Additional funding to help reduce the number of women in prison is to be handed over by the Scottish government. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said each of Scotland’s eight Criminal Justice Authorities (CJA) would receive an additional £100,000. News reported by the BBC.

He said the number of women offenders in prison had increased “sharply and disproportionately” in recent years.

A recent report by Holyrood’s Equal Opportunities Committee said too many women were being locked up. There has been about a 90% rise in the number of women being sent to Cornton Vale, Scotland’s only female prison, over the past 10 years, compared with a 16% rise for the male prisoner population.

The Equal Opportunities Committee report, which was published in November, found that 80% of female inmates have mental health problems, almost all have problems with drug or alcohol addiction and many have children on the outside.

Mr MacAskill said the extra funding demonstrated how seriously the government viewed the issue of female offenders.

He added: “The number of women offenders in the criminal justice system – especially the number in jail – has risen very sharply and disproportionately over recent years.

“Although women remain a very small proportion of the total prisoner population, the number of women prisoners has almost doubled over the 10 year period to 2007-08 – to a daily average of around 420.

“In general, and as the committee report recognises, the health and other needs of women offenders are more complex and wide-ranging than those of male offenders. So that is a range of needs that need to be addressed, be it in prison or in the community.

“I will be expecting to see positive results – that means more support for women to get their lives back on track.”

Each individual CJA will be allowed to decide how best to use the additional money.

But it could be used to introduce projects similar to the pilot support service with Barnardos for women from the south west of Scotland released from prison, and the Think Again project aimed at developing skills and confidence for women offenders in the Lothian and Borders.

janchavarie Female Inmates, Scotland

Crowding at Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution near New Castle, the state’s only women’s prison, could become a crisis even if there’s a relatively small spike in crime, Corrections Commissioner Carl C. Danberg told state budget writers Thursday. Reported on Delaware Online.

As of Thursday, the prisoner count was about 405, which, Danberg said, provides for a little wiggle room. But the count has gone as high as 411 in recent weeks, posing the possibility of farming out female inmates to other states.”It is of particular concern,” Danberg said, plunking down a proposed $6 million capital spending plan for fiscal 2011 that, in deference to the state’s severe money crunch, included no funds for the expansion of the Baylor facility.

“It was designed for 200 and it always has more than 400,” he said. “There’s just nowhere to go if the population goes higher.”

Overall, the Department of Correction was hosting 6,833 inmates as of Oct. 30, but Danberg noted that the figure was down considerably from a peak of 7,250 several years ago. The Oct. 30 figure is 1,514 over the prison system’s design capacity and 176 over operating capacity, a number that reflects the department’s reading of how many inmates it can handle safely.

The new money in Danberg’s capital request would go for maintenance, restoration, minor capital improvements and equipment, but he included $3.5 million for expansion of Baylor as part of a wish list that totaled $22.4 million worth of construction projects. He said he pointed out the needs now because prison construction typically takes four years from design to completion.

“I know we can’t get the funding,” he said, “but I believe the state should know what the needs of the department are.”

Those needs include $14.3 million for a central medical facility. In the meantime, space has been reconfigured at Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington and personnel have been relocated at Baylor to provide more room for medical services.

The Multi Security Building at Sussex Correctional Institution, which houses medical services, is being expanded. The prison also is the beneficiary of a new A-frame medical services building financed in large part by penalties assessed against Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis, the department’s inmate health care provider, for nonperformance under a contract that expires June 30.

• As of Thursday, the department had 72 vacancies for correctional officers and, more critically, 34 openings for probation officers. The latter total represents 10 percent of authorized slots — including those of four supervisors in Sussex County — and could be problematic, Danberg said, in providing community services under the Markell administration’s inmate re-entry program.
• “Howard Young is deteriorating.” Work to restore outside masonry at the Wilmington facility — “popped off” by water that seeps inside the concrete exterior — is complete, and $4.6 million has been programmed for restoring interior walls damaged by the same problem. The Wilmington facility’s kitchen also needs to be replaced at an estimated cost of $3.1 million.
• Some 110 single-inmate cells at Sussex’ Multi Security Building should be shut down, an action that would save about $1 million a year. Danberg says that, as the building is now configured, it takes one officer to keep tabs on two inmates, and that the size of the building doesn’t lend itself to double cells that would make it less labor-intensive.”
• In keeping with dictates from Visalli’s office, the department’s operating budget would remain flat at $249.5 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

janchavarie DE Sussex County, Female Inmates, Overcrowding

Nine states:California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota, Washington and West Virginia have prison nurseries or expect to open them. As reported in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

On the campus of the Ohio Reformatory for Women, convicts shuffle across from one spot to the next under watchful eyes.

