Essay Sample on Incarcerated Women: Challenges Beyond the Jail Walls

Introduction

According to Einat and Chen (2012), incarcerated women provide the best example of a population cohort that experiences a myriad of challenges as they struggle to serve their jail terms. For example, most of the incarcerated women suffer from a lack of freedom of movement as well as expression as they remain committed to serving their terms in jail. Also, imprisonment deprives these women of the right to work and formal employment in various public as well as private agencies, which, in turn, worsens their living standards by exclusively relying on the limited resources provided by the government. As a result, these female lawbreakers cannot adequately cater to their needs. Incarcerated women also face corporal punishment as part of the disciplinary measures undertaken by law enforcement officers to help them in rehabilitation (Van Hout & Mhlanga-Gunda, 2019). However, these patriarchal measures leave a plethora of incarcerated women psychologically stressed and may culminate in the development of mental health disorders.

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According to Kjelsberg et al. (2007), the overall deterioration in mood, as well as behavior occurring as a result of continuous molestation in prisons, makes incarcerated women look like the less-fortunate members of the society. As a result, people across the world begin forming negative perceptions and attitudes toward such women. Comparative studies indicate that policymakers, as well as law enforcement officers, tend to have a wide range of negative attitudes that have a far-reaching impact on the lives of this critical population group (Mustofa et al., 2019). Such approaches could lead to more challenges and sufferings among these vulnerable women. For instance, cases of female offender molestation and sexual abuse remain rampant across the world. However, most of these women live with hopes of completing their sentences and going back to society to continue with their healthy lives (Hanlon et al., 2007). This paper provides a comprehensive discussion of the issue of negative attitudes towards incarcerated women, its impact on children, and the challenges associated with recidivism.

Discussion Regarding Negative Attitudes towards Incarcerated Women

Hanlon et al. (2007) ascertained that a significant number of incarcerated women experience a wide range of challenges in their struggle to complete their jail term. For instance, most of these women lack primary education as a result of failing to complete their high school studies and, in turn, face multiple learning and training difficulties. A considerable number of women do not have a good understanding of knowledge regarding their constitution and essential information that could help them to avoid committing various negligible offenses in their lives (Mustofa et al., 2019). However, most of the prisons across the world offer limited education and vocational training. Inadequate skills and training leaves such women unprepared to benefit from services provided by the government for formerly incarcerated citizens. For example, 64% of women who go to prison without a high school diploma across the world, only 16% graduate from higher education, and only 29% pursue any form of vocational training while in prison (Mustofa et al., 2019). Also, most of the he middle-aged women caregivers face a number of physical and psychological challenges.

In general, the contemporary criminal justice system suffers from the challenge of inadequate equipment, which, in turn, prevents it from addressing issues affecting women (Murray et al., 2012). Given the high rates of abuse and exploitation that these women experience throughout their lives, it is not surprising that women in prison demand emotional well-being services. The social, emotional, and psychological challenges faced by a plethora of incarcerated women also explains why critical health problems, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains high in contemporary prisons (Ng et al., 2019). A detailed analysis of the lives of numerous incarcerated women before imprisonment reveals that their poor health status has a direct link with other critical cases, such as sexual abuse. These incidences play a vital role in exposing women to unsafe sexual practices and drug abuse, which in turn puts them vulnerable to infections. For example, most of the HIV positive incarcerated women tend to have histories of sexual abuse (Myers et al., 2017). Therefore, developing strategies to address sexual abuse can be a critical step towards the improvement of the lives and health status of imprisoned women.

Although the number of HIV-positive women declined remarkably since the all-time high in 1999, the number of hepatitis C infections in the female prison population has increased dramatically (Philliber, 1987). Researchers estimate that the disease affects approximately 20.5 percent of incarcerated women (Van Hout & Mhlanga-Gunda, 2019). Hepatitis C is a disease transmitted through body fluids, such as blood, and can lead to liver damage if left untreated. Contemporary prisons suffer from many limitations and setbacks that prevent them from catering to the evolving needs of incarcerated women despite them having higher treatment demands as opposed to their male counterparts. For example, most prisons and their associated health facilities have the challenge of understaffing alongside the lack of symptomatic tools, which could help in addressing women's gynaecological problems (Higgins & Ireland, 2009). Therefore, the lack of such professional workers with adequate competence in terms of technical skills, knowledge, and experience needed to cater to the needs of women in prisons leaves them vulnerable to critical health conditions, including death.

