U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

Washington, DC 20425

Official Business

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WOMEN IN 

PRISON

FEBRUARY 2020

BRIEFING

REPORT

SEEKING JUSTICE BEHIND BARS
U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an 

independent, bipartisan agency established

by Congress in 1957. It is directed to:

• Investigate complaints alleging that citizens are 

being deprived of their right to vote by reason of 

their race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or 

national origin, or by reason of fraudulent practices.

• Study and collect information relating to 

discrimination or a denial of equal protection of 

the laws under the Constitution because of race, 

color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national 

origin, or in the administration of justice.

• Appraise federal laws and policies with respect to 

discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws 

because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, 

or national origin, or in the administration of justice.

• Serve as a national clearinghouse for information 

in respect to discrimination or denial of equal 

protection of the laws because of race, color, 

religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin.

• Submit reports, findings, and recommendations 

to the President and Congress.

• Issue public service announcements 

to discourage discrimination or denial 

of equal protection of the laws. 

MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION

Catherine E. Lhamon, Chairperson

Patricia Timmons-Goodson, Vice Chairperson*

Debo P. Adegbile

Gail L. Heriot

Peter N. Kirsanow

David Kladney

Karen Narasaki**

Michael Yaki

Mauro Morales, Staff Director

* Term ended 12/05/2019

**Term ended 11/29/2019

U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20425

(202) 376-8128 voice

TTY Relay: 711

www.usccr.gov

1

42 U.S.C. §1975a.
Women in Prison: 

Seeking Justice 

Behind Bars 

Briefing Report Before

The United States Commission on Civil Rights

Held in Washington, D.C.

Briefing Report

February 2020
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Letter of Transmittal

February 26, 2020 

President Donald J. Trump 

Vice President Mike Pence 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

On behalf of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (“the Commission”), I am pleased to 

transmit our briefing report, Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars. The report is also 

available in full on the Commission’s website at www.usccr.gov.

This report examines the civil rights of women in United States prisons. The population of 

women in prison has increased dramatically since the 1980s, and this growth has outpaced that of 

men in prison, yet there have been few national-level studies of the civil rights issues 

incarcerated women experience. The Commission studied a range of issues that impact 

incarcerated women, including deprivations of women’s medical needs that may violate the 

constitutional requirement to provide adequate medical care for all prisoners; implementation of 

the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA); and the sufficiency of programs to meet women’s 

needs after release. The Commission also examined disparities in discipline practices for women 

in prison compared with men, and the impacts of incarcerated women being placed far from 

home or having their parental rights terminated.

The Commission majority approved key findings including the following: Many prison policies 

and facilities are not designed for women or tailored to their specific needs. Rather, many policies 

were adopted from men’s prison institutions without evaluating their application to women’s 

prison institutions. Incarcerated women report extremely high rates, and much higher rates than 

men, of histories of physical, sexual, and mental trauma. Notwithstanding federal statutory legal 

protections such as the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) and the Prison Rape 

Elimination Act (PREA), aimed at protecting incarcerated people, many incarcerated women 

continue to experience physical and psychological safety harms while incarcerated and insufficient 

satisfaction of their constitutional rights. Department of Justice (DOJ) litigation against prison 

systems involving sexual abuse among other wrongs has secured important changes to safeguard 

incarcerated women’s rights. 

Classification systems that are not calibrated for gender-specific characteristics have been shown 

to classify incarcerated women at higher security requirement levels than necessary for the safety 

and security of prisons; women classified at higher security levels may receive fewer vocational 

and educational, community placement, and reentry opportunities than they would have received 

had they been classified at lower security levels. Many incarcerated women are placed at facilities 

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far from their families, limiting visitation opportunities. Many prison policies do not prioritize 

family visits, such as by permitting extremely limited family visitation hours that often do not 

reflect distances visiting family must travel. 

Some prisons provide adequate healthcare specific to women, such as gynecological and prenatal 

care, while others do not. The high rates at which incarcerated women report past trauma results 

in the need for mental health care and treatment while incarcerated. Sexual abuse and rape remain 

prevalent against women in prison. Incarcerated women who report sexual assault have 

experienced retaliation by their institutions and prison personnel in violation of the law. 

