Critical Analysis of Women Behind Bars Essay

More and more than women-mothers, grandmothers, wives, daughters, and sisters argon doing hard prison house house time in all across the United realms. many an(prenominal) of them be liner the prospect of yrs, decades, unconstipated feelingtimes fag bars. Oddly, in that respects been little public discussion roughly(predicate) the dramatic increase of women in the prison body of rules. What exactly is happening here, and why? This paper impart be a critical analysis of the accommodate, Women derriere disallow The Crisis of Women in the U.S. prison System. This paper go awayIntroductionJournalist Silja Talvis Women backside nix The Crisis of Women in The U.S Prison System is an overview of bonks affecting incarce measured women. The goal of the book Women stub disallow is to increase the aw arness to the highest degree the growing state of women prisoners. Women place forbid presents a number of important issues regarding women prisoners. Incarc erated womens stories represent a dist unhingedation of the larger forces that affect free women like racism, sexism and economic pressure.For these causas, Silja Talvi explains, lockd women should non be forgotten, despite the stigma of their iniquitous convictions and their forcible removal from the alliance (Talvi, 2007). Additionally, though incarcerated women may be locked up, they should non be overlooked. Women Behind proscribe succinctly illustrates some of the important connections involving the War on Drugs, racial dissimilitude, health check neglect physically and psychologically, and the high rate of substance outcry and physical and k straightledgeable iniquity among incarcerated women. Silja Talvis aim is to shed light on what has contributed to this historic phenomenon of the mass incarceration of women in the United articulates (Talvi, 2007).This paper leave alone give background on how Silja J.A. Talvi researched the increase of egg-producing(pre nominal) incarceration. This paper will in like manner give insight surrounding the line of works of the women, who Silja J.A. Talvi interviewed, faced term incarcerated. Additionally, outside resources pertaining to the issue of women in prison will be mentioned throughout this paper.Finally, an communicate opinion ground on the collection of outside t each(prenominal)ing and whatwas lettered from the book will be presented. Silja J.A. Talvi bases her account on interviews with women prisoners. Silja J.A. Talvi had in-person and bring for warfared interviews with roughly one hundred women prisoners over a two year span. She besides received letters from approximately three hundred women down bars. In addition, she interviewed more than a dozen women who has been releases form discard or prison. Silja J.A. Talvi stayed in regular contact with fifty women locked up in oralise and federal prisons in s regularteen secerns.In addition, Silja Talvi visited he womens county jails in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as intimately as the Seattle/King County detention facility for juveniles. Silja Talvi also spent a fair amount of time talking with and acquisition from low-income women on Seattle streets who were willing to talk about their encounters with law enforcement and incarceration. Internationally, Silja Talvi was also minded(p) permission to visit three womens prisons, including the European Unions biggest womens prison, Holloway, in London, England the sole female prison on Hameenlinna, Finland and a provincial Canadian prison in British Columbia.Silja Talvi focuses on these women because she believes that incarcerated females be the dear about misunders likewised population in the vast U.S. incarceration system (Talvi, 2007). These accounts from the women interviewed will further the insight on the realities of female incarceration. Further on this topic of incarceration, the author, Silja J.A. Talvi has reconciled that the United States has more people in prison than any other nation. By mid-2006, the total number of women and men in prison rose to over 2.24 million, representing a signifi spatet increase from forward year (Harrison & Beck, 2006).Relatively speaking, more than one thousand prisoners atomic number 18 added to the prison and jail system every single week (Harrison & Beck, 2006). Meanwhile, the number of incarcerated fully grown women has jumped by a shocking 757% since 1977, at some twice the rate of male prisoners (Harrison & Beck, 2006). The number of women in prisons and jails has reached a milestone, explains Kara Gotsch, director of advocacy for the Sentencing view in Washington, DC.One of the main reasons why women argon being locked up at an alarming rate is a result of a form _or_ system of government of mass incarceration. Mass incarceration is a rate of incarceration so high that it affects not lone(prenominal) the individual wrongdoer, but also livelong hearty groups. (American Academy of humanities & Sciences, 2011) Pursuing further, another main reason ofthe increase of incarceration of women atomic number 18 the sentencing policies brought about by the war on drugs. At the Federal level, prisoners incarcerated on a drug charge carry half of the prison population, while the number of drug offenders in state prisons has increased thirteen-fold since 1980.Most of these people ar not high-level actors in the drug trade, and most turn out no prior criminal memorialise for a violent offense. (sentencingpolicy.org) According to an excerpt in the Journal of Criminology, women are more credibly to serve time for drug-related offenses and are less likely to serve time for violent offenses. (Lalonde & Cho, 2008) In addition, with the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, women began to be arrested and charged with impunity, and were threatened increasingly with conspiracy charges if they didnt snitch on their husbands, boyfriends, family member and acquainta nces. Women were interrogated and threatened if they did not cooperate and these women would face serious repercussions.