Women are now entering prisons at higher rates than men in our nation. Have women become more violent or is it simply because they are victimized at much higher rates than their male counterparts? A Nation of Women Behind Bars showed the shattering impact it has not only on the women incarcerated in our prison system but their loved ones as well. There has also been a 14% increase in women facing the death penalty here in the U.S. Besides the gender differences between men and women the women prisons operate under a sort of family instead of the typical gang lifestyle found in men's prisons. Most of their disagreements occur because of "girlfriends" they may not be homosexual or even bisexual but used the saying "gay for the stay." This shows the intense need of companionship that women possess even while incarcerated. It was alarming that 60% of the women in our prisons come in after suffering some form of abuse. Another alarming figure that stuck out was that 63% of the women suffer from some sort of mental health issues. It is a proven fact that mental health issues are higher in women than men. Of course they mentioned that black women were incarcerated at higher rates than white women. This is more than likely due to racial profiling and not because black women commit more crimes. The programs implemented in Maryland and Tennessee lowered the recidivism rates because they know education reduces recidivism by 43%. Lowering the recidivism rates lowers the cost to the taxpayer. Although, women are entering the system faster than males there is a huge difference in the amount of women on death row at only 55 compared to the 3000 men on death row. Of course it did not come as a surprise that 75% of death row inmates are poor minorities. These are the groups of people who lack resources to hire good representation so it stands to reason they would make up the majority of the death row population. Women also age faster when they are incarcerated this shows the strain that prison life puts on females. Many of the women they spoke to in the video had been tricked by boyfriends into committing the crimes they committed. Especially the more violent crimes. In the opening of the video they said that upon entering prison the women realize their lives are shattered and that was a great description. Looking at the women you could see how shattered their lives had become due to one stupid choice. The older lady is what really touched my heart. She was clearly remorseful for her role in the crime her and her boyfriend committed and had made many great changes since being incarcerated. She had already been there 36 years of the life sentence she received and been denied parole several times. I felt she should be given a second chance at life. Obviously she has mellowed with age and I also feel like she would not have committed a crime without the influence of her boyfriend. Yes women commit crimes sometimes even violent crimes but this video showed there is a remarkable difference between women offenders and men offenders. I think these things need to be considered before handing down lengthy prison terms for women offenders. mommy004
I agree! I think it was interesting to see just how differently prison effects women compared to men. I think that the increase in women being sentenced to prison is because women committing violent crimes, and really most crimes in general, goes against societies gender stereotypes, and because of this, women are being punished harsher to try to force them back into "women's crimes" and to scare off other women from committing these acts also. EKT004
I thought this video was really interesting and gave us an accurate look inside women’s prisons in America. The video started off by giving statistics and facts, like women are coming into prisons at a faster rate than men, 63% of prisoners are in for nonviolent crimes, and 200,000 women are behind prison bars in America. I was surprised that the drug Suboxone was able to be sneaked in under a postage stamp and one strip was enough to get users high enough for eight hours. It is crazy how easy it is for correctional officers to miss contraband just like that. This video put emphasis on mental health issues in prison, which is important because most prisoners have one or more mental illnesses. Sometimes the prisoners line up for pills up to three times a day. One of the women in the video mentioned that only a handful of prisoners were beyond change and if you can’t understand the prisoner then you try to understand their struggle. Both of these concepts are important because incarceration is at an all time high and society is not that accepting of ex-convicts. The video then introduced two women on death row, one 30 years old and the other 32 years old. The two women did not call it death row though, they called it “life row” because they are living and are not dead yet. Both of them being on death row was not the only similarity between them; they were both sexually abused. The woman’s boyfriend (who sexually abused her) actually committed the killing, hired a private lawyer, and got sentenced to life in prison. This shows injustice in the criminal justice system. There really was not substantial evidence the woman was even there when the crime occurred. The video also shared a statistic that education in prison reduces recidivism by 43%. Education does cost money, but if prisons can get an education system running, they will most likely save money they would have spent re-incarcerating prisoners. I was also shocked that one prisoner cost tax payers over one million dollars for the time she spent in prison. Time and money would be saved if we turned to rehabilitation instead of sentencing offenders (especially nonviolent ones) to excessive time in prisons. Scuba004