The Commission majority voted for key recommendations, including the following: DOJ should 

continue to litigate enforcement of the civil rights of incarcerated women in states that violate these 

mandates and the rights of incarcerated women. Prison officials should adopt validated assessment 

tools, currently available, to avoid inaccurately classifying incarcerated women to a higher security 

level than appropriate. Prison officials should give strong preference to placing incarcerated 

women in as close proximity as possible with location of their family, provide free video and lowcost phone services to incarcerated persons, and not ban in-person visits for non-safety reasons. 

Prison officials should implement policies to address women’s specific healthcare needs, including 

gynecological and prenatal care, as is constitutionally required. Prisons should have adequate 

mental health care staff and treatment programs available to meet the needs of the many 

incarcerated women with mental health challenges, such as past trauma. Congress should enact 

stricter penalties for non-compliance with PREA standards focused on inmate safety and 

consistently appropriate funding sufficient to ensure correctional agencies comply with PREA. 

Prisons should implement evidence-based, trauma-informed discipline policies to avoid harsh 

punishments for minor infractions, and recognizing the significant harms that can result from

placement in restrictive housing. Prisons should ensure restrictive housing is not used against 

people of color, LGBT people, and people with mental health challenges in a discriminatory 

manner. 

We at the Commission are pleased to share our views, informed by careful research and 

investigation as well as civil rights expertise, to help ensure that all Americans enjoy civil rights 

protections to which we are entitled. 

For the Commission,

Catherine E. Lhamon 

Chair
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TABLE OF CONTENTS i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................................................1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.......................................................................................................3

Highlighted Findings...............................................................................................................5

Highlighted Recommendations ...............................................................................................6

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND......................................................9

Women in Prison Across U.S. States.....................................................................................12

Do Women in Prison Have Distinct Needs and Experiences from Men in Prison?.................18

Gender Differences in Offense Type .................................................................................18

Socioeconomic Differences Between Women and Men in Prison ......................................20

Gender Differences with Experiences of Trauma, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse....23

Prison Policies and Gender Differences Among Inmates...................................................24

Race, Ethnicity, and Women in Prison ..............................................................................26

LGBT Women in Prison....................................................................................................29

LGBT Women in Prison, Housing, and Placement ............................................................31

Overview of Applicable Federal Legal Protections for Women in Prison ..............................37

The Eighth Amendment ....................................................................................................39

The Fourteenth Amendment..............................................................................................44

Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) ......................................................48

Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003 and Subsequent Regulations ......................50

Further Federal Legal Protections for Women in Prison, and Barriers to Enforcement.......57

CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND 

PARENTING ..........................................................................................................................61

Background on Women in Prison and Custodial Classification..............................................61

Custodial Classification and Women in State Prisons........................................................63

Custodial Classification and Women in Federal Prisons ....................................................67

Needs Classification and Women in Prison .......................................................................69

Family Separation, Parenting, and Women in Prison .............................................................72

Placement and Women in Prison .......................................................................................72

Parenting in Prisons...........................................................................................................78

Impact of Parental Incarceration and Women in Prison......................................................83

Prison Parent-Child Polices and Maintaining Familial Relationships While in Prison........85
ii WOMEN IN PRISON

CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY IN 

THE U.S. PRISON SYSTEM.................................................................................................89

Overview of Women’s Care in Prison ...................................................................................89

Legal Standards for Providing Healthcare to Women in Prison..........................................89

Health Care in Prisons.......................................................................................................94

Women in Prison and Their Unique Health Care Needs.....................................................98

CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE 

U.S. PRISON SYSTEM........................................................................................................107

Women in Federal Prison and Sexual Assault & Abuse.......................................................107

Women in State Prison and Sexual Assault & Abuse.......................................................112

Related Litigation by Private Parties................................................................................114

CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING.......................................123

Use of Discipline Measures and Women in Prison ..............................................................123

Discipline Policy in State Prisons....................................................................................127

Promising New Practices.....................................................................................................132

Restrictive Housing.........................................................................................................133

Staffing and Staff Training..................................................................................................140

Federal Prisons and Staff Training for Women’s Facilities..............................................141

Staff Composition ...........................................................................................................142

Gender-Based Staffing in Women’s Prisons........................................................................143