(Talvi, 2007) numerous of the women that in state or federal prisons are offset-time, non violent offenders sentenced on drug conspiracy charges. These women are armed service far longer sentences than most prime(prenominal)-time offender rapists, child molesters, or so far murdered convicted of second leg murder or aggravated manslaughter. Furthermore, to a far greater form than men, women come into the system with histories of familiar, physical detestation, domestic violence, rape, and rational illness.In this perceive it is believed that our country is in crisis. Undoubtedly, because in that respect are so many women locked up, in that respect are a plethora of puzzles that incarcerated women face on a twenty-four hour period- after(prenominal)-day basis while in prison. Some of these problems include informal spoil and misconduct, medical neg lect, deficient mental health treatment, and also discrimination found on gender, race and sexual orientation.Experiences of extreme violence and sexual step in womens prisons are far worse and far too common than most Americans realize. In the United States, sexual assault by guards in womens prisons is so notorious and widespread that it has been described as an institutionalized component of punishment behind prison walls (Davis, 1998). Today it is estimated that at least 40% of guards in womens prisons are men. In some female prisons, the majority of employees are men.(Talvi, 2007) In these kinds of settings, on that point are violations of womens privacy, as well as visual and verbal abuse by the male guards. Today, one in four women reports having been sexually abused while being injail or prison (Talvi, 2007). In addition to reports of violent restraint and punishment resulting in abrasions, completes, bruises and thus far broken bones, women stated that they were subje cted to humiliating strip searches and verbal molestation. Talvi explains that most of the women she interviewed in these prisons are in fear to even say anything about their abuse because of the likeliness to face the wrath of prison guards.The prison guards will cut visitation and phone privileges, take away prized possessions, and threaten these women and their families with bodily deadening. On another note, According to Kim Shayo Buchanan, in an article called, Beyond Modesty retirement in Prison and The lay on the line Of Sexual Abuse basically explains, if women are being victimized by male guards in prison, it does them no harm to expose the problem by saying so. It is pointed out that b lose women are often discouraged from speaking out about sexual abuse because of concerns that, by speaking out about sexual harassment by faint men, black women will reinforce negative racial stereotypes about Blacks in general and about Black men in particular.(Buchanan, 2005) Further more, unable(p) formal procedures, legislation and reporting capacity inside the United States prison system account for much of the ongoing sexual abuse of women. In several instances, guards who were disciplined for the abuse of women were reprimanded to the minimum degree. The frequency of sexual harassment and abuse in a prison surroundings is a unremitting reminder of how little power the women hold in over their lives once they are sentenced to do time.The sexually intrusive or abusive nature of these experiences in prison has a devastating impact on a womens likelihood of achieving a healthy and prospered reentry in fellowship.When women leave jail or prison, with even more traumatic experiences heaped upon their life experiences, these women might prevail low self-esteem issues, shame and rage. Within the book, Silja Talvi explains, that these women who do re-enter into society, prove any number of serious problems continuing mental and/or physical illness the likeli hood of an interruption of their treatment and medicines loss of custody of their children trammel procreation or alimonyer opportunities a lack of safe or stable housing and the temptations to indulge in drug use or criminal activity. If these factors are in place, it is believed that these women will find themselves back in the prison system intertwined in a vicious cycle.Secondly, a problem that is also plaguing womens prisons is medical neglect and deal outlessness. While medical care for all prisoners is poor, the spotlight is far worse for women prisoners. Because prison health care systems were created for men, routine gynecological care, such as pap smears, breast exams and