Today, women are entering prisons at higher rates than men in our nation, and there has also been a 14% increase in women facing the death penalty. A Nation of Women Behind Bars showed the shattering impact that prison has, not only on the women incarcerated, but their loved ones as well. Besides the obvious gender differences between men and women, the women prisons operate under pseudofamilies as opposed to the typical gang set-up found in men's prisons. Most of their disagreements occur because of "girlfriends," these women may not be homosexual, or even bisexual, but use the saying "gay for the stay." This shows the intense need of companionship that women possess even while incarcerated. It was alarming that 60% of the women sentenced to prison have suffered some form of abuse. Another alarming figure that stuck out was that 63% of the women suffer from some sort of, usually untreated, mental illness. They mentioned that black women were incarcerated at higher rates than white women, similarly in that black men are also more likely to be incarcerated, and for longer periods of time, then they’re white counterparts. This is due to the practice of racial profiling in some departments, not because black women commit more crimes. The programs implemented in women’s prisons in Maryland and Tennessee have lowered recidivism rates by 43% because they know that education is the key to reducing recidivism. Lowering the recidivism rates lowers the cost to the taxpayer. Although, women are entering the system faster than males there is a huge difference in the amount of women on death row. As there are only 55 women on death row, compared to around 3000 men. It was not surprising that many of the people on death row are minorities, because these are the people who lack the resources to be able to hire private representation. It has been found that women age faster when they are incarcerated, this illustrates the strain that prison life puts on females. While women commit crimes just like men do, this video illustrates how prison effects the genders differently. EKT004
When you hear that 63% of women go untreated and suffer from metal illness. This makes you wonder why so many people don't get the help. It's crazy to hear that there is 55 women on death row just because you don't hear about women committing crimes to the point that they would be sentenced to death. pie004
I agree! I think it was interesting to see just how differently prison effects women compared to men. I think that the increase in women being sentenced to prison is because women committing violent crimes, and really most crimes in general, goes against societies gender stereotypes, and because of this, women are being punished harsher to try to force them back into "women's crimes" and to scare off other women from committing these acts also. EKT004
Women are now entering prisons at higher rates than men in our nation. There has also been a 14% increase in women facing the death penalty here in the U.S. Besides the gender differences between men and women the women prisons operate under a sort of family instead of the typical gang lifestyle found in men's prisons. African American are being incarcerated at higher rates than white women. This makes you question if this comes down to a race issue because there are white women committing crimes but because they are white they might not get in the trouble like black women might get into. Women are entering the system faster than males there is a huge difference in the amount of women on death row at only 55 compared to the 3000 men on death row. The video then introduced two women on death row, one 30 years old and the other 32 years old. The two women did not call it death row though, they called it “life row” because they are living and are not dead yet. I understand that these women were abused by men but when they were talking the women almost talked like they weren’t really sorry for what they have done. Like any person who doesn’t feel any remorse for killing another human shouldn’t be able to be even let alone with just the other inmates. Pie004
Women are being incarcerated into the prison system at faster rate than men. In this video, A Nation of Women Behind Bars, they stated that approximately 63% of women are imprisoned for non-violent crimes and there has been a 14% increase in the number of women serving life in prison. Some of these women create bonds with one another and create what are called pseudo families. One thing that stood out to me in this video was that they mentioned 63% of the female inmates take pills for a mental illness. Many women who are imprisoned suffer from different types of mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. These mental illnesses result from experiencing either physical abuse or sexual abuse. I was pretty disappointed when the video mentioned that there was sexual pressure put on some of the women by some of the officers at the prison because it shows a lack of professionalism and respect, but that is just part of the harsh reality that incarcerated women face. I was also stunned to find out that the number of people with a mental illness in prison is ten times more than people in a hospital with a mental illness. CAE004.