BOP’s Position................................................................................................................144

Applicable PREA Regulations.........................................................................................144

Federal Court Decisions..................................................................................................148

CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN IN PRISON & LIFE AFTER PRISON .....................157

Background on Prison Programs and Women in Prison.......................................................157

Program Participation by Parents in Prison......................................................................163

Specific Programs for Women in Federal Custody ..........................................................166

Specific Programs for Women in State Prisons................................................................171

Recidivism Rates, and Women’s Plight to Reintegrate Back Into Society............................173

Collateral Consequences of Incarceration and Women in Prison .........................................175

Mothers in Prison, Parental Rights, and the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997......176

The Disproportionate Impact of Lifetime Drug Bans for Public Benefits.........................177

Barriers to Financial Aid for Higher Education................................................................179
TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

How a Criminal Record Can Affect Housing Opportunities.............................................180

CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE’S AND BUREAU OF 

PRISONS’ ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS IN PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN 

IN PRISON ...........................................................................................................................185

Federal Bureau of Prisons...................................................................................................186

Department of Justice Enforcement of PREA......................................................................191

Monitoring and Audits....................................................................................................193

Bureau of Justice Statistics Surveys and Reporting Responsibilities ................................197

Review Panel on Prison Rape..........................................................................................198

Low-Incidence Facilities.................................................................................................199

High-Incidence Facilities.................................................................................................199

Review Panel on Prison Rape Recommendations............................................................199

National PREA Resource Center.....................................................................................200

DOJ Litigation ....................................................................................................................201

Main Features of DOJ Enforcement Actions for Adult Women in Prison ........................202

Investigations into Exclusively Female Facilities, Post- PREA: Alabama and Kansas .....205

Investigations into Mixed Gender Facilities, Post- PREA: Louisiana, Florida, and the Virgin 

Islands.............................................................................................................................208

Investigations into Mixed Gender Facilities, Pre- PREA: New York and Illinois.............210

DOJ Enforcement Actions for Girls in Juvenile Facilities....................................................211

DOJ Intervention in a Private Case in Michigan ..............................................................213

DOJ Cases Currently Unresolved: Indiana.......................................................................214

Cases Resolved by Consent Decree or Out-of-Court Settlement: Mississippi, Ohio, Puerto 

Rico, New York ..............................................................................................................215

Overview of DOJ Litigation Activities............................................................................217

CHAPTER 8: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................223

Overview ............................................................................................................................223

Findings..........................................................................................................................223

Adequacy of Legal Protections and Federal Action .............................................................224

Findings..........................................................................................................................224

Recommendations...........................................................................................................225

Classification and Placement...............................................................................................225

Findings..........................................................................................................................225

Recommendations...............................................................................................................226
iv WOMEN IN PRISON

Family Disruption...............................................................................................................226

Findings..........................................................................................................................226

Recommendations...............................................................................................................227

Healthcare...........................................................................................................................228

Findings..........................................................................................................................228

Recommendations...........................................................................................................228

Prevention of Sexual Abuse ................................................................................................229

Findings..........................................................................................................................229

Recommendations:..........................................................................................................230

Discipline and Restrictive Housing .....................................................................................231

Findings..........................................................................................................................231

Recommendations:..........................................................................................................231

Training ..............................................................................................................................231

Findings..........................................................................................................................231

Recommendations...........................................................................................................232

Programming ......................................................................................................................232

Findings..........................................................................................................................232

Recommendations...........................................................................................................233

COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS ..........................235

Statement of Commissioner David Kladney ........................................................................235

Dissenting Statement and Rebuttal of Gail L. Heriot (Peter N. Kirsanow concurring)..........241

Rebuttal of Commissioner David Kladney ..........................................................................245

APPENDICES.......................................................................................................................251

Appendix A: Changes in State Prison Populations by Gender, 2000–2016 ..........................251

Appendix B: BOP Types of Facilities for Women in Federal Prison....................................255

Appendix C: Women in Federal Prison Housed Over 500 Miles from Listed Legal Residence 

(for U.S. Residents), by Institution......................................................................................256

Appendix D: BOP Institutions for Women ..........................................................................258

Appendix E: Frequency of Contact with Children Among State and Federal Inmates, by Gender 

and Type of Contact, 2004 ..................................................................................................260

Appendix F: Number of Staff Members in Federal Prisons for Women, by Location and Gender

...........................................................................................................................................261

Appendix G: Copies of Interrogatories and Document Requests Sent by the Commission to the 

Federal Bureau of Prisons...................................................................................................262
TABLE OF CONTENTS v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

The Commission’s Office of Civil Rights Evaluation (OCRE) produced this report under the 

direction and with the contribution of Katherine Culliton-González, Esq, OCRE Director.