Takeem’s mother Takaya Patterson is exempt.

In contrast to the other buildings at the sprawling complex surrounded by razor wire and blinding lights, the nursery is colorful and dotted with Sesame Street characters.

Takeem’s mother wears a prison jumpsuit. Takeem, with cherub cheeks and long slender fingers, sleeps in her arms as she rocks.

Just 2 months old, Takeem lives in prison.

Under an unusual program, the state of Ohio lets Patterson raise him behind prison walls.

Some experts say that approach is best for both mothers and their children because the women are less likely to commit crimes when they get out, and children get to be with their moms during critical periods of their development.

One critic calls the program a waste of taxpayer money and says prison should be a place for punishment, not somewhere to raise babies.

Either way, one thing is not in dispute: the number of women in prison has skyrocketed in the last three decades, and most female prisoners are single mothers.

In Ohio, being a prison mom is a full-time job for up to 18 months.

In Kentucky, infants can bond with their mothers, but for only a few hours at time.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the number of women behind bars has increased 843 percent in the last three decades, growing from 12,279 in 1977 to 115,779 last year.

In that same time, Ohio saw a 577 percent increase in female inmates, from 577 in 1977 to 3,905 last year; Kentucky experienced a whopping 1,573 percent increase from 139 in 1977 to 2,326 last year.

With so many more women landing behind bars, who is left to take care of the children?

In a 2004 survey, 84 percent of imprisoned parents said they left their child with the child’s other parent. The rest went elsewhere – including 3 percent who went into foster care, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Parent in Prison and their Minor Children.

Ohio is one of nine states with prison nurseries.

Guidelines are stringent for Ohio’s program. Since opening in 2001, 137 women have raised babies behind bars.

Still, the benefits are indisputable, said Terry Collins, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Bonding key issue

Establishing an early bond between the infant and mother is imperative to childhood development. And for the mothers, having that strong bond with their children tends to be the impetus to play it straight on the outside.

“It is well known that family support and family bonds are among the top factors that increase a returning citizen’s chance of having a successful re-entry,” Collins said.

Ohio set up a nursery in 2001. Indiana followed last year. Kentucky has a nursery, but children are not permitted to live with their mothers.

The Women’s Prison Association, a New York-based agency that advocates for women with criminal records, recently studied babies behind bars and urged states to allow moms to serve sentences in the community or to start nurseries similar to Ohio’s.

“I think people are realizing more and more women are going to prison and the reality is that women are mothers,” said Chandra Villanueva, of the Institute on Women and Criminal Justice, part of the Women’s Prison Association. “It makes sense to keep mothers and children together and give them the foundation to build a healthy relationship with their child.”

Earlier this year, Villanueva released a report that found that women who participate in prison nursery programs are less likely to commit another crime, and their babies get to be with their mom during critical development months.

Much more on the the Cincinnati Enquirer.

janchavarie Female Inmates, Kentucky, Ohio

The theatre of regrets at Sun City prison: under the guidance of a project for imprisoned women, inmates deliver a cautionary message through dance and song. Reported in the Guardian.

The cast is made up of 25 women. They dance and sing in styles that blend African tribal and American gospel. They perform monologues about their lives. The audience, including 200 schoolchildren, goes wild with cheers and applause.

This is no ordinary piece of theatre. It’s Saturday morning at Johannesburg’s Sun City prison. I’m here to watch a performance by convicted murderers, armed robbers, drug smugglers and fraudsters.

Kgomotso Maine stands up and says: “I’m serving 15 years for murder.” There is an audible gasp in the recreation hall. Maine stabbed her boyfriend to death in a fit of rage after finding him with another woman. She goes on: “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. But I regret what I’ve done in the past. Now I’m focusing on the future. I want to turn that old scar to shining stars.”

This is the second year that the Medea project: Theatre for Incarcerated Women has come to South Africa. It’s the brainchild of Rhodessa Jones, a US actor, singer, teacher and writer who runs a theatre company in San Francisco. She and her co-director, Idris Ackamoor, work with female prisoners around the world.

