Blog #15: Women in Prison

Women’s prisons have seen worse conditions than male prisons during the early development of the prison systems. Women prisoners were seen as being a lot worse than male prisoners. In the 19th and early 20th century, it made perfect sense for the “horrible women prisoners” to be in the care of men. Unfortunately, turnkey officers were not qualified or educated to be efficient officers. The way they solved problem or issues was through the use of violence. In response to the violence sexual assaults against women inmates, the states brought in Matrons to supervise the female inmates separate from the male officers and inmates. These women were supposed to be “teachers, mentors, and examples” (Britton, 2003, pg. 76). Most women who worked in the prison systems had earned college degrees and were more educated than the men prison guards. The working conditions were horrible for women. They were required to live in the prisons as if they were prisoners themselves. They were on call 6 and a ½ days a week and were subjected to the same living conditions as the prisoners. Women are now able to work in not only female institutions, but also in male institutions. It was not always this way though. Previous ways of thinking included that women were not capable of being in control of male inmates. Arizona has opened the door for females working in the correctional officer field and many of them have succeeded and made their way through the ranks to be Lieutenants, Sergeants, and Wardens (Women in Corrections, http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/history/Prisca_History_Women.aspx). In recent years, while the number of men going to prison has declined the number of women going to prison has increased dramatically over the past few decades. Arizona is no exception. It is ranked 7th in the nation for the incarceration rate of women in 2004, sending 87 per 100,000 women to prison (The Growth in the Imprisonment of Women, 1977-2004).