Back in the day, it was extremely hard for women to even be charged with anything simply because the men did not even think of them being capable of doing such things. However that obviously was not the case. Now it seems that the number of women being incarcerated is rising at an exponential rate in such little time. This video showed that a lot of the women were non-violent offenders just like the men. However, one thing that I did not understand is that the woman prison in this video gave all of the needed medicine to the female inmates, yet they stated that the male prisoners do not all get the necessary medicine. To me that did not seem fair. Another thing that surprised me were the two death row females. They seemed so calm that they were going to be executed. I guess when you know that you are going to die, you are better off being calm than being frantic. What I liked about this prison is that they gave privileges to the inmates such as the dancing with the stars program they had. On the other hand, the one prison in Tennessee that they showed would not even let a prisoner talk to Diane unless she was sitting down at a desk. That same prisoner was the one to be released and then not long after, returned to the life behind bars. Rayder004
Diane Sawyer takes on an inside look at female incarceration in Maryland. Here women are being incarcerated at faster rates then men. With roughly 200,000 females incarcerated in the U.S., 63% of which are imprisoned for non-violent crimes, our country maintains the highest number of incarcerated people in the world. The free world is not free for everyone. To make matters worse it appears black women are being incarcerated more than white by a ration of 2 to 1. This statistic along with many others provided in this video show how serious our correctional problem is getting in the U.S. Our nation uses incarceration as its go-to punishment for criminal activity. Maryland Warden Margaret Chippendale argues that it is not the job of her staff or her to punish for crimes committed, but rather to provide services and help aid in the rehabilitation of their inmates. This is shown with a recidivism rate estimated at about 43% with the nations average being around 63%. These are good numbers for recidivism, but we should hope for numbers near 100% unfortunately this is not the reality. Women like Lindsey who was convicted of first degree murder are looking at life in prison, and this length of punishment, while necessary in some cases, costs society unprecedented amounts of money and capital. The prison system in the United States also houses 10 times the amount of mentally ill as hospitals which also inflates cost to an alarming rate. Prison can be a valuable tool for society in treating crime but perhaps it shouldn't be are "fix all" option anymore. We need to further educational programs and other rehabilitation services to help lower recidivism and possibly crime rates as well. Research suggests that education reduces recidivism by at least 43% which can greatly reduce the number of people incarcerated in the United States. Many people in prison are innocent as well with a ration of 1 in 25 people on death row even being innocent. Executing dishing out life sentences to innocent people is a great disservice to both the victims and society as a whole. A great deal of the people in these prisons are incarcerated for drug charges in which they have had upwards of 20 plus years to reconsider their bad habits. For these offenders prison may not be the best fit and can even worsen their situation with the illegal contraband trade in prison. I believe the war on drugs and the ease at which we sentence and send people to prison has caused our nations prisons to inflate to undesirable levels. Education and rehabilitation through treatment might be one of our strongest and best solutions to combat this dangerous trend of imprisonment. We are now beginning to see women flood into the prison system just as we have with men and this cannot be acceptable. We must continue to push for reform within our legislation and hope to reverse these trends over time. Ghost004
Women are now entering prisons at higher rates than men in our nation. Have women become more violent or is it simply because they are victimized at much higher rates than their male counterparts? A Nation of Women Behind Bars showed the shattering impact it has not only on the women incarcerated in our prison system but their loved ones as well. There has also been a 14% increase in women facing the death penalty here in the U.S. Besides the gender differences between men and women the women prisons operate under a sort of family instead of the typical gang lifestyle found in men's prisons. Most of their disagreements occur because of "girlfriends" they may not be homosexual or even bisexual but used the saying "gay for the stay." This shows the intense need of companionship that women possess even while incarcerated. It was alarming that 60% of the women in our prisons come in after suffering some form of abuse. Another alarming figure that stuck out was that 63% of the women suffer from some sort of mental health issues. It is a proven fact that mental health issues are higher in women than men. Of course they mentioned that black women were incarcerated at higher rates than white women. This is more than likely due to racial profiling and not because black women commit more crimes. The programs implemented in Maryland and Tennessee lowered the recidivism rates because they know education reduces recidivism by 43%. Lowering the recidivism rates lowers the cost to the taxpayer. Although, women are entering the system faster than males there is a huge difference in the amount of women on death row at only 55 compared to the 3000 men on death row. Of course it did not come as a surprise that 75% of death row inmates are poor minorities. These are the groups of people who lack resources to hire good representation so it stands to reason they would make up the majority of the death row population. Women also age faster when they are incarcerated this shows the strain that prison life puts on females. Many of the women they spoke to in the video had been tricked by boyfriends into committing the crimes they committed. Especially the more violent crimes. In the opening of the video they said that upon entering prison the women realize their lives are shattered and that was a great description. Looking at the women you could see how shattered their lives had become due to one stupid choice. The older lady is what really touched my heart. She was clearly remorseful for her role in the crime her and her boyfriend committed and had made many great changes since being incarcerated. She had already been there 36 years of the life sentence she received and been denied parole several times. I felt she should be given a second chance at life. Obviously she has mellowed with age and I also feel like she would not have committed a crime without the influence of her boyfriend. Yes women commit crimes sometimes even violent crimes but this video showed there is a remarkable difference between women offenders and men offenders. I think these things need to be considered before handing down lengthy prison terms for women offenders. mommy004