Jones, 60, said: “Theatre saved my life. I was a 16-year-old girl with a baby. As a black girl in America, I could have gone either way. It was my brother who said I want you to meet these people, and they were theatre people, and I could bring my baby.

“All of a sudden I was making theatre and I felt needed. I understood something about what else could be possible in the world. I didn’t have to end up a junkie, I didn’t have to end up an alcoholic, I didn’t even have to end up in an abusive relationship. I could find my voice in the spaces of theatre.”

She and Ackamoor had to work hard at first to bring the women here out of their shells, but their outgoing, can-do spirit evidently rubbed off. The medium-security inmates performing Serious Fun II at Sun City are self-confident, poised and keen to be taken seriously.

They wear white face paint, white T-shirts and ‑ a reminder of where we are ‑ regulation orange trousers that have the word “Corrections” printed in circles. Tandeka Mkwanazi, 34, is draped in a blue flag of Swaziland and has a feather in her hair. She says she used to travel the world in her job in group sales and marketing for SABC, the public broadcaster. She blames a Nigerian boyfriend for the discovery of 10kg of ecstasy in a bag she brought from Amsterdam. She was jailed in 2005 and hopes to be out in 2011.

The mother of two sons takes centre stage while the rest of the cast sing a lullaby and mime the cradling of children in their arms. “Mummy is here,” she says. “I’m dedicating this lullaby song to you boys. I remember the days when you were still babies.

“When I look at this front row here, I just see my boys. Let me tell you something. Life is about choices. The choices that you make today are the choices that are going to tell you exactly where you will be in five years’ time. Ask yourself, where will you be in five years from now?”

Ellen Dingaan, 34, is a beautician and hairdresser, which makes her popular with the prison wardens. The 1.5kg of cocaine she swallowed before flying from Sao Paolo showed up in an X-ray. She finds it suspicious that her contact was a friend of the policewoman who stopped her at customs. She says she was charged with possession of 80g of cocaine and doesn’t know what happened to the rest.

“I took the risk because at the time I had a serious problem,” she said. “I was living with somebody and he just dumped me and left me my three kids and all the responsibilities of rent, school fees, everything, and I couldn’t keep up with it. I was promised R50,000 (£4,000) and got R20,000 to pay off some of my bills and buy some Christmas presents for my kids.”

Dingaan has been in jail for nearly five years and is due for parole in 2011. She misses her children most of all. “It’s very painful for me to know I haven’t been there for my kids. I haven’t even seen them wearing their uniforms on the first day of school. That really kills me, because I always promised myself I’d be a better mother to my children.”

There are songs of repentance and remorse. Joyce Chauke, 34, serving seven and a half years for armed robbery, says: “Some people are scared of us. What I ask from the community is to accept us and give us a second chance to show them we have learned from our mistakes. We are ready to face the community. Please accept us.”

Another woman says: “I am here to apologise for what I did to the community. When I was dealing drugs, I was thinking of only myself, I was self-centred and I’ve learned. I think justice was done to save me before I jeopardised more people. I pray to God that you will find it your heart to forgive me and accept me as one of your own.”

The show finishes, the audience rises and there is a cascade of applause. Then the inmates answer questions and urge the children not to follow the same path. A woman from the Market Theatre Laboratory says: “I came here today expecting hardcore criminals and I found women, beautiful women, and that made me cry. It makes me so happy. Thank you.”

A lunch is served, but prison guards gather around the stage to ensure the performers stay where they are. I say goodbye to Rhodessa Jones and drive through the prison grounds, passing a sign that says “Place of new beginnings”. At the exit gate my car boot is opened and checked, and then I head back to the city. The women, presumably, are back in their cells by now.

janchavarie Female Inmates, Inmate Programs, South Africa

Jackson, Mississippi will be the site for the Thirteenth National Workshop on Adult and Juvenile Female Offenders which will bring together leaders in the fields of adult corrections, social work, law enforcement, juvenile corrections, mental health and education for a comprehensive overview of this rapidly expanding area of corrections.   The conference, hosted by the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), will be held in Jackson, Mississippi from October 10 -14, 2009 at the Jackson Marriott, 200 Amite Street, Jackson, Mississippi.

