The Needs of Women Offenders

There are approximately two million people in confinement in the United States of America. A significantly small percentage of that two million are women. For as long as long as there have been prisons there have been women to fill some of those cells. Society has come along way in the science of corrections operations. Legislation brought about in the 1960s changed the way society housed its criminal element. Women especially have needs unique to their time in confinement.

Although a number of correctional agencies across the nation have administrators of female offenders recent legislation has mandated the creation of this position within more and more facilities (Moses and Kirschbaum 48). This legislation is another example of a traditionally reactive profession. However, there are programs being implemented across the corrections profession that are attempting to change that stigma. More and more corrections professionals are being forced to address the needs of the inmate population specific to their facilities. Whether it be the needs of the male inmates or the more vast needs of women organizations like the American Correctional Association along with stated and federal legislation are holding up the mirror to corrections facilities.

The National Institute of Corrections and other leading experts examined the assessment and classification process for corrections system and found that there was no female offender specific assessment and classification in place (Livers and Hiers 26). This means that women offenders were being assessed by a model set up for the more violent and multiple offending male populations. Studies have shown that women offenders have a much lower recidivism rate that of their male counterparts. The impact of this inaccurate system is that women offenders did not have access to the programs that were specifically designed to help with their integration back into society.

In the United States there are two million children whose parent are current offenders (Rowland and Watts 34). Of the many programs specifically designed for female offenders none has had a greater impact of the recidivism rates than the programs in place in Washington State. These programs are designed to foster a bond between a mother and her child in the hopes that it will reduce the generational impact on crime. Leading experts in child development have said that the first year of a child's life is when the critical bonds with caretakers are formed. If a child is passed from foster home to foster home who are they suppose to foster this relationship with? That is why, in Washington State, confined mothers may apply for enrollment in a program that allows them to live with their child. The program is by no means a way for women offenders to get a little more freedom than their sisters in confinement. Rowland and Watts reported that "The program is designed to allow pregnant minimum-custody offenders, who give birth during their incarceration, and meet specific classification and program standards, to return ...and reside in a designated unit." Additionally the individual woman is responsible for the daily care for her child. There is no easy button to push here when they are having a bad day. The program is designed in this way to prepare the offenders for their eventual return to both society and their families. And there has been no question about the programs success rate. There have been 131 offenders released from the program with only 19 returning on probation violations or new charges (Rowland and Watts 36). That is a recidivism rate of approximately 15 percent. Given that the state average for recidivism is 38 percent the critics have been few and far between. In fact the successes seen in Washington State have encouraged other states such as Florida and California to start similar programs within their corrections systems. Women offenders are a definite challenge to corrections systems across the country. However, if the attitude that women are fare more complicated and require more the just food shelter is adopted across the corrections profession than society has taken the first few steps in truly helping these women rehabilitate.
Works Cited

Rowland, Melissa, and Alice Watts. "Washington State's Effort to Reduce the General Impact on Crime." Corrections Today Aug. 2007: 34+.

Livers, Mary L., and Tomi Hiers. "Gender-Responsive Programs: Addressing the Needs of Female Offenders." Corrections Today Aug. 2007: 26-29.

Moses, Marilyn C., and Ellen Kirschbaum. "From Needles and Thread to Legislative Mandates." Corrections Today Aug. 2007: 48-51.