challenge-criminal-justice-day3 - United Way of Westchester and Putnam

Criminal Justice: Day 3 Women in Prison

Over the past 30 years, the trend of confining more women to federal, state and local correction facilities as exploded at an increase of 700%. Today we will discuss how anecdotal and antiquated healthcare policies, harsher disciplinary consequences and unmet needs, while incarcerated and post-release, perpetuates a cycle of generational imprisonment, poverty and trauma for women and families.

We challenge you to ...

A recent study of 22 U.S. state prison systems and all U.S. federal prisons, found that roughly 3.8% of the women in their sample were pregnant when they entered prison. Read this article to see how prisons neglect pregnant women in their healthcare policies.

Listen to this investigation, which finds that in prisons across the U.S., women are disciplined more often than men and almost always for low-level, non-violent offenses.

Read this article on the cycle of poverty, trauma, and the unmet needs of women in jail and after release, to understand how the criminal justice system exploits the poor and vulnerable.