“The Mississippi Department of Corrections is proud to host this important conference and has worked hard to provide participants with a program full of informative meetings, interesting speakers, and educational training activities,” said MDOC Commissioner Christopher Epps.  “We realize that working with the female population is a specialized field and with the training offered at this conference, we hope participants leave more informed, more inspired, and more engaged than when they arrived.”

The conference will cover topics relevant to the female inmate population, including breaking criminal behavior cycles, rebuilding lives through discharge planning and re-entry coordination, assisting inmate patients receiving psychiatric services and addressing the changing needs of adolescent females in the juvenile system.

Featured speakers include Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, Mary Leftridge Byrd, Federal Security Director, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Dr. Stephanie Covington, Co-Director, Center for Gender and Justice, La Jolla, CA, and MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps.

jakking Female Inmates, Juvenile Justice, Mississippi

The Draper prison in Utah was expected to run out of space for women by 2007. Instead, the booming growth rates suddenly leveled off and 50 beds sit empty. Corrections officials are uncertain what exactly has brought the relief, but they’re focusing on fending off future booms by making sure when women get out of prison, they stay out for good.  Story from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Spokeswoman Angie Welling said 65 to 75 percent of released prisoners return to prison at some point. But when they go through some form of programming, the figure plummets to about 30 percent.    “We owe it to these women to make sure they have access to the resources necessary to reconstruct their lives,” said Craig Burr, director of the Corrections department’s Division of Programming. With little help from state funding for the preventative and rehabilitative programs, the department is now leaning on community organizations to bolster life-skills and usher them into crime-free lives …

Deputy Warden for Prison Programming Lee Liston said it’s “heartening” to see the extent of help from the community, especially during an economic downturn. Big Brothers Big Sisters is one organization sending volunteers to help thanks to a federal grant. Liston noted that if there are 180 women in prison, that translates to about 400 children without a mom. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah spokeswoman Michele Beckstrand said there is a lot of shame and anger in families when women are incarcerated. “Sometimes the impact in having another caring adult to step in is beyond words,” Beckstrand said. “A mentor is that friend, that shoulder to lean on” …

Other efforts to reform female prisoners include substance-abuse programs, therapeutic communities and “Bridges out of Poverty” — an effort run by Utah homelessness czar Lloyd Pendleton to create plans to get women into housing, land a job and be productive. “We’re seeing changes — significant changes,” Pendleton said. Utah advocate for the poor Pamela Atkinson adds that YPREP’s targeted programs are “literally changing people’s lives.”

Despite the aid, realistic Corrections officials say it’s only a matter of time until figures rebound and the state runs out of space at the Draper Timpanogos female housing area. “We are likely going to need another women’s facility,” said Corrections Deputy Director Mike Haddon … But it’s unclear how soon Corrections could build any relief. Officials already have plans to expand the Gunnison prison and open a halfway house for parolees to stop the male inmate population from spilling over. And all those goals come amid budget blows that recently forced hefty department cutbacks. “We realize we can’t build our way out of this,” Haddon said. “We just try to provide as much programming or education, so when it comes time to go back into the community they’re better citizens and more likely to succeed.”

jakking Female Inmates, Inmate Programs, Re-Entry, Recidivism, Utah

Iowa Corrections Director John Baldwin says he has appointed Patti Wachtendorf as warden of the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women at Mitchellville.

Wachtendorf is a longtime deputy warden and has served as acting warden since March, when then-warden Diann Wilder-Tomlinson was appointed to a statewide post. Baldwin announced her promotion Friday. Wachtendorf will oversee all operations of the multi-security-level women’s institution. She has worked for the Department of Corrections since 1983, and served at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison and the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility before joining the ICIW staff in 2001.

jakking Female Inmates, Iowa

The majority of 128 female inmates from Hawaii housed at a private Kentucky correctional facility will return to the islands within a month, Public Safety Director Clayton Frank said yesterday, according to the Star Bulletin.

Forty Hawaii inmates returned Monday from Otter Creek Correctional Facility, where guards were accused of sexually assaulting 23 women, including seven from Hawaii. A task force visited Otter Creek on July 5 and found that a 2007 sexual assault case was substantiated, with the guard being terminated and convicted. One case was dismissed, two female inmates denied assault allegations, and three cases are being investigated by Kentucky police, Public Safety Deputy Director Tommy Johnson said.

