard times, reducing programs for men would be cheaper and just as acceptable legally. As a result, women might lose some of the advantages they won under the special needs approach.
For example, there is some evidence that prisons for women offer more liberal visitation policies than do prisons for men (Taylor, 1982). A few prisons and jails allow the children of women inmates to spend the night with their incarcerated mothers (Baunach, 1982; “Massachusetts Opens Jail,” 1988; “Women in Jail,” 1990). This may be because women are perceived to have more need for the visits, especially contact with their children, or because most states have only one prison for women and it is often a long way from friends and family. At any rate, it is highly unlikely that children would ever be allowed to spend the night in a men’s facility, and so applying the equality approach would mean that children would not be allowed to spend the night in women’s facilities either (Chesney-Lind & Pollock, 1995). More serious is the possibility that society’s dealing with women offenders has more nearly matched that of men by becoming more punitive generally, which has resulted in more women being sent to prison, a trend that is sometimes dubbed “equality with a vengeance” (Chesney-Lind, 1991).
In this study, instead of asking whether women receive programming equal to that of men, we compared the needs of women in jail to the programming they receive. Both our study and the BJS study found that at least three quarters of the women are mothers, and the vast majority of their children lived with them prior to arrest. Therefore, these women have needs as beth nurturers and providers. As providers, they need to further their education and training. As nurturers, they need to maintain and deepen their bonds with their children and overcome their addictions to drugs and alcohol as well as their histories of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. This article examines the extent to which programming in women’s jails meets women’s needs so that they can better function as individuals as well as nurturers and providers.
Methods
From among the 18 exclusively women’s jails, we selected 5 to visit. To get access to more inmates, we avoided the smallest jails, considering only those that housed more than 100. Of the 12 jails that met our size criterion, 5 refused to participate including 2 of the largest jails and 3 medium-sized jails. These jails refused because of the sensitive nature of some of the questions, inmate privacy, or staff and budget constraints. Unfortunately, our own budget constraints meant that we could visit only 5 of the remaining 7 jails, and these were chosen because they seemed more representative of their geographical areas.
It is possible that the jails we chose for site visits differed from the other jails because their managers perceived the facilities in more positive terms. If so, this means that our jails were probably superior to the typical women’s jail. None of the jails, however, was really a “model” jail, administratively or structurally – and, structurally, a couple were in pretty rough shape. Further, it became clear that the inmates in these jails share many characteristics with the women who are jailed nationally and that the jails have many shortcomings in their programming. If women in the jails we surveyed are shortchanged, it suggests that the situation is even worse for women in other jails.
We visited each of the five jails in July and August 1992. During the site visits, we distributed surveys to inmates, staff, and administrators, and we interviewed administrators. Most of the information in this article comes from the inmate surveys, which were eight pages long and contained many multiple-choice questions about life in the facility as well as a request for open-ended comments. We distributed these surveys in each housing unit and waited until the inmates completed them. Many of the inmates took great delight in participating in the research effort, and in most of the housing units our presence was something of a social event. What should have taken 20 to 30 minutes often took longer than an hour as a result of inmates’ discussing and commenting on the survey with each other, with the staff, and especially with us.
Surveys were distributed to as many inmates as possible, and they were available in both Spanish and English. The jails excluded us from distributing surveys in administrative segregation and in medical units where inmates were heavily sedated or had infectious diseases. We were also unable to reach some inmates who were on work assignments or were called to meals, the infirmary, or court at the time of our visit. A few inmates could not fill out the surveys because they were unable to read; if these inmates were willing, we read the surveys to them or other inmates did. In most of the jails, more than 90% of the inmates were given the opportunity to fill out a survey. The return rate ranged from 68% in the Atlantic Shores jail to 88% in Port City. In the end, 566 inmates completed our survey.
Characteristics of the Jails and Inmates
The jails shared some important similarities and differences. Three of the jails are part of a sheriff’s department, which is true for more than two thirds of the jails nationwide. The two other jails are part of a separate corrections department (Bay View and Atlantic Shores). Atlantic Shores is also a combined women’s jail and state prison, a highly unusual arrangement found only in the smallest of states. The annual cost of confinement, about $20,000 per inmate, was very similar in each of the jails . All of the jails, except Atlantic Shores, were crowded, ranging from 118% to 204% of their rated capacities. All of the jails, except Pacific Shores, were under court order regarding the general conditions of confinement, were awaiting the outcome of such a lawsuit, or had made a settlement within the last year.
As for the inmates, the mean age of the respondents was 32 years. One third were White, one third were Black, and one fifth were Hispanic. More than one third of the inmates were married legally or by common law, another third were single, and one fifth were separated or divorced. One third of the inmates were held for the possession or sale of drugs. One fourth were held for property offenses including petty theft (12%), forgery or fraud (7%), or burglary (6%). More than one third were unsentenced inmates who were usually awaiting trial, and the remainder were sentenced inmates who had served an average of 80 days at the facility and had an average sentence of 20 months. Some of the women were serving long or multiple misdemeanor sentences, and some were felons awaiting transport to other correctional facilities.
