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In both the UK and the rest of the world there have been rapid increases in the numbers of women in prison, which has led to an acceleration of interest in women's crimes and the social control of women, and women's experience of both prison and the criminal justice system is very different to men's. This text is concerned to address the key issues relating to women's imprisonment, contributing at the same time to an understanding of prison issues in general and the historical and contemporary politics of gender and penal justice. What are women's prisons for? What are they like? Why are lone mothers, ethnic minority and very poor women disproportionately represented in the women's prison population? Should babies be sent to prison with their mothers? These are amongst the issues with which this book is concerned. Analysing Women's Imprisonment is written as an introductory text to the subject, aiming to guide students of penology carefully through the main historical and contemporary discourses on women's imprisonment. Each chapter has a clear summary ('concepts to know'), essay questions and recommendations for further reading, and will help students prepare confidently for seminars, course examinations and project work.

In the last decade there has been growing international concern about the increasing numbers of women in prison, the effects that imprisonment has on their children, the realisation that gaoled women have different criminal profiles and rehabilitative needs to male prisoners, and the seeming intractability of the associated problems. In response there has been an overarching policy concern in many countries to fashion and co-ordinate gender-specific policies towards female offenders which aim both to slow down the rate of their offending and/or imprisonment, and also to engender flexible programmes which will reduce the time spent in custody and/or away from their young children. The major objective of this book is to describe and analyse contemporary opportunities for, and barriers to, both the reduction of female prison populations and the reduction of the pain of those women who continue to be imprisoned. It assesses the most important recent attempts to reduce both women's imprisonment and the damage it does, identifying and analyzing cross-jurisdiction and gender-specific lessons to be learned, and the unexpected consequences of some of the reform strategies. This book brings together leading scholars and practitioners in the field, providing a critique of the reform initiatives which have taken place, and a much-needed theorization of cross-national policy in this area. It will be essential reading for all with an interest in prisons and prison reform.

Objective The current study uses insights from the stress process model and role theory to examine the relationship between familial incarceration, three key social roles—spouse, parent, and employee—and African American women's mental health. Background Research documents the spillover effects of mass incarceration on the families of those incarcerated. Approximately half of black women have at least one family member currently incarcerated; yet the potential psychological costs of familial incarceration among black women remains under‐investigated, particularly among those who are not parents. Method Utilizing the National Survey of American Life, a nationally representative sample of never‐incarcerated African American women (N = 1,961), this study used regression to examine the association of mental health (measured by psychological distress and depressive symptomatology), familial incarceration, and combinations of social roles. Results Familial incarceration was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms and psychological distress. Women that were employed only typically had improved psychological adjustment compared to other role combinations; yet, employment did not mute the mental health costs of familial incarceration. Conclusion African American women disproportionately experience the incarceration of family members, and the findings demonstrate that this experience is detrimental to mental health. Though social roles variably provide social, psychological, and economic resources to cope with familial incarceration, results show that the mental health costs of incarceration are generally consistent across role combinations. The expansive criminal justice system holds large implications for the well‐being of populations at the intersection of race, gender, and social roles.

Background. A history of childhood abuse may affect people’s health and criminal justice system involvement. Understanding the prevalence of childhood abuse among individuals in prison is important to inform effective and appropriate correctional services. Objectives. To review and summarize data on the prevalence of childhood abuse among people experiencing imprisonment in Canada. Search Methods. We searched for studies in bibliographic indexes, reference lists, and gray literature, and we consulted experts. Selection Criteria. We included studies published since 1987 that reported data on prevalence of a history of abuse before the age of 18 years among people in Canadian prisons, including any abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Data Collection and Analysis. Two authors independently reviewed titles and abstracts for eligibility and reviewed full texts for eligibility. Analyses included summary estimates and meta-regression with random effects. Main Results. The search identified 1429 records. We included 34 unique studies in our review and 29 nonoverlapping studies in our meta-analysis. The summary prevalence for any type of childhood abuse was 65.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 52.6, 77.7; range = 56.2% to 75.0%) among women; only one study reported the prevalence among men (35.5%). The summary prevalence of sexual abuse was 50.4% (95% CI = 33.5, 67.2; range = 9.9% to 77.3%) among women and 21.9% (95% CI = 15.7, 28.8; range = 8.3% to 55.6%) among men. The prevalence of neglect was 51.5% (95% CI = 43.1, 59.7; range = 45.5% to 65.1%) among women and 42.0% (95% CI = 12.7, 74.6; range = 6.8% to 99.0%) among men. The prevalence of physical abuse was 47.7% (95% CI = 41.3, 54.0; range = 16.3% to 83.0%), and the prevalence of emotional abuse was 51.5% (95% CI = 34.8, 67.9; range = 8.7% to 96.0%); we did not find differences according to gender. Prevalence estimates for all types of abuse showed high and unexplained variability across studies. Conclusions. Half of people in prisons in Canada experienced abuse in childhood. Public Health Implications. Prisons should incorporate trauma-informed approaches. Research is required to understand the association between a history of childhood abuse and criminal justice system involvement and to prevent childhood abuse and mitigate its adverse effects. Systematic Review Registration. PROSPERO CRD42017056192.

