When it comes to lowering female incarceration rates, states must step up Policies that target domestic violence victims and drug arrests roll back potential for progress

Rikha Sharma Rani | Opinion contributor

Women have long been the fastest growing segment of the U.S. prison population, and a new report by the Prison Policy Initiative is shedding more light on why — and revealing that states must take the brunt of the blame.

One of the biggest issues facing women: They are more likely than men to suffer sexual abuse and trauma, but state policies target women and girls who try to save themselves from gender-based violence.

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Misapplied dual arrest policies in domestic violence disputes have led to victims being arrested alongside their abusers. States still criminalize behaviors like running away from home or engaging in sex work — overwhelmingly acts of self-preservation.

In addition, incarcerated women are more likely than incarcerated men to suffer from drug dependence and abuse and mental illness.

A stunning 86% of incarcerated women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. Once in prison, women are highly vulnerable to re-victimization by other inmates or prison staff. In some cases, women are disciplined more severely than men, eating into conduct credits that can lead to early release.

In no less than 35 states, the growth rates for incarcerated women fared worse — grew faster or fell slower — than they did for incarcerated men between 2009 and 2015.

Efforts to reform the criminal justice system tend to be gender neutral. Restoring judicial discretion in sentencing, repealing truth-in-sentencing laws (which erase the possibility of early release for certain offenders) and eliminating money bail policies that target the poor are reforms that will benefit everyone and are crucial to eliminating misguided practices that have flooded our nation’s prisons. But the fact that gender disparities persist — despite efforts in many states to reduce the prison population — proves that states need a more gendered approach to prison reform.

Reform can't be gender-blind

Many states under-invest in rehabilitation and re-entry facilities that help keep women out of prison. When these services are available, they are often inferior to programs geared toward men.

"There may be 100 beds in a halfway house and only 10 for women," said Topeka K. Sam, founder of The Ladies of Hope Ministries in New York and a former inmate. “Then women have to wait past their release date in prison because the system is not prepared for the number of women they incarcerate."

That lack of investment is exacerbated by the fact that women, who are overwhelmingly convicted of low level, non-violent drug crimes, are disproportionately held in jails. Because jails are designed for short-term stays, they don’t have the rehabilitative programs typically offered in prisons.

And since women on average are poorer than men, when they do get thrown in jail, they tend to stay in the facility pre-trail longer than men — it's harder for women to make bail. More than half of women held in jail have not been convicted of a crime.

While women make up just 7% of the overall prison population, the impact of imprisoning a woman — especially a mother — is far greater. More than 60% of incarcerated women are mothers of minor children, and these women are more likely than men to be their child’s primary caretaker. Children with incarcerated mothers are more likely than those with incarcerated fathers to end up living with friends or relatives, in foster care, or in prison.

“Spend money reunifying families,” said Monica Cooper, co-founder of the Maryland Justice Project. “If you give a woman what she needs, and allow her to be back in her home raising her children with a decent job, her children will not end up in that system.”

If you invest in a woman, the benefits accrue to her family and community more so than they do for men. That multiplier effect means that the return on investment from keeping a woman out of prison is high.

Legislators are finally realizing that.

Last year, four Democratic senators — Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Richard Durbin — introduced the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act. It prohibits the shackling and solitary confinement of pregnant women in federal prisons and requires, among other things, that women be provided with free feminine hygiene products. It also states that the location of children should be a factor in sentencing.

Similar reforms are being enacted at the state level. California, Oregon and Oklahoma have programs that allow low-level female offenders to complete their sentences outside of prison, enabling them to remain with their children. A similar bill is under consideration in Massachusetts.

These efforts, though still relatively scarce, are encouraging. Reform-minded legislators should support and build on them.

Criminal justice reform is a rare opportunity for bipartisan compromise. But these efforts must take into account the unique hardships faced by justice-involved women.

Otherwise, as states like Iowa and Washington are finding, efforts to reform the criminal justice system may be in vain.

Rikha Sharma Rani is a journalist who writes about public policy and international affairs. Follow her on Twitter at @rikrani.

This report is part of an ongoing series on women, security and peace building supported by Women, War & Peace II broadcast series and The Fuller Project.