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Race, Class, Gender and Crime Community Syllabus

Women in Prison and Gender-Specific Programming - Class Definition

Women in prison face hardships and unfairness due to prisons not taking them into consideration and so lack the necessary resources. The focus is on making changes in terms of programming, such as gender-specific, educational, health care, and mental health, to better assist female inmates and help them prepare for their release. The majority of women who go to prison have trauma they have yet to deal with. It is important that women have access to educational programming so they have the necessary skills to take care of themselves once they are released. Lastly, it is important that women are receiving adequate health care while incarcerated.

Suggested Readings

  • Bright, A.M., Higgins, A. & Grealish, A. (2022). Women’s experiences of prison-based mental healthcare: A systematic review of qualitative literature. International Journal of Prisoner Health. (ahead of print) 
  • Farrell, A., Danby, S,. Skoien P., & Quadrelli, C. (2001). Women inmates’ accounts of education in Queensland corrections. Australia & New Zealand Journal of Law & Education, 6(1–2), 47–61.
  • Fogel, C. I., Martin, S. L., Anderson, N. L. R., Murphy, S. A., & Dickson, L. A. S. (1992). The mental health of incarcerated women. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 14(1), 30–47.
  • Levi, R. & Waldman, A. (2017). Inside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women's Prisons. Verso.
  • Mclearen, A., Breshears, K., Mowell, D., & Leukefeld, K. (2021). A room of their own: Progressive prison programs for women. Corrections Today, 83(1), 34–39.
  • Miller, J. (1998). Up it up: Gender and the accomplishment of street robbery. Criminology, 36(1), 37–66.
  • Praetorius, R., Terry, L.F., & Burse, J. (2017). Thank you for letting it be about me: Women’s perceptions of holistic programming in a jail. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 56(4), 237-251.
  • Ryder, J. (2020). Enhancing female prisoners’ access to education. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 9(1), 139-149.
  • Sawyer, W. (2018). The gender divide: Tracking women’s state prison growth. Retrieved from: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/women_overtime.html 
  • Wright, E. M., Van Voorhis, P., Salisbury, E. J., & Bauman, A. (2012). Gender-responsive lessons learned and policy implications for women in prison: A review. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39(12), 1612–1632.
  • Young, D. S. (2000). Women's perceptions of health care in prison. Health Care for Women International, 21(3), 219–234.

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Discussion Questions

  1. How do women and men differ in terms of involvement in crime and background/history? What needs do women have that are not taken into consideration when in prison?
  2. How can gender-specific programming be beneficial for women in prison?
  3. How does holistic programming differ from gender-specific programming? What are the benefits of holistic programming?
  4. Why is mental health programming still an issue and what can be done to instill better programming for women?
  5. What are the benefits that women gain from being in an education program? How do the skills and information gained help women when released?
  6. What improvements need to be made in terms of health care for women in prison? How can these changes be made?
  7. How do beliefs and stereotypes of women in prison affect them getting the help they need such as mental health, education, and health care while serving their time? What can be done to change the stereotypes of women incarcerated?
  8. Out of mental health, educational, and healthcare programming, which is the most needed in women’s prison? Why?