OCRE Civil Rights Analyst Dr. LaShonda Brenson performed the principal research and writing. 

OCRE Civil Rights Analyst Nicholas Bair, Esq., also provided valuable research and writing

assistance. 

OCRE interns Juliette Singarella (J.D. Candidate 2021, Georgetown University Law Center) and 

Chanel Sherrod (J.D. Candidate 2021, Howard University Law School), and Commission interns

Ariana Rosenthal (J.D. Candidate 2020, University of North Carolina School of Law), Shimeng 

Zhang (L.L.M. 2018, Georgetown University Law Center), Kori Pruett (J.D. Candidate 2021, 

Georgetown University Law Center), and Ryan Kelley (J.D. Candidate 2021, George Washington 

University Law School) provided valuable research assistance.

Commissioners’ Special Assistants Sheryl Cozart, Alec Deull, Jason Lagria, Carissa Mulder, Amy 

Royce, Rukku Singla, Peach Soltis, Alison Somin, and Irena Vidulovic assisted their 

Commissioners in reviewing the report. 

With the assistance of Attorney-Advisor Pilar Velasquez McLaughlin and Law Clerk Dennis Jing 

(J.D. Candidate 2021, George Washington University), the Commission’s General Counsel 

Maureen E. Rudolph reviewed and approved the report for legal sufficiency.

Commission State Advisory Committees in Arkansas, Montanta, Nebraska, and New Hampshire, 

collected and provided testimony, findings, and recommendations to the Commission on related 

civil rights issues within their jurisdictions.
2 WOMEN IN PRISON

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report studies the civil rights of women in the United States prison system. The Constitution 

and federal statutes require that men and women in prison receive equal treatment. A 2011 report 

from the Commission’s New Hampshire Advisory Committee found that New Hampshire failed 

to meet the needs of incarcerated women in New Hampshire, which caused harm.1 Other 

investigations have demonstrated that women in U.S. prisons can face particular challenge in a 

prison system not designed for them. The population of women in prison has increased 

dramatically since the 1980s, and this growth has outpaced that of men in prison, yet there have 

been few national-level studies of the civil rights issues women experience.

On February 22, 2019, the Commission held a briefing focused on the civil rights of women in 

prison, including deprivations of women’s medical needs that may violate the constitutional 

requirement to provide adequate medical care for all prisoners; implementation of the Prison Rape 

Elimination Act (PREA); and the sufficiency of programs to meet women’s needs after release. 

The Commission also examined disparities in discipline practices for women in prison compared 

with men, and in impacts of women being placed far from home or having their parental rights 

terminated. Commissioners heard testimony from state and federal corrections officials, women 

who have experienced incarceration, academic and legal experts, and advocates. The Commission 

also sent Interrogatories and Document Requests to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the 

Department of Justice and analyzed their responses. Commission staff provided quantitative and 

qualitative research about the main issues facing women in prison.

As discussed in greater depth throughout this report, data suggest that women in prison have some 

unique needs distinct from men. Women have health needs that differ from men, which many 

prison systems are ill-prepared to address.2 Data reflect that, compared with men, women entering 

prison are more likely to suffer from chronic or severe mental health issues, are more likely to be 

survivors of trauma and/or sexual violence, and have higher rates of substance abuse than their 

male counterparts.3 While incarcerated, women are significantly more likely to be sexually 

 

1 New Hampshire Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Unequal Treatment: Women

Incarcerated in New Hampshire’s State Prison System, Sept. 2011, p. 2.

https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/docs/Unequal_Treatment_WomenIncarceratedinNHStatePrisonSystem.pdf (hereinafter

New Hampshire Advisory Committee to USCCR, Unequal Treatment: Women Incarcerated in New Hampshire’s

State Prison System).

