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NEW YORK - Oklahoma, Mississippi and the Mountain states have set the pace in increasing the imprisonment of women, while New York and several Northeastern states are curtailing the practice, according to a new report detailing sharp regional differences in the handling of female offenders. The report, to be released today by the New York-based Women's Prison Association, is touted as the most comprehensive state-by-state breakdown of the huge increase in women prisoners over the past 30 years. The report attributed much of the nationwide increase in women prisoners to the war on drugs. The proportion of women serving time for drug offenses has risen sharply in recent years, while the proportion convicted of serious violent crimes has dropped, it said. Overall, the number of female state inmates serving sentences of more than a year grew by 757 percent between 1977 and 2004, nearly twice the 388 percent increase for men, the report said. Though the surge occurred nationwide, it was most notable in the Mountain states, where the number of incarcerated women soared by 1,600 percent, the report said. According to federal statistics cited in the report, Colorado had 72 female inmates in 1977 and 1,900 in 2004, while the comparable numbers increased from 28 to 647 in Idaho, from two to 473 in Montana, from 187 to 2,545 in Arizona and from 30 to 502 in Utah. Idaho, Wyoming and Montana were among six states, along with Oklahoma, North Dakota and Hawaii, where women made up more than 10 percent of the prison population in 2004 - compared with the national average of 7 percent. In Rhode Island, by contrast, only 3.2 percent of the inmates were women. Oklahoma had the highest per capita imprisonment rate for women - 129 behind bars for every 100,000 women in its population. Mississippi was second with a rate of 107. Massachusetts and Rhode Island shared the lowest rate of 11. Nationwide, there were 1.42 million inmates in state and federal prisons at the end of 2004, including 96,125 women - up from 11,212 in 1977. Though the overall surge of women behind bars has continued in recent years, it has tapered off in the Northeast, the report said. From 1999 to 2004, it said, the number of female inmates dropped by 23 percent in New York and 21 percent in New Jersey - part of a trend that also cut the number of male inmates. Bob Anez, a Corrections Department spokesman in Montana, confirmed that drug offenses - especially related to methamphetamine - were a major factor in the high proportion of female inmates in the state. Half the women imprisoned from January through March had committed meth-related offenses, he said. Jerry Massie of Oklahoma's Corrections Department also said rising drug convictions were a factor in the high number of imprisoned women, but he noted that Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates for men as well as for women. |
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We are careful not to duplicate the efforts of other organizations, and as a grassroots coalition of prisoners and social reformers, our resources (time and money) are limited. The vast expertise and scope of the various drug reform organizations will enable you to stay informed on the ever-changing, many-faceted aspects of the movement. Our colleagues in reform also give the latest drug war news. Please check their websites often. |
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