The Senate Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, headed by Sen. Will Espero, interviewed Frank and Johnson at the state Capitol yesterday for an update on the allegations and the possibility of returning the women to Hawaii. “The biggest concern we have is the cost,” Frank said. The cost to house an inmate at Hawaii’s Women’s Community Correctional Center is $86 per day, or $3.6 million a year, compared with $58.46 a day in Kentucky.

With the transferred inmates, state prisons will be at 97 to 98 percent capacity, while 91 to 92 percent would be ideal, Frank said. “If there are any more additional intakes … we would have to be very careful that there is no federal intervention,” said Frank, who added that there is enough staff at the women’s facility and the federal detention center. Overcrowding at Hawaii prisons led to federal oversight from 1985 to 1999.

Espero asked whether $500,000 appropriated by the Legislature for GPS electronic monitoring could be used to offset costs, but Frank said the allocated money was part of Gov. Linda Lingle’s budget cut. “I was afraid you’d say that. But that is a cost-saving measure that, in my opinion, has the potential to save the state millions of dollars over years, so, although I understand the governor’s decision, I think it’s the wrong one,” Espero said.

jakking Female Inmates, Hawaii, Private Prisons

The plans to expand a womens’ jail in San Diego County CA is causing waves in the community.  This report from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

When county officials chose a site in Santee for a girls’ rehabilitation center in the 1960s, the community was dotted with farmland and new neighborhoods were starting to sprout.  Today, Las Colinas Detention Facility – the only all-women jail in the county – sits in the middle of suburbia. It’s surrounded by office buildings, shopping centers and some of the only undeveloped land left in the center of the East County city.  Some residents say the jail no longer belongs in what they consider their thriving community. And they definitely don’t want one that would be nearly three times bigger.

County supervisors on Wednesday will consider approving an estimated $308.5 million plan to expand the jail and certify a report spelling out the environmental effects of the project. County officials plan to pay for the project with a $100 million state grant and county funds … Santee officials and several residents are clear on their position. They say a larger jail would hurt the city’s image and economic progress, decrease property values and possibly increase traffic and crime.   “We have five Starbucks now,” said Kathy Box of Santee, including one just over the border in unincorporated El Cajon. “Our city is doing well. The people who go there are doing well, and things are moving forward. Las Colinas sets us back.”  Mayor Randy Voepel said a jail would spread across too much land that is too valuable for a jail …

The tan, one-story jail sits on 16 acres, and some residents said they lived in the city for years before realizing it was there. The new jail would take up 45 acres.  City officials have spent nearly half a million dollars fighting the jail expansion. The city lost a lawsuit against the county over its handling of the state grant and has recently appealed. City officials have also hired outside companies to help, including a marketing firm to create Twitter and Facebook accounts to lobby against the project …

The county has been studying the replacement of Las Colinas for the past decade, and at least eight county grand jury reports have recommended building a new jail. Sheriff’s officials said they have spent more than $4 million on repairs and upgrades since 2003.  Conditions are also crowded. The jail houses far more beds than state standards dictate. Up to three women share cells, and some dormitories sleep 32 women in rows of closely placed bunk beds.

There is more background detail in the full article.

jakking CA San Diego County, California, County-City Issues, Female Inmates, Jail and Prison Construction, Overcrowding

After a review by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found the Austin County jail to be deficient in its space for female inmates, county commissioners discussed how to correct the problem last month.  Report from the Sealy News.

Austin County Judge Carolyn Bilski [said] “When they built the jail in the 1980s, women weren’t in jail as often. It was very unusual to see females have to be jailed.”  But the growing population and change in laws have contributed to the increase in female inmates. More and more, women are being jailed for offenses like theft by check, drug charges and driving under the influence, according to Bilski.

After the jail commission’s review of the county’s facilities, though, officials are looking at other alternatives, such as adding on to the current facility or building a new jail.  But with the cost to build a new facility hovering around $15 million – not including maintenance costs – the county is considering adding on to the current facility as a more cost-effective remedy.

