Compared with men, women in prison often receive disproportionately harsh punishments for minor violations of prison rules — like talking back to a corrections officer, a new federal report finds.
The NPR stories found that punishment for these minor violations carried often significant consequences. Women lost"good conduct credits," and days were added to the time they spent in prison. They lost privileges such as being able to buy food or women's hygiene products from the prison commissary. They lost phone and visitation privileges. Sometimes, they were sent to solitary confinement.
Prisons should"prohibit shackling pregnant women and placing them in solitary confinement, as these practices represent serious physical and psychological health risks."Prison staff should be better trained"to address the high rates of trauma among incarcerated women." NPR found that 75% or more of women in prison have experienced previous sexual or physical trauma.
"Some of the things that women get punished for that men don't involve stealing from the kitchen, whether it be fruits or vegetables or even a leftover piece of cornbread," she says."Or for disrespecting an officer. They call it insolence." In women's prisons, black women get some of the harshest punishments, according to the new report. The commission calculated that black women make up 23% of women in prison, but they make up 40% of women in solitary confinement.
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