Author: Jessica Kenley

Muncy State Prison

May 6, 2024

Monday

2:20pm

I haven’t done anything today. Library in five minutes. Everything’s scheduled down to the minute here. Hopefully I’ll find something good  to read.

Book:

Women Doing Life: Gender Punishment, and the Struggle for Identity, by Lora Bex Lempert © 2016

P. 1-2

“One thor of all the incarcerated women in the world are in U.S. prisons. Although men constitute 93% of the U.S. prison population, the number of women under state and federal correctional authority is the fastest growing segment of the U.S. prison population. Between 1980 and 2010 the population of incarcerated women increased 646%. In 2011 more than 1,400,00 women were under the supervision of the criminal-processing system, that is, on probation or parole incarcerated, or subject to other forms of formal justice control. Race is significant in these incarcerations, as black non-Hispanic women are incarcerated at 2-3 times the rate of white women (129 vs. 51 per 100,000) and Latina women are incarcerated at 1.4 times the rate of white women (71 vs. 51 per 100,000), although reflecting their higher percentage in the U.S. population, more white than black or Hispanic women are incarcerated. Age is also significant: About 60% of both white and black imprisoned females are 39 or younger, as are 67% of Hispanic females.

Additionally, many incarcerated women were single heads of households and mothers of dependent children prior to imprisonment…”

P. 2

“The dramatic increase in female imprisonment, the 646% increase, have not been a response to more violent female criminality as media constructions would have us believe. Women’s share of violent crime as remained more or less stable since the 1980s. There are, however, more female arrests now than in the past.” 

P. 9

“Criminologists have convincingly demonstrated that maternal incarceration is more damaging to children than the incarceration of fathers. The children of incarcerated mothers feel their mothers’ absence more acutely, and they experience more disruption than the children of incarcerated fathers, putting them at risk for adverse outcomes. Children with imprisoned mothers suffer the shame and stigma of maternal incarceration; face particular challenges of family instability (e.g., moving to new home environments one or more times); undergo disrupted attachments, not only from a mother, but also from siblings, other family members, friends, schools, and communities; experience school failures; engage in antisocial, aggressive, and delinquent behaviors; and are two and a half times more likely to be incarcerated as adults than are children of incarcerated fathers.

Additionally, criminologists Vernetta Young and Rebecca Reviere and Jane Seigel have demonstrated that prisons do not meet the needs of women or the hundreds of thousands of children they leave behind…The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 59% of parents in state facilities and 45% in federal facilities have had no personal visits with their dependent children during the periods of their incarceration.

P. 10

“As Erin George, an incarcerated poet and mother, notes, such forfeiture of contact with children is a “soul-killing loss” borne by both life-sentenced mothers and their children.”

P. 11-12

“Most criminal-processing books are geared toward men, as are penal codes, sentencing guidelines, and correctional programs and opportunities. Officials at every level of the criminal-processing system are overwhelmingly male…The continuing focus on men has meant fewer carceral resources for increasing numbers of women, reliance on one-size-fits all gender-stereotyped programming, and inattention to gender-specific needs like substance abuse, HIV treatment, obstetrics and gynecology, child care, and psychological needs. In a system designed for violent men, it is a challenge to get adequate health care for women’s particular physical and mental needs…In their pre-incarceration lives, women experience higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse; report disproportionately more histories of rape, incest, and physical abuse; are diagnosed with higher rates of illness and mental health problems; and are the primary caretakers of dependent children. The Bureau of Justice Statistics provides evidence for these claims: 57% of women in state prisons have been victims of violence in their lifetimes, 47% have experienced physical abuse, and 39% have been victims of sexual abuse. Many have experienced multiple types of abuse. One-third of women in state prisons (33%) reported having been raped prior to their imprisonments.”

P. 13

“Most often, women’s offenses are crimes generated by poverty and ensuing strategies for survival.”

P. 14 “Mass imprisonment is silently absorbing women who have been abandoned by formal and informal safety nets, and, in the process, it is destroying and demoralizing communities.”