mammograms, is extremely rare in prisons. (Talvi, 2007) Care is frequently only administered once the situation sires an emergency. In addition, women are denied essential medical resources and treatments, especially during times of gestation period and/or chronic and degenerative diseases.There i s also failure to imply seriously ill inmates for treatment and delays in treatment, cutbacks in budgets, lack of choke personnel, inadequate supplies, and use of non-medical staff, charges for medical attention, inadequate re profitable health care, and lack of treatment for substance abuse. In the same sense, a factor that magnifies the harshness of physical illnesses and disease is a nutrient poor, high fat diet. Fruits and vegetables are nearly non-existent in prisons. Relatively speaking, the extensive overcrowding in some of these prisons lends itself to a concentration of mental and medical health problems that the prison system was never designed to handle (Talvi, 2007).Thirdly, deficient mental health treatment is a serious issue when dealing with the incarceration of females. 48-88% of women inmates experienced sexual or physical abuse before coming to prison, and suffer post-traumatic stress disorder. really few prison systems provide counseling. Women attempting to access mental health go are routinely give medication without opportunity to undergo psychotherapeutic treatment. (Amnesty International, 2011)The overuse of jails and prisons to treat mental illness in society is convoluted itself. galore(postnominal) of these women would be better served by intensive treatment programs and connection based care rather than being thrown and twisted in prisons. The environment of prison can make an inmates mental health worse, not better. Most prison systems lack treatment settings and programs for these prisoners.For instance, most state prisons, refused admittance to a psychiatrical inpatient unit if inmates have a record of violent episodes writes Kupers in Prison Madness. they tend to wind up in super maximum arrestment, where the harsh conditions and forced idleness change state their mental disorders, followed by more disruptive behaviors on their part andeven longer terms in lockup. (Kupers, 1999) A majority of the corrections employ ees are not trained in any extent in psychological science or social work, and are most generally uneducated about the common symptoms of various psychiatric disorders and states of emotional distress. In these prisons that Talvi had visited she felt that on that point is high level of ignorance and outright hostility toward the mentally ill.The separation surrounded by mental health and disciplinary is lacking in many of the prisons. In a book called Prison Madness, Terry Kupers, an expert in psychiatric issues in prison criticizes this issue of mental illness treatment within prisons. When behaviors on the part of mentally disordered prisoners-including suicide attempts, self-mutilation, rule breaking, and even some minor violent incidents-are secondary to their mental disorder, they should not be handled entirely as disciplinary infractions requiring punishment.Too often, disruptive acts are hardly punished and the possibility that they reflect an imminent psychotic episode or a have for immediate psychiatric attention is never even considered. (Kupers, 1999) In light of the issue surrounding the treatment of the mentally ill prisoners, suicide rates within in these prisons are at an increase. An tec appointed by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton took a look into the mental healthcare in the state prison system, and to find out a reason behind the increase in suicides.It was found that prisoners in overcrowded and short-handed Administrative Segregation units are killing themselves in unprecedented numbers. narrowing a suicidal inmate to their cell for twenty-four hours a day only enhances isolation and anti- therapeutic. (Talvi, 2007) In addition to insufficient substance abuse and mental health services, groomingal and vocational programs are also in short supply. Several studies (Pollock-Byrne, Morash, Haarr, and Rucker) found that female prisons domiciliateed fewer vocational and education program opportunities when compared to those offered in male institutions.Educational program opportunities could service successful integrate these incarcerated women back into the community. Lastly, discrimination based on gender, race and sexual orientation is a significant matter of contention in womens prisons. The growth in incarceration has had its greatest impact on minorities, curiously African Americans. Over a five-year period, the incarceration rate of African American women increased by 828%. (NAACP LDF Equal Justice, 1998.) too, according to Amnesty U.S.A,the racial disparity revealed by the crack v. powder cocaine sentences insures that more African American women will land in prison. Although 2/3 of crack users are white or Hispanic, defendants convicted of crack cocaine possession were 84.5% African American. picnic is the only drug that carries a mandatory prison sentence for first time possession in the federal system. (prisonpolicy.org) Women are most defenseless to different forms of discrimination, including sexual harassment or abuse. Women