ReplyDeleteI agree! I think it was interesting to see just how differently prison effects women compared to men. I think that the increase in women being sentenced to prison is because women committing violent crimes, and really most crimes in general, goes against societies gender stereotypes, and because of this, women are being punished harsher to try to force them back into "women's crimes" and to scare off other women from committing these acts also. EKT004
DeleteI thought this video was really interesting and gave us an accurate look inside women’s prisons in America. The video started off by giving statistics and facts, like women are coming into prisons at a faster rate than men, 63% of prisoners are in for nonviolent crimes, and 200,000 women are behind prison bars in America. I was surprised that the drug Suboxone was able to be sneaked in under a postage stamp and one strip was enough to get users high enough for eight hours. It is crazy how easy it is for correctional officers to miss contraband just like that. This video put emphasis on mental health issues in prison, which is important because most prisoners have one or more mental illnesses. Sometimes the prisoners line up for pills up to three times a day. One of the women in the video mentioned that only a handful of prisoners were beyond change and if you can’t understand the prisoner then you try to understand their struggle. Both of these concepts are important because incarceration is at an all time high and society is not that accepting of ex-convicts. The video then introduced two women on death row, one 30 years old and the other 32 years old. The two women did not call it death row though, they called it “life row” because they are living and are not dead yet. Both of them being on death row was not the only similarity between them; they were both sexually abused. The woman’s boyfriend (who sexually abused her) actually committed the killing, hired a private lawyer, and got sentenced to life in prison. This shows injustice in the criminal justice system. There really was not substantial evidence the woman was even there when the crime occurred. The video also shared a statistic that education in prison reduces recidivism by 43%. Education does cost money, but if prisons can get an education system running, they will most likely save money they would have spent re-incarcerating prisoners. I was also shocked that one prisoner cost tax payers over one million dollars for the time she spent in prison. Time and money would be saved if we turned to rehabilitation instead of sentencing offenders (especially nonviolent ones) to excessive time in prisons. Scuba004
ReplyDeleteToday, women are entering prisons at higher rates than men in our nation, and there has also been a 14% increase in women facing the death penalty. A Nation of Women Behind Bars showed the shattering impact that prison has, not only on the women incarcerated, but their loved ones as well. Besides the obvious gender differences between men and women, the women prisons operate under pseudofamilies as opposed to the typical gang set-up found in men's prisons. Most of their disagreements occur because of "girlfriends," these women may not be homosexual, or even bisexual, but use the saying "gay for the stay." This shows the intense need of companionship that women possess even while incarcerated. It was alarming that 60% of the women sentenced to prison have suffered some form of abuse. Another alarming figure that stuck out was that 63% of the women suffer from some sort of, usually untreated, mental illness. They mentioned that black women were incarcerated at higher rates than white women, similarly in that black men are also more likely to be incarcerated, and for longer periods of time, then they’re white counterparts. This is due to the practice of racial profiling in some departments, not because black women commit more crimes. The programs implemented in women’s prisons in Maryland and Tennessee have lowered recidivism rates by 43% because they know that education is the key to reducing recidivism. Lowering the recidivism rates lowers the cost to the taxpayer. Although, women are entering the system faster than males there is a huge difference in the amount of women on death row. As there are only 55 women on death row, compared to around 3000 men. It was not surprising that many of the people on death row are minorities, because these are the people who lack the resources to be able to hire private representation. It has been found that women age faster when they are incarcerated, this illustrates the strain that prison life puts on females. While women commit crimes just like men do, this video illustrates how prison effects the genders differently. EKT004
ReplyDeleteWhen you hear that 63% of women go untreated and suffer from metal illness. This makes you wonder why so many people don't get the help. It's crazy to hear that there is 55 women on death row just because you don't hear about women committing crimes to the point that they would be sentenced to death. pie004
DeleteI agree! I think it was interesting to see just how differently prison effects women compared to men. I think that the increase in women being sentenced to prison is because women committing violent crimes, and really most crimes in general, goes against societies gender stereotypes, and because of this, women are being punished harsher to try to force them back into "women's crimes" and to scare off other women from committing these acts also. EKT004