2 See infra notes 83-102 and 590-629.

3 Alix McLearen, Administrator for the Women and Special Populations Branch, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Written

Statement for Women in Prison Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 1,3

(hereinafter McLearen Statement).
4 WOMEN IN PRISON

harassed and abused than are men.4 Pregnant women in prison risk practices such as shackling 

during birth (where lawful) or failure to provide adequate pre- and post-natal care, and they 

generally face abrupt separation from their newborn babies.5 The Commission heard bipartisan 

testimony decrying these practices.6 LGBT incarcerated women often face challenges in receiving 

the medical care they need, in addition to often being subjected to harassment, abuse, and 

discriminatory treatment at the hands of prison officials and other inmates,7 particularly if they are 

transgender women placed in men’s prisons.8

Women who enter prison are also more likely than men who enter prison to be the primary 

caregiver to their children and are more likely to lose custody and parental rights upon 

incarceration.9 Incarcerated women, as a group, have less education and lower income levels than 

their male counterparts, and these data suggest that disparities are harsher for women of color in 

the criminal justice system.10 Once incarcerated, women often experience disparities in discipline, 

compared with male inmates,

11 and have less access to rehabilitative programs that would address 

their needs and ability to successfully re-enter society and avoid recidivism.12 Our investigation 

illuminates the lack of opportunities to acquire a skill that would assist in post-incarceration 

employment opportunities for women versus men. For example, women in prison are often offered 

work or program opportunities such as cleaning, domestic work, and “female-coded” 

occupations,

13 rather than the same chances as incarcerated men to learn new skills.14

As discussed below, the vast majority—88 percent—of women in prison are serving time in staterun facilities. Although states have significant police powers and run their own state and local 

 

4 See infra notes 668-89.

5 See infra notes 619-45.

6 See infra notes 646-56.

7 See infra notes 668-89, 768-79, 790-98 and 806-23.

8 Douglas Routh, Gassan Abess, David Makin, Mary Stohr, Craig Hemmens, and Jihye Yoo. “Transgender Inmates

in Prisons: A Review of Applicable Statutes and Policies,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology, vol. 61, no. 6 (2015): 645-666 at 646, https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X15603745

(hereinafter Routh et.al, “Transgender Inmates in Prisons”).

9 See infra notes 464-73 and 474-88.

10 See infra notes 74-81 and 1150.

11 See infra notes 538-42, 768-79, 790-98 and 806-23.

12 See infra notes 976-1008.

13 Lori Kenschaft, Roger Clark, and Desiree Ciambrone. Gender Inequality in Our Changing World: A Comparative 

Approach (London: Routledge, 2015), p. 52-3 (noting that female-coded occupations are positions that allow women 

to define themselves as helping other people. In comparison, the authors define male-coded occupations as positions 

that involve physical strength, tolerate discomfort, willingness to take risks, all of which allow men to display 

masculinity through their job).

14 See infra notes 240-49.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

prisons, the federal government not only runs federal prisons, but it is also the ultimate guarantor 

of constitutional rights of women institutionalized in the United States. It is charged with setting 

national standards and bringing enforcement actions when needed. Moreover, the federal 

government conditions federal grant monies and programs on compliance with basic civil rights 

laws. In that capacity, it also sets appropriate national standards, provides assistance in coming 

into compliance, and enforces the law.

Chapter 1 of this report provides background of critical data and research findings on the number 

of women in prison and demographic trends about their characteristics and place of incarceration. 

It also provides an overview of applicable civil rights law, including constitutional protections and 

relevant statutes such as the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) and the Prison 

Rape Elimination Act (PREA), both of which the federal government enforces and may protect 

the rights of women in prison. This report then follows the path of women who are incarcerated

and provides research about the obstacles they face. Chapter 2 discusses how women are classified 

upon entry into the prison system, how placement tools are being developed to address women’s

needs while incarcerated, and the implications of placement on women’s roles in their family, and

parenting. Chapter 3 provides an analysis of women’s health issues and challenges, access to care, 

the situation of pregnant women, and the problem of sexual abuse impacting women in prison. 