Inmate Needs and Programming
The recreation and programming available to inmates have recently been the subject of much public outrage. The public perceives that inmates have access to free college educations and the latest in exercise and bodybuilding equipment. For the women we studied, the reality is quite different. For example, none of the jails offered any college courses, and only three provided both indoor and outdoor recreation, never mind the latest in exercise equipment. In fact, recreational opportunities were quite limited in these jails, with the possible exception of the Pacific Shores jail, which was built as a juvenile detention facility and had numerous and interesting recreational opportunities including a swimming pool and tennis courts. In fairness, however, we saw only one inmate swimming and the tennis courts were being used as storage areas. We found out that the use of such facilities was largely restricted to sentenced inmates. As a result, the unsentenced inmates, who make up more than a third of the population there, complained bitterly that, for them, recreation usually consisted of sitting on the picnic table in the sunshine.
What became clear as we visited the jails was that the women were eager for programming. One jail manager observed that women in his jail, unlike many of the men he had supervised in other facilities, were very receptive to learning, improvement, and a variety of programming opportunities. Yet the inmates consistently reported that there was not enough programming and that access to it was limited, especially when it involved facility money or when the program could not be delivered within the space of a few hours. The administrators of all the jails agreed that they focused their limited programming resources on women who would be at the jail long enough to complete the specific programs, which seems like a fair criterion, although it worked to the detriment of the women who were in pretrial status and, therefore, presumed to be innocent. Two jails (Pacific Shores and Atlantic Shores) further restricted enrollment, citing other factors such as need and seniority.
The following section discusses the needs of the inmates for programming and their programming involvement with regard to alcohol and drug use, education and job training, victimization, and parenting.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Alcohol and drug abuse are known to be widespread among jail inmates. In the BJS study, about 13% of the women said they had been alcoholics; in our study, 17% said they used alcohol frequently. In the BJS study, 10% said they participated in alcohol programming; in our study, 14% participated in such programming, mostly Alcoholics Anonymous. Of the offenders in our study who reported using alcohol frequently, 80% reported participating in alcohol programming, a high percentage indeed, especially given that not all inmates with alcohol problems want to participate.
Compared to alcohol abuse, drug abuse is more common among women jail inmates. In the BJS study, more than 40% of the women said they used drugs daily; in our study, 42% said they used drugs frequently. Despite very similar levels of drug usage, in the BJS study only 11% of all inmates were currently participating in drug programming, whereas in our study of exclusively women’s jails, 18% were participating. Even in our study, however, only 42% of the offenders who reported frequent drug use were involved in programming, compared to 80% of alcohol abusers. This seems tragic given that one third of the women in both studies were incarcerated for drug offenses.
Education and Job Training
In the BJS study, 50% of the women inmates had completed high school or had begun college, and the same was true in our study. In the BJS study, 38% of the women were employed at the time of their arrest; in our study, 35% were employed. The women in our study earned an average of $700 per month, and 57% reported that they were supporting others at the time of their arrest. Clearly, the educational and vocational needs of the women seem urgent, given that work provides the lifeline for these women and the people they support. Indeed, in our study, inmates rated work training as the single most needed program, followed by college courses, which was ranked third, and vocational courses, which tied for the fourth. The need is all the more urgent because between one third and two thirds of the women were incarcerated for crimes that involved economic gain.
Nonetheless, only 6% of women we surveyed were enrolled in GED classes and 1% in high school classes. Similarly, less than 2% of inmates took vocational courses, and less than 3% participated in work training. Although all the facilities have some sort of work release, the jail managers told us that it was available only to women who were convicted and sentenced, had a moderate amount of time left to serve, and were low risks in terms of escapes and offense seriousness.
The findings presented by Neto (1981) were less depressing. Neto surveyed 100 jails nationally that housed women. Only 22 of the jails responded, and Neto speculated that the low response rate might have been because many of the jails could report no programming. Of the jails that responded, 12 gave enrollment figures for academic programs and 17 for vocational programs. Of the jails that provided enrollment figures, calculations from Neto (1981, tables 2-4) show that 21% of the inmates were enrolled in academic classes and 21% were enrolled in vocational classes or in vocational training. Interestingly, however, more women in mixed population jails as compared to exclusively women’s jails were involved in educational (35% vs. 11%) and vocational (28% vs. 14%) programming (Neto, 1981, p. 7). Equally important is the observation that even in the jails that Neto surveyed, which had markedly better educational and vocational programming than the jails we studied, most women receive no programming.