ReplyDeleteWomen are now entering prisons at higher rates than men in our nation. There has also been a 14% increase in women facing the death penalty here in the U.S. Besides the gender differences between men and women the women prisons operate under a sort of family instead of the typical gang lifestyle found in men's prisons. African American are being incarcerated at higher rates than white women. This makes you question if this comes down to a race issue because there are white women committing crimes but because they are white they might not get in the trouble like black women might get into. Women are entering the system faster than males there is a huge difference in the amount of women on death row at only 55 compared to the 3000 men on death row. The video then introduced two women on death row, one 30 years old and the other 32 years old. The two women did not call it death row though, they called it “life row” because they are living and are not dead yet. I understand that these women were abused by men but when they were talking the women almost talked like they weren’t really sorry for what they have done. Like any person who doesn’t feel any remorse for killing another human shouldn’t be able to be even let alone with just the other inmates. Pie004
ReplyDeleteWomen are being incarcerated into the prison system at faster rate than men. In this video, A Nation of Women Behind Bars, they stated that approximately 63% of women are imprisoned for non-violent crimes and there has been a 14% increase in the number of women serving life in prison. Some of these women create bonds with one another and create what are called pseudo families. One thing that stood out to me in this video was that they mentioned 63% of the female inmates take pills for a mental illness. Many women who are imprisoned suffer from different types of mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. These mental illnesses result from experiencing either physical abuse or sexual abuse. I was pretty disappointed when the video mentioned that there was sexual pressure put on some of the women by some of the officers at the prison because it shows a lack of professionalism and respect, but that is just part of the harsh reality that incarcerated women face. I was also stunned to find out that the number of people with a mental illness in prison is ten times more than people in a hospital with a mental illness. CAE004.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, it was extremely hard for women to even be charged with anything simply because the men did not even think of them being capable of doing such things. However that obviously was not the case. Now it seems that the number of women being incarcerated is rising at an exponential rate in such little time. This video showed that a lot of the women were non-violent offenders just like the men. However, one thing that I did not understand is that the woman prison in this video gave all of the needed medicine to the female inmates, yet they stated that the male prisoners do not all get the necessary medicine. To me that did not seem fair. Another thing that surprised me were the two death row females. They seemed so calm that they were going to be executed. I guess when you know that you are going to die, you are better off being calm than being frantic. What I liked about this prison is that they gave privileges to the inmates such as the dancing with the stars program they had. On the other hand, the one prison in Tennessee that they showed would not even let a prisoner talk to Diane unless she was sitting down at a desk. That same prisoner was the one to be released and then not long after, returned to the life behind bars. Rayder004
ReplyDeleteDiane Sawyer takes on an inside look at female incarceration in Maryland. Here women are being incarcerated at faster rates then men. With roughly 200,000 females incarcerated in the U.S., 63% of which are imprisoned for non-violent crimes, our country maintains the highest number of incarcerated people in the world. The free world is not free for everyone. To make matters worse it appears black women are being incarcerated more than white by a ration of 2 to 1. This statistic along with many others provided in this video show how serious our correctional problem is getting in the U.S. Our nation uses incarceration as its go-to punishment for criminal activity. Maryland Warden Margaret Chippendale argues that it is not the job of her staff or her to punish for crimes committed, but rather to provide services and help aid in the rehabilitation of their inmates. This is shown with a recidivism rate estimated at about 43% with the nations average being around 63%. These are good numbers for recidivism, but we should hope for numbers near 100% unfortunately this is not the reality. Women like Lindsey who was convicted of first degree murder are looking at life in prison, and this length of punishment, while necessary in some cases, costs society unprecedented amounts of money and capital. The prison system in the United States also houses 10 times the amount of mentally ill as hospitals which also inflates cost to an alarming rate. Prison can be a valuable tool for society in treating crime but perhaps it shouldn't be are "fix all" option anymore. We need to further educational programs and other rehabilitation services to help lower recidivism and possibly crime rates as well. Research suggests that education reduces recidivism by at least 43% which can greatly reduce the number of people incarcerated in the United States. Many people in prison are innocent as well with a ration of 1 in 25 people on death row even being innocent. Executing dishing out life sentences to innocent people is a great disservice to both the victims and society as a whole. A great deal of the people in these prisons are incarcerated for drug charges in which they have had upwards of 20 plus years to reconsider their bad habits. For these offenders prison may not be the best fit and can even worsen their situation with the illegal contraband trade in prison. I believe the war on drugs and the ease at which we sentence and send people to prison has caused our nations prisons to inflate to undesirable levels. Education and rehabilitation through treatment might be one of our strongest and best solutions to combat this dangerous trend of imprisonment. We are now beginning to see women flood into the prison system just as we have with men and this cannot be acceptable. We must continue to push for reform within our legislation and hope to reverse these trends over time. Ghost004
ReplyDelete