In the meantime, county sheriff’s office personnel have brought in portable buildings and have reallocated some of their space, “so some of the crowding issues have been resolved,” Bilski said.  “They have made extra effort to resolve their problem on a pay-as-you-go basis,” she added.  [However] “We’re anticipating that the male and female population will continue to be the same or increase, and the seriousness of the offender and the safety concerns regarding inmates are going to continue to increase,” Bilski said.

jakking Female Inmates, Overcrowding, TX Austin County, Texas

Most of San Diego’s 31 detention facilities are in good shape and managed well, but the Las Colinas jail for women is too old, crowded and has poor medical facilities, the county grand jury said in a report released Thursday, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Las Colinas has a court-ordered maximum capacity of 500 inmates, but frequently houses more than 700. On the day the grand jury visited, it had 771 inmates, the 22-page report said. The grand jury praised the sheriff’s staff for keeping Las Colinas operating and effectively serving inmates’ needs. It pointed out, for example, that during the past year, several housing units were painted inside and out, all housing-unit roofs were resealed, six dormitories were renovated, and rotted wood floors were removed and concrete floors installed.

In the meantime, county officials are hoping to review an environmental impact report in June for a new 1,216-bed jail proposed to replace Las Colinas at a cost of up to $300 million. Last year, the state announced tentative approval of $100 million for the project. If fully funded, the replacement jail would take about five years to complete.

jakking CA San Diego County, California, Female Inmates, Overcrowding

Scotland’s chief prisons inspector has hit out at the policy of having just one female-only prison.  Reported by the BBC.

Dr Andrew McLellan told [Members of the Scottish Parliament] it was a major factor in overcrowding at Cornton Vale Prison and meant many women were too far away from their families.  The Scottish Prison Service admitted the regime at the prison, near Stirling, had slipped amid population increases and pressure on staff time …

Dr McLellan told its inquiry on female offenders in the justice system it did not seem to be “fair or honest” to make the argument that all women prisoners should be at one site to help them benefit from rehabilitation programmes.  “I do not agree with the policy of the Scottish Prison Service which is to concentrate all women prisoners in one site,” he said.   “That by itself is a significant factor of overcrowding in Cornton Vale.”

Pointing out that women prisoners were, until recently, held in Aberdeen, Inverness and Dumfries, Dr McLellan added “Almost all of the women who were in these local units were there for a very short time and largely were there on remand, for five days or seven days or at the most three weeks, so none of these people in Cornton Vale were ever going to take advantage of the critical mass.  “But the closing of these units increases significantly the overcrowding in Cornton Vale and severely impairs the family contact and family support which women in Aberdeen or Inverness or Dumfries might have had.”

Sue Brookes, head of offender strategy and partnership development with the prison service, agreed more female prisoners should be closer to home.  But she dismissed re-opening the Aberdeen and Inverness female prison facilities, saying many of the women in Cornton Vale had acute physical and mental problems. “The reasons for closing them were not just about access to programmes,” said Ms Brookes – a former governor of Cornton Vale.  “They were because, certainly in my view, some of the medical care that was available was not appropriate and was putting women at risk.”

jakking Europe, Female Inmates, INTERNATIONAL, Scotland, United Kingdom

A federal judge ruled Friday that the Wisconsin Department of Corrections must make changes to its inmate prescription system at Taycheedah Correctional Institution and hire licensed practical nurses to hand out drugs there, all within two months.  Reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Chief U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa’s order came in response to an American Civil Liberties Union motion for an injunction forcing the state to make changes.   The action is part of a federal class-action lawsuit the ACLU filed in 2006 on behalf of inmates at the state’s largest women’s prison.   The ACLU contends the state is violating the rights of Taycheedah prisoners by having guards without medical training dispense drugs to inmates, routinely resulting in the wrong medications or wrong dosages being given to inmates.

The state admits there are problems but says it is working to fix them. It argued that it has a plan to hire nursing assistants to hand out drugs and that the ACLU’s timetable was unreasonable.   Randa disagreed, writing that “matters of administrative convenience must ultimately give way when constitutional rights are in jeopardy.”  Randa ordered the state to draw up a plan to hire licensed practical nurses for Taycheedah within a week and have them in place in 60 days. In the issue of computerizing the prescription system, Randa gave the state two months to take “interim steps” to improve drug distribution accuracy …

Department of Corrections spokesman John Dipko said he did not know how many nurses would be hired or how much it would cost … Dipko said agency officials had not determined whether they will appeal the order, but even if they do, they will comply with the order in the meantime.