that do not fit the norm, such as lesbians, face increased risk of torture and abuse. some(prenominal) of the prisoners Silja Talvi had interviewed expressed their grief about always getting taunted because of their sexual orientation.The issues confront lesbians and bisexuals in the criminal justice system arent just control to what goes on behind bars. One study conducted by Victor Streib, a professor of law at Cleveland State University points to the possibility that lesbians, or women who do not appear to appear feminine, may be victims of harsher sentencing. In addition, lesbian or non feminine women who had entered the prison system may very well have less if a shot at an early release. (Streib, 2002) serviceman declines Watch has documented categories of women who are likely targets for sexual abuse. Perceived or actual sexual orientation is one of four categories that make a female prisoner a more likely target for sexual abuse, as well as a target for retaliation when she reports that abuse. (HRW, 2010) These issues facing these women in the criminal justice system are not just limited to what goes on behind bars. In conclusion, based on the development provided from Women Behind Bars and many outside resources, the incarceration of women is at an all time high. Most likely, the number of incarcerated women will increase in the upcoming years unless the problem of mass incarceration is solved permanently.I line up as that as a result of drug laws, women are now a fast growing segment of the U.S. prison population. It is my belief that women are particularly vulnerable to such policies as mandatory minimums, because they are more likely than men to be incarcerated for drug-related or petty, non-violent property crimes. It is these arrests that are madcap their high rates of incarceration.The problem of women in prison is directly buttoned to current US drug policy. For the last ten years, researchers have argu ed that the war on drugs has become a war on women (Belknap, 2002 Bloom & Chesney-Lind, 2000 Owen, 2000 & 1998, Cheney-Lind, 1997). In my opinion, one of severalalarming statistics is, The Bureau of Prisons reports that almost 80% of their female population is incarcerated for drug-related offenses. Relatively speaking, I think factors of poverty, psychosocial problems, mental illness, histories of trauma and abuse, and elaboration in abusive relationships can lead up to a life of criminal behavior in women.Furthermore, based on information, statistics, and stories provided from the book Women Behind Bars and also from outside resources, it is my conclusion to say that many things could be altered within the prison system. First of all, I believe in that location are simply far too many women in prison for enough people to be drawn to the difficult job of guarding and rehabilitating these women and addressing their postulate. With the information that has been researched, womens prisons are poorly equipped to deal with the range of issues and needs of an ever-increasing female population. One of the things that struck me when reading the book is the degree to which jails and prisons have become Americas new mental health facilities.Also in regards of the issue of incarcerated mentally ill, I believe that basic education could be provided to correctional staff. Furthermore, guards could be taught to calm and talk the dangerous mentally ill women down from fits of paranoia, anxiety, or distress. Also, many of these women would be better served by intensive treatment programs and community-based transitional care, instead of just being thrown into the prison system. Furthermore, I feel that the extreme abuse of women in prison is a serious problem.I believe this action also harms society because it decreases the legitimacy of the justice system. If society cannot trust those responsible for guarding our prisons to behave properly, there is little hope for the rehabilitation of women in prison. Personally, I feel the prison has a place, but it is not in the persecution of non-violent females. I think there can be a lot more rehabilitation for these women. Many of these women in prison have emotional and psychological issues and because of the abuse, discrimination, and medical neglect, it is only going to make matters far worse. An excerpt from Silja Talvis Women Behind Bars that I found captivating that summed up a lot of what the book was about is, Imprisoned girls and women deserve a chance to heal from gone abuse, and to learn from their life experiences and the nature of their crimes.Before women and released, they must be given the tools to ensure that their reintegrationinto society is not fraught with immediate economic and social struggle, and to help increase the odds that they will be released into families or communities that will actually support their reintegration. Former prisoners must be given the productive tools to bec ome productive members of society that is, if they werent productive already, and if they even infallible to be locked up in the first place.In general, women in prison arent given one iota of the emotional, social and vocational skills they need to overcome the vast hurdles awaiting them beyond the gates that have confine them for years or decades on end. (Talvi, 