Nevertheless, women have a higher incidence of chronic diseases than men (Ng et al., 2019). For instance, the number of women who have diabetes in prisons remained higher across the United States when compared to their male counterparts. Women also continue to receive limited attention from law enforcement officers, who are predominantly male, as opposed to their male peers despite efforts to improve service provision in contemporary prisons. Elaine Lord, the former warden of Bedford Hills Correctional Center, which remains one of the most rigorous security facilities for incarcerated women in New York State, maintained that women suffer from multiple challenges while in prison (Gakhal & Brown, 2011). Lord ascertained that a plethora of women suffer from emotional problems of coping up with congested jails across New York and the provision of poor services.

Impact of Women Incarceration to Children

According to Einat and Chen (2012), the incarceration of women has a far-reaching impact on their family members, especially children. Children of incarcerated women deal with a wide range of challenges, including the issue of catering to their daily needs while in their tender ages. Also, children of imprisoned mothers may face the challenge of enduring the aftermath of incarceration, such as divorce. In some families, male parents opt to separate from their loved ones upon realizing that they took part in breaking the law. However, the challenges faced by women become more severe upon the death of their imprisoned mothers. The harsh conditions experienced in prisons culminate in death through multiple causes, including suicide, as a result of psychological trauma (Philliber, 1987). Children of such mothers have a high-risk of imprisonment during their adolescence age as a result of engaging in drug abuse and other crimes, such as burglary and robbery for survival.

Nevertheless, the geographical location of numerous correctional facilities makes it difficult for some adolescents to maintain physical contact with their mothers throughout their detention. Research indicates that only 9% of children manage to visit their parents while in prison, despite the number of incarcerated women with children under the age of 18 rising significantly (Van Hout & Mhlanga-Gunda, 2019). About 10% of women incarcerated while pregnant face the challenge of nursing their babies while in prison (Ng et al., 2019). This scenario puts at risk the lives of many children born in prison as they lack continuous attachment with their mothers. The United States provides the best example of a country with the most significant number of incarcerated women living in jail alongside their children. However, breastfeeding women still face multiple challenges, including congestion of prisons, despite efforts taken by the federal government to improve the living conditions of such women (Higgins & Ireland, 2009). For example, incarcerated women living in the prison nursery have classes to promote their newborns and remain interested in helping different mothers. At Bedford Hills, more experienced children may participate with their mothers in office programs.

According to Gakhal and Brown (2011), the Bedford Hills project helps families to build and maintain a mutual relationship between mothers and their children while serving their respective terms in jail. Such programs not only help mothers to acquire vital skills while in prison but also prevent recidivism after a release. However, some states still lack a prison day-care center and a program for encouraging continuous interaction and bonding between mothers and their children despite their significance in proper child development. Children with mothers imprisoned in such states suffer from multiple psychological effects resulting from parental detachment (Kjelsberg et al., 2007). As a result, incarcerated women in jails found in such states remain primarily responsible for their young children, and these ladies have to decide who thinks about their young people while they are in prison. Some of these incarcerated women tend to have responsible spouses who may offer help. However, most of such women lack close confidants to take care of their children as they may suffer from divorce as a result of the negative attitudes of their husbands. There is no doubt that 79% of young people whose parents are in prison grow up in other distant family units (Ng et al., 2019). It is also undeniable that the society ignores such ladies and considers them as community misfits.

Strategies Taken to Address Negative Attitudes Toward Incarcerated Women

Murray et al. (2012) argued that policymakers remain committed to implementing various strategies to change the negative attitude held by society against such women. First, contemporary courts are increasingly embracing the need for analyzing the causes of women's imprisonment to ensure that they deliver a fair ruling. For instance, the court found in Cooper v. Morin that an equivalent insurance clause prevented correctional officers from maintaining differential treatment for women because the provision of such care to women was ill-conceived (Philliber, 1987). Finally, the court held that the United States' criminal justice system should treat men and women equally, except where a broad interpretation requires some qualification. Cases that succeeded the ruling delivered in Cooper v. Morin led to more discussions about addressing the plight of incarcerated women and helping the society to change its negative view towards such offenders.

Early discussions focused on the issue of gender equality in prisons. At the time, the number of female offenders was 4% of the prison population (Myers et al., 2017). Advocates began to make efforts to offer women the same open doors to programs and treatment as men. These efforts were moderately successful in the sense that highly-influential policymakers rejected multiple gender-sensitive approac...