Larry Dupuis, legal director for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said, “Judge Randa has taken a huge step toward alleviating the needless pain and suffering caused by Taycheedah’s failed medication system.”

jakking Female Inmates, Inmate Health Care, Inmate Lawsuits, Wisconsin

The following brief report is from WSFA12 News.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday for [Alabama]’s first all-female federal prison.  The prison will be built on 120 acres in Pickens County near Aliceville.  It will house 1,300 medium security inmates and have 350 employees at a price tag of $185 million dollars.  It will open in 2011.

jakking Federal Systems, Female Inmates

A recent upswing in the number of assaults at the Industrial Home for Youth facility in Salem has the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services looking to make some changes in how its offenders are housed.  Reported by WSAZ3.

Right now, the Industrial Home for Youth has juvenile prisoners along with members of the adult population, ranging in age from 18-21 … They are considering a move that would put all 18-21 year old offenders at the Donald R. Kuhn Center in Boone County … Right now, that facility is a diagnostic center treating offenders …

Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety Spokesperson Joe Thornton said when they looked at their options, separating the adults from the juveniles was the best option, and DRK was the best place to move the adults. The juveniles currently housed there will go to the facility that best suits them somewhere else in the state. It’s not clear just how much it’s going to cost to upgrade the security at the DRK facility, but Thornton says in the end, safety of inmates outweighs the cost. He also says the folks who work at DRK are trained in all levels of security, so the fact that a more violent population is coming to Boone County doesn’t mean changes when it comes to personnel.

Women will also be moved to an all-female facility as a result of these proposed changes.

jakking Female Inmates, Juvenile Justice, West Virginia

Since the work center — with its 90 extra beds — reopened at the Deschutes County OR jail a year ago, the Sheriff’s Office has stopped a practice known as “matrixing,” in which inmates considered to be a lower risk are released to free up space for more serious offenders.  Report from the Bend Bulletin.

The work center, however, did not solve Deschutes County’s long-term need for more jail space, and Sheriff Larry Blanton said the jail could soon run out of beds for inmates.   If the inmate population outgrows the Deschutes County jail in the next year, Blanton is considering sending offenders to Jefferson County’s jail, which would allow Deschutes County to avoid early releases for some inmates. Blanton set aside about $300,000 to pay for as many as 20 beds in Jefferson County’s jail in his budget for the upcoming fiscal year that starts in July.

Deschutes officials have known for several years that the jail — which has 228 beds — needed to be expanded, but a lack of funding has held up those plans … In 2006, a consulting group hired by the county recommended adding beds and staff, but the county has been unable to  pull together the estimated $44 million it will cost to expand the jail.  “I would be surprised if between now and when we get the jail built, we don’t have to exercise an option to put people somewhere else,” Blanton said. The last thing he wants to do is “matrix” inmates, he said …

Deschutes County’s work center provides 90 additional beds for male inmates who can work on projects in the community, but a county policy limits the work center to inmates who meet certain criteria, such as showing good behavior in custody and being at the jail on less-serious charges. The Sheriff’s Office already has revised the policy several times, Blanton said, to allow more inmates to qualify for the work center.   “In a perfect world, the people you would have in the work center would be the ones you would not worry about having out in the community,” Blanton said. “Essentially, what it’s turned into now is a default jail” …

Another factor in the shortage of jail beds is an increase in the number of female inmates, said Blanton and Capt. Ruth Jenkin, who oversees the jail. The county recently set aside 12 more beds for women, which brought the total number available for women to 40 beds. That means 12 fewer beds for men.  “The female population has increased dramatically,” Blanton said. “We were out of female beds to the point where we were going to have to matrix a lady.”

There is a lot more background in the article at the Bend Bulletin.

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Rural Oklahoma counties have some of the highest per capita rates of sending women to prison, according to a report released by the state Corrections Department.  Report by NewsOK.

The counties with the highest per capita rates of women in prison were Stephens, Grady, Pittsburg and Custer. The figures are based on the number of women going to prison for more than a year compared to the female population in each county.