Objectives. To examine the association between family member incarceration, psychological stress, and subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods. Between 2012 and 2016, 1849 CVD-free women from the Mexican Teachers’ Cohort responded to questions on family incarceration from the Life Stressor Checklist. Perceived stress and hair cortisol levels were measured in a subset of participants. Carotid intima-media thickness was measured, and carotid atherosclerosis was determined in all participants. We used multivariable quantile, linear, and logistic regression models to evaluate the association between family member incarceration, stress, and subclinical CVD. Results. Among women with a mean age of 49.7 years (SD ±5.2), 15.3% reported family member incarceration. We found that both perceived stress and hair cortisol levels were significantly higher in women with an incarcerated family member relative to women without one. After multivariable adjustment, women who reported family member incarceration had 41% (95% confidence interval = 1.04, 2.00) higher odds of carotid atherosclerosis compared with those who did not. Conclusions. Family member incarceration was associated with robust markers of stress and cardiovascular risk. Mass incarceration may have a long-lasting impact on physical health of affected families.

Incarceration intensely alters the family lives of incarcerated men and the women and children connected to them. Yet women increasingly spend time behind bars and, accordingly, they absorb direct consequences of incarceration in addition to the more commonly considered spillover consequences of men’s incarceration on families. In this article, we draw on the stress process perspective to examine the consequences of maternal incarceration for three broad aspects of family life: romantic relationships, parenting, and economic wellbeing. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,045), an urban sample that includes a relatively large number of mothers who spent time in jail or prison, and methodological strategies to account for spurious associations between maternal incarceration and family life, yield two important conclusions. First, maternal incarceration is a stressor that proliferates to engender chronic strains in family life. Second, many of these chronic strains are especially acute when maternal incarceration is accompanied by paternal incarceration. Taken together, these findings suggest that the stressor of maternal incarceration has reverberating consequences for family life.

The number of women prisoners is rising globally, yet many rehabilitation programmes predominantly emphasize the psychological aspects of female inmates. This review underscores the importance of investigating the sociological factors that precede women's criminal behaviours. The systematic review encompassed documents from five databases: Emerald Insights, ERIC, PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science. The inclusion criteria were documents published between 1st January 2018 and 9th July 2024, full-text articles, studies that involved incarcerated women over the age of 18, investigated the social factors that lead women into crime, and studies written in English. The exclusion criteria comprised studies that solely involved male offenders, before 1st January 2018 and after 9th July 2024, unrelated content, duplicates, abstract-only papers, editorials, author responses, theses, books, book chapters, review studies, studies without available full-text, or serials. Out of 11,594 documents, 21 studies were finally selected for review. The sociological factors contributing to women's criminality revolved around family and intimate partner abuse victimization influenced by traditional gender roles, criminal community, as well as financial motivation and the impact of social media. These findings accentuate the importance of rehabilitation programmes addressing sociological factors to meet the unique needs of women offenders. In conclusion, this systematic review provides an in-depth understanding of the sociological factors that led women into crime, serving as important insights to the development of prison interventions.

This study empirically tested 3 mechanisms commonly suggested to disadvantage youths whose mothers are incarcerated in prison. An event history analysis of school dropout was conducted on a sample of 6,008 adolescents in a large city created by merging several Illinois state administrative data. Findings revealed that adolescents are indeed at greater risk of school dropout during the year(s) their mothers are incarcerated. Children who are removed from maternal guardianship and placed under the guardianship of a relative adult are observed to have higher odds of school dropout than children who remain under maternal guardianship after the mother's imprisonment. Lastly, attending a school in which maternal imprisonment is fairly common is not found to place adolescents at greater risk of school dropout after controlling for school quality.

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that between 149,200 and 209,400 incidents of sexual victimization occur annually in prisons and jails. However, very few individuals experiencing sexual victimization during incarceration report these incidents to correctional authorities. Federal-level policy recommendations derived from the Prison Rape Elimination Act suggest mechanisms for improving reporting as well as standards for the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of prison-based sexual victimization. Despite these policy recommendations, sexual assault persists in prisons and jails, with only 8% of prisoners who experience sexual assault reporting their victimization. This review focuses on gaps in the existing research about what factors influence whether adult victims in incarcerated systems will report that they have been sexually assaulted. Using ecological theory to guide this review, various levels of social ecology are incorporated, illuminating a variety of factors influencing the reporting of sexual victimization during incarceration. These factors include the role of individual-level behavior, assault characteristics, the unique aspects and processes of the prison system, and the social stigma that surrounds individuals involved in the criminal/legal system. This review concludes with recommendations for future research, policy, and practice, informed by an ecological conceptualization of reporting.