Victims of Sexual Assaults
It is widely believed that there may be a cycle of violence in which victims of physical or sexual assaults become offenders. For example, James (1971) found that in a sample of 20 adolescent prostitutes, 65% had been raped, and 85% of these rapes had occurred before the girls were 15 years old. Although the correlation between being victimized and becoming criminal is strong, it is difficult to prove that victimization is the cause of violence or crime. Widom (1989) discusses how “the idea that violence begets violence has become firmly established in the minds of professionals and the general public alike” (p. 251). She reviews many studies that found that violence breeds violence but concludes that the “magnitude of the association appears to be modest” (p. 254). Nonetheless, if jails are to help put an end to the revolving door of crime, they must help women overcome their past victimization, the effects of which cannot be underestimated. For example, Lurigio and Resick (1990) review numerous studies that found the effects of rape on the victim to be “devastating and often lifelong” (p. 50).
Given the strong correlation between violence and criminality, it is to be expected that many jailed women have long histories of abuse. In the BJS study, 33% of the inmates were physically abused and 37% were sexually abused. In our study, a third of the inmates reported that they were victims of sexual assault before age 18, and 38% were sexually assaulted as adults . In both studies, 13% were currently incarcerated for violent offenses.
Unfortunately, few programs were directed at repairing the damage done by victimization, including programs aimed at building self-esteem, improving communication skills, or managing stress and anger. Because of the limited availability of such programming, less than 4% of our respondents participated. This was true even though inmates recognized the need for these programs and rated all of them among the 10 most needed programs. In this listing, stress management was ranked fourth (a tie), self-esteem sixth, anger management seventh, and communication ninth. Given the enormous psychological impact of being physically or sexually assaulted, such programming seems woefully inadequate in helping victims process the past and prepare for the future.
Parenting
As mentioned previously, about three quarters of the inmates in both our study and the BJS study were mothers. The mothers averaged between two and three children, with the average minor child being 7 years old and all the minor children living with their mothers before incarceration. Much has been written about the special needs of incarcerated mothers, but these jails seem to do little for women as mothers. Mothers and children alike would benefit if incarcerated mothers could improve their self-esteem and communication skills or better manage their stress and anger. However, only 4% participate in parenting programs and, as already discussed, less than 4% participate in any other kind of self-help programming.
Jails should facilitate communication between mothers and their children. During the site visits, we quickly learned of the importance inmates place on communication with the outside world and especially their children, even when such contact is through the mail. Pencils and envelopes were both prized greatly, and we had numerous requests to leave them behind. Inmates reported that they sent or received an average of four letters a month, although about 4% sent or received a letter every day and almost 30% sent and received no mail. As for visits, the typical inmate received two visits from friends or family per month. Almost 10% of inmates received eight or more visits a month, but about 40% received no visits. Visits remain a sore spot for women who receive fewer visits than men and therefore see their children less often than do fathers (Resnick & Shaw, 1981).
To make matters worse, some of the jails restrict contact visits for children. One jail (Port City) forbids contact visits for children, allowing them only for spouses. Another jail (Pacific Shores) forbids contact visits for older children, allowing them only for babies. A third jail (Central Valley) allows contact visits with children, but only for women on the honor farm. Yet another jail (Bay View) allows contact visits for children of all ages, and a final jail (Atlantic Shores) allows overnight visits for the children of sentenced women with good behavior records. Importantly, this facility houses 355 inmates, including both jail and prison inmates, but, on any given night, only 1 or 2 women are allowed such a visit. Most remarkably, three jails (Port City, Atlantic Shores, and Bay View) allow women to go home on furlough programs.
Inmates are also eager to make and receive phone calls, and phone calls take on an added importance given that some of the jails are located away from the central cities, making it difficult for families to visit. Unfortunately, virtually all the jails have restricted calls by installing telephone systems that allow only collect calls, even locally. Administrators point out that this system controls access to the phones and minimizes disputes over who gets the phone and for how long. In addition, collect calls cut the cost of phone service to the institution and serve as revenue generators for the inmate fund, a fund that buys supplies for recreation and so on. Inmates tell a different story. We arrived at the Bay View jail a week after it converted to a collect call system. The system was clearly a sore spot for most of the inmates, some of whom complained vehemently that they could have little or no meaningful and regular contact with their families and children because it was too expensive for them to accept their calls. If the main reason for the collect call system is truly to aid to the inmate fund rather than to further administrative convenience, it is clear that most inmates would rather resume a greater level of contact with the outside world and especially with their children.
Conclusions
Of the programming we examined here, exclusively women’s jails best meet the needs of inmates in terms of alcohol and drug abuse treatment. About 80% of the women who reported that they use alcohol frequently were in programming, as were 42% of the women who use drugs. When compared to the women in the BJS survey, our respondents reported more alcohol abuse and equal levels of drug abuse. However, inmates in women’s jails receive more alcohol programming and half again as much drug programming. By contrast, the inmates in women’s jails that were studied by Neto (1981) received markedly less educational and vocational programming.