In many cases, nonurban counties had a higher rate because they have fewer alternatives to incarceration, said Laura Pitman, female offender operations deputy director.   “It certainly has an impact on a county’s ability to divert offenders,” Pitman said.    Access to more community mental health and substance abuse treatment services could also cut down on the number of women going to prison, Pitman said …

While the smaller counties had a higher rate of incarceration based on population, Oklahoma, Tulsa and Comanche counties still sent the largest overall total number of women to prisons, according to the report.  Oklahoma leads the nation in the per capita number of women in prison — Oklahoma imprisons 131 women per 100,000 women. The national average is 69, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics … In the past three years, the number of women in prison has grown steadily by at least 10 percent each year, according to the report. Without significant changes, the female prison population could grow to as high as 3,028 by 2013, according to the report. In 2008, there were 2,721 women in prison, DOC records show.

jakking Female Inmates, Oklahoma

For years, the Los Angeles County jail has been a revolving door for the vast majority of its female inmates, many of whom are homeless, poorly educated and struggling with substance abuse, according to a watchdog’s report released yesterday.

[T]he findings in the report provide the most detailed examination yet of women in the nation’s largest women’s jail facility. According to a survey of inmates, 81% of women in custody have served time behind bars in the past — most of them in Los Angeles County. The report predicted that most of the inmates were likely to come back in the future. “Many of them report that they cycled in and out of the criminal justice system for years,” Merrick Bobb, special counsel to the county supervisors, wrote in his semiannual report on the Sheriff’s Department, which operates the jails …

Bobb surveyed 330 of them in September and found that 45% were on probation and 22% on parole at the time of their arrests. Nearly six out of 10 had a history of substance abuse, and slightly more than half were unemployed or disabled when they were arrested. The inmates were disproportionately African American — 43% of the jail population, compared to 10% in the county.   Most were single women with children under 18 years old. Most were awaiting trial and could not afford the bail to get out.  Roughly 32,000 women pass through the women’s jail system annually…

Because of jail overcrowding, most women serve just 10% of their sentences — compared to slightly less than 70% for men. Overcrowding has forced the department to immediately release “any inmate whose sentence is less than 180 days,” Bobb wrote.

jakking CA Los Angeles County, California, Female Inmates, Overcrowding

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle’s new budget lays out millions of dollars to help female prisoners get better mental health care and dodge a potentially costly lawsuit over their care, as reported by the Chicago Tribune.

The U.S. Justice Department in 2006 declared the lack of mental health care at Taycheedah Correctional Institution, the state’s largest women’s prison in Fond du Lac, violated inmates’ constitutional rights. The state agreed this past September to make improvements or face a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit. “These investments will help us improve the continuity of care for women who have mental illnesses in our prison system,” Corrections Department spokesman John Dipko said in a statement.  Part of the state’s plan calls for building a 45-bed women’s-only wing at the Wisconsin Resource Center, a mental health facility for male inmates in Winnebago. The $11 million project was approved as part of the state’s 2007-2009 capital budget. It’s set to open in 2011.

Doyle’s spending plan sets out $4.6 million in taxpayer dollars for the Department of Health and Human Services to hire 113 workers at the facility in 2011. The governor’s budget also devotes another $4.2 million in taxpayer dollars to hire 15 guards for the female-only wing and another 40 mental health workers at Taycheedah.  The spending proposals come despite the state’s massive $5.7 billion deficit

jakking Female Inmates, Mental Health Issues, Wisconsin

A women’s prison in England has failed to meet challenges from a “complex and growing” number of vulnerable inmates, a report by HM Inspector of Prisons says.  This from the BBC.

Staff at HMP Styal, in Cheshire, lack training and support to deal with the most “damaged” women, said Anne Owers … But the National Offender Management Service said “innovative” work at the prison had also been recognised … The announced inspection was carried out in September at the prison, which has 460 inmates – half of whom have issues with drugs.  The report said that prisoners’ level of vulnerability compared with other women’s jails was “extremely high”.  It concluded that HMP Styal “was not able to meet the scale and complexity of the needs of the women it held”.

On the Keller unit, for women with mental health issues, inspectors found the use of force by prison staff had “increased significantly”.  These inmates, some of whom had serious self-harming issues, were often forced to strip as part of the prison’s care plan.  The Keller prisoners were also locked up for most of the time …

Campaigners from Inquest, a charity which works with families of those who die in custody, have repeatedly protested outside the prison over the same issues.   Co-director Deborah Coles said: “As the report demonstrates, the response of the Prison Service does not reflect the seriousness of the failings that have been exposed both by inspection reports and inquests into the deaths of vulnerable women.  “What is needed is a fundamental rethink, not only about Styal but in the whole approach to women who offend, and the provision of alternatives to custody.”

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