"For most people, there is no way to explain this, unless you lived it. Ninety-five days ago, I was sitting in the federal prison -you never forget that! My entire life as I knew it, ceased to exist, between the time I surrendered and the day I was released. I am still trying to wrap around my head that I am a felon. I am wondering if people can see it, like I am walking around with a scarred letter "F" on my forehead.
With more than one million women behind...
more »"For most people, there is no way to explain this, unless you lived it. Ninety-five days ago, I was sitting in the federal prison -you never forget that! My entire life as I knew it, ceased to exist, between the time I surrendered and the day I was released. I am still trying to wrap around my head that I am a felon. I am wondering if people can see it, like I am walking around with a scarred letter "F" on my forehead.
With more than one million women behind bars or under the control of the criminal justice system, women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population increasing at nearly double the rate of men since 1985. Women of color are significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Most women are mothers of a minor child.
The issues facing female prisoners are different from those facing men - and these issues are not getting the attention they desperately need. For one thing, most programs to aid former prisoners are designed for men, in part simply because their numbers are so much larger. But more importantly, programs for women are often cookie-cutter copies of programs designed for men, despite the very different challenges they face.
For example, women are typically incarcerated for property or drug possession offenses and are likely to have serious and long-term substance use problems. Female prisoners returning home face more difficult reentry challenges with fewer skills and more deficits than men, and those differences manifest in higher rates of relapse and recidivism. Women are almost twice as likely as men to be back behind bars within a year after release, typically due to a drug-related offense or a property offense driven by addiction problems.
Even though the broad brushstrokes of incarcerated women are quite similar, each woman's story is unique; each woman's prison experience is singular; each woman's pain is her own.
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