In the end, this project sets the stage for another study that asks whether women’s jails better meet the needs of women than do mixed population jails. The question is important because two of the institutions we examined (Port City and Central Valley) were on the verge of moving into new mixed population, direct supervision jails. Unless researchers show that women fare better in women’s jails and get the word out soon, we may see the demise of women’s jails by the next century.
The major finding of the study is that except for the availability of treatment programs that are often provided by community groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, the programming in women’s jails is woefully inadequate. Consider education and work programming, for example. Only 35% of the women were employed prior to incarceration, although 57% reported that they were responsible for supporting themselves and others. Worse, more than a third were incarcerated for crimes that involved economic gain. Nonetheless, once incarcerated, only 12% of the women were involved in education programs, vocational courses, or work training. Inmates rated increased educational and vocational programming as their top priority, and it would seem that more is urgently needed if these women are to exit the revolving door of crime.
Inmates also saw a need for self-help programming. Among potential programs, they rated stress management fourth (a tie), self-esteem sixth, anger management seventh, and communication skills ninth. This programming is critical because one third of the inmates in our sample were victims of sexual assault and 13% were themselves incarcerated for violent offenses. Tragically, less than 4% of the women received self-help programming that might help them overcome their victimization and avoid the cycle of violence.
About 80% of the inmates were mothers, and all of the minor children lived with their mothers prior to incarceration. Yet only 4% of the women were involved in programming aimed at improving parenting skills, and many of the women felt that the institutions do little to help mothers maintain and strengthen ties to their children.
Jail administrators respond to these deficiencies by pointing out that programming funds are limited and that jail budgets are strained to the breaking point. However, jails have long been financially strapped, yet the literature includes examples of jails that provided more for women 20 years ago. For example, in 1976 the Dade County jail in Florida provided indoor and outdoor recreation as well as a work release program and courses at both the high school and college levels. This jail also provided vocational training including automotive engineering and air conditioning as well as cosmetology, office skills, and industrial sewing (Sims, 1976).
More recently, some jails have experimented with allowing children to live with their incarcerated mothers. At the Neil J. Houston House in Boston, 15 inmate mothers live with their babies, usually for about 6 months. Similar programs exist at the federal level in Texas and California (“Massachusetts Opens Jail,” 1988). At the Rose M. Singer Center on Riker’s Island, the mothers’ cells surround the glass-walled nursery on three sides and an intercom system keeps them in constant touch. Because the mothers’ cells are never locked, when the kids cry, the mores can rush to their aid (“Women in Jail,” 1990). Baunach studied the effects of having children in an institutional setting all day or overnight. Regardless of whether the inmates have children of their own, they tend to respond favorably to the presence of children, enjoy watching or playing with them, and “clean up their language and behavior” while children are around. In addition, there have been no serious incidents regarding children since these programs began in the women’s prisons in Washington State and Kentucky (Baunach, 1982, p. 163).
Clearly, when it comes to programming, it is not enough for jail administrators to throw up their hands; instead, they must raise money to expand programming and explore different kinds of low-cost programming. One possibility involves the expanded use of community volunteers. Clearly, there are problems with volunteers because they sometimes move, get jobs, or lose interest. Still, the jails with the best programs for women have an active network of volunteers (Connolly, 1983). In our study, the administrator of the Pacific Shores jail pointed out that the facility’s programming is as extensive as it is because community groups have taken an active interest in the jail. This appears to be happening in many jails to a limited extent, with the involvement of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
Another possibility for low-cost programming comes from inmates themselves. For example, Baunach (1982) suggests the involvement of inmate-mothers in the development, implementation, and operations of programs for mothers and children. The medical model suggests that offenders are “sick” and must be “cured” and that things must be done to or for offenders rather than with them. However, the medical model does little to develop a sense of responsibility among inmates (Murton, 1976). When inmates are involved in the decision-making process, they are given the opportunity to determine the focus and direction of the programs. Further, having inmates involved could result in major cost savings because boredom is a great motivator, which means that some inmates would serve as volunteer teachers and agree to research subjects and share their findings with other inmates. Jails are institutions that are financially strapped and house people who are chronically bored. Clearly, administrators have waited too long to call on inmates as a resource to reduce boredom and improve morale and programming. Indeed, the administrators of women’s jails must break with tradition and do everything they can to improve the chances that inmates can function as law-abiding individuals as well as nurturers and providers.
The authors thank Shannon Henry and Carol Clark for help with the site visits and Jon’a F. Meyer for her comments. This article was prepared under Grant 92J01GHP5 from the National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Department of Justice. The points of view expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the Department of Justice.