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Medical copays reduce health care access in MS prisons; Israel planted explosives in pagers sold to Hezbollah according to official sources; Serving looks with books: Libraries fight 'fast fashion' by lending clothes; Menhaden decline threatens Virginia's ecosystem, fisheries.

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JD Vance calls for toning down political rhetoric, while calls for his resignation grow because of his own comments. The Secret Service again faces intense criticism, and a right to IVF is again voted down in the US Senate.

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A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

Report Shows Gender Gap in Reducing Prison Populations

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Thursday, January 11, 2018   

NEW YORK – Prison populations are dropping in most states, but a new study finds that the number of incarcerated women is not falling as fast as it is for men.

Nationally, the total prison population peaked around 2009.

The study, compiled by the Prison Policy Initiative, shows that most states have made progress in reducing their overall prison populations over the past 10 years, but incarceration rates for women have generally stayed about the same.

According to Wendy Sawyer, the report’s author, one reason may be that women in prison may receive harsher punishments for rule violations than men do for similar infractions, extending their sentences.

"When three quarters have mental health problems and three quarters of those also have substance use disorders, and two-thirds of them have a history of physical or sexual abuse, you're talking about a population that really needs a lot of treatment and a lot of services more than they need punishment," she stresses.

In New York, incarceration rates are falling for both men and women, but they are falling faster for men.

Women are a relatively small percentage of the prison population, but since 1978 their numbers have increased at twice the rate of men.

And Sawyer says the impact of incarceration can be much more severe on women inmates.

"Women in state prison are more likely to be primary caretakers of children,” she points out. “They already are starting out with more economic difficulties so it may have an even greater effect of marginalization on those women and their families."

The report recommends steps such as increasing use of diversion strategies, decriminalizing offenses that don't threaten public safety and increasing the funding for indigent defense as ways to further reduce incarceration.

And Sawyer points out that ignoring what is happening in women's prisons works against a state's efforts to decarcerate.

"If they're seeing success overall, that may actually be happening just among the men's population,” she states. “Meanwhile the women's population continues to grow, just unnoticed."

Sawyer adds that developing alternatives to incarceration that are less harmful to women should be an urgent priority in every state.






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