2007) In closing, I never accomplished to a great extent of the problem of women in prison. This book, Women behind Bars and also many outside resources has enlightened me on the growing issue of female incarceration. Women in prison is a problem in itself, hence leading to all of the other problems these women face while in prison. I believe the struggles that women go through, go unnoticed, and more people should be assured of the increasing problem.Finally, I feel that Silja J.A. Talvis book Women Behind Bars can help focus attention on this growing population of women prisoners, and maybe one day something can be make about this increasing issue.According to the text, women represent the fastest growing segment of the criminal justice system increasing 757% between 1977 and 2004, a rate nearly 2 times the percent increase in the male offender population. The number of women involved in the US criminal justice system doubled during the 1990s (Beck, 2000). An estimated 68 in every 100,000 U.S. women are serving time in a state or federal prison with increased rates to one in every 100 among black women in their late 30s.Women currently represent about 7% of the overall state and federal prison population and 24% of individuals on community watchfulness. Substance use and abuse have been consistently reported as major contributing factors in the increasing population of women offenders. Some have argued that increased attention to substance users during the late 1980s and 1990s during the war on drugs had particular adverse consequences for women. A majority of women offenders have a history of drug use and drug-related offenses. ConclusionIn closing, the source never realized to a great extent of the problem ofwomen in prison. This book, Women behind Bars and also many outside resources has enlightened on the writer of the growing issue of female incarceration. Women in prison is a problem in itself, then leading to all of the other problems these women face while in prison. The struggles that women go through, go unnoticed, and more people should be awake(predicate) of the increasing problem. Finally, this book, can help focus attention on this growing population of women prisoners, and maybe one day something can be done about this increasing issue.The writer believes that alcoholism and addiction is a disease. Because it is a disease, communities should address it as a health issue and not a criminal justice issue. poundage only removes a symptom, but does not cure the problem. The number of women incarcerated is steadily rising at frightening rates. When you inc arcerate a woman, most often, you are also incarcerating a mother. The state not only pays to house the offender, but often pays for the care of the children of the offender as well.Women offenders have special needs many of which revolve around their children. department of corrections should be perceived as a positive and helping connection, not a punitive one. In our present system, unfortunately, the women must often first fail before they are given the level of treatment they indispensable in the beginning. A new approach to corrections, one that offers a passing structured environment and stresses accountability, as well as, addressing the individual needs of each offender will not only save money, but also more importantly, it will save lives. In addition, communities should take responsibility and become involved in getting and giving education, reaching out to their communities to offer assistance helping addicts find hope through programs that take a holistic approach to their disease.Addicts need programs that heal body, mind and, most importantly, their embarrassed spirit. If needs are responded to on a personal level, in a way that engenders trust and confidence, women offenders can begin to hope again and the lives of families can be rebuilt.If people do not have hope, there is aught to strive for, no reason to change. Instead of incarceration, I believe it would be more cost-effective to put women offenders in a community based program similar to the work release program that is used for prisoners after incarceration. These programs would allow the individual tomaintain a job, yet they would be held responsible for all their time. They would receive counseling on an individual basis pitch toward each ones individual needs. The best programs combine supervision and services to address the specialized needs of female offenders in highly structured, safe environments where accountability is stressed.In conclusion, I believe that if communitie s would make an effort to educate themselves and their communities about the disease of alcoholism and addiction, they would begin to understand the order of the problem. Although there are no easy solutions, one must consider the responsibility of educating our children, offer new and innovative programs that heal holistically, and most importantly, get responsibility that as citizens one must reach out to help those in our communities who are struggling, offering them hope, support and encouragement.ReferencesAmerican Academy of Arts & Sciences. (2011) Retrieved fromhttp//www.amacad.org/projects/incarceration.aspxAustin, J., Irwin, J. (2001). 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