Chapter 4 discusses the problem of sexual abuse impacting women in prison. Chapter 5 analyzes 

disparities in discipline that may impact women in prison, emerging practices and trends in how 

staff are trained to work with women prisoners, and whether women staff are necessary to protect 

them. Chapter 6 then studies rehabilitation, educational, and vocational training programs for 

women in prison and their impacts on life after prison. After this report’s review of this broad 

swath of data, Chapter 7 analyzes and evaluates the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department 

of Justice’s efforts in protecting the rights of women in prison.

Finally, the Commission sets forth findings and recommendations, key components of which are 

summarized below:

Highlighted Findings

Notwithstanding federal statutory legal protections such as the Civil Rights of Institutionalized 

Persons Act (CRIPA) and the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), aimed at protecting 

incarcerated people, many incarcerated women continue to experience physical and psychological 

safety harms while incarcerated and insufficient satisfaction of their constitutional rights.

Classification systems which are not calibrated for gender-specific characteristics have been 

shown to classify incarcerated women at higher security requirement levels than necessary for the 

safety and security of prisons. This classification results in some women serving time in more 

restrictive environments than is necessary and appropriate.
6 WOMEN IN PRISON

Incarcerated parents permanently lose parental rights at higher rates than parents whom courts find 

to have neglected or abused their children but are not incarcerated.

Incarcerated women generally have biological healthcare needs distinct from incarcerated men. 

They have a constitutional right to have these healthcare needs met.

Sexual abuse and rape remain prevalent against women in prison. This continuing prevalence has 

led to significant litigation involving several different institutions, at tremendous cost to taxpayers 

and providing strong evidence of the need for reform at the institutional level, even following 

passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003. Reports include abuse of incarcerated 

women by staff and other incarcerated women that is prevalent and pervasive.

Studies have shown incarcerated women are often given disproportionately harsh punishments for 

minor offenses while incarcerated compared to incarcerated men. This disproportionality results 

in such outcomes as placing women in segregation for minor violations of prison regulations, 

which denies them good time credits which would shorten their sentences and denies them 

programing privileges, among other restrictions. Reports indicate women are disproportionately 

punished harshly for offenses such as “being disorderly” where men tend more often to be 

punished for violence.

Prison officials, supervisors, and correctional officers are inconsistently trained on the prevalence 

of disproportionate punishment of incarcerated women and evidence-based disciplinary practices.

Highlighted Recommendations

Prison officials should adopt validated assessment tools, currently available, to avoid inaccurately 

classifying incarcerated women to a higher security level than appropriate.

Prison officials should enforce policies that support parental rights and familial contact except 

where inconsistent with safety concerns. Such policies include keeping incarcerated parents 

apprised of family court proceedings, providing transportation to those proceedings, and assisting 

in locating counsel. Institutions should implement visitation policies with the goal of maintaining 

familial relationships.

Prison officials should implement policies to address women’s specific healthcare needs, including 

gynecological and prenatal care, as is constitutionally required.

All prisons should prohibit shackling pregnant women and placing them in solitary confinement, 

as these practices represent serious physical and psychological health risks.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7

The Department of Justice should rigorously enforce the PREA standards, including training and 

certifying auditors and investigating whether facilities are in fact in compliance. Congress should 

provide more funds for investigations and audits.

Prisons should implement evidence-based discipline policies that are trauma-informed to avoid 

harsh punishments for minor infractions, recognizing significant harms that can result from 

placement in restrictive housing. Prisons should ensure restrictive housing is not used against 

people of color, LGBT people, and people with mental health challenges in a discriminatory 

manner based on these characteristics.

Prison officials should implement staff training to address the high rates of trauma among 

incarcerated women and adjust prison policies accordingly, including training on evidence-based 

discipline practices.
8 WOMEN IN PRISON

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 9

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

This report examines the civil rights of women in prison in the United States.

15 Established in 1930, 

the Federal Bureau of Prisons has 29 facilitiesin which women who have been convicted of federal 

crimes or are pretrial detainees may be housed.

16 State departments of corrections run state prisons 

and typically house sentenced inmates serving time for felony offenses for a year or more, and 

parolees re-incarcerated for violating parole terms.17 As demonstrated in Figure 1, state prisons 

house the lion’s share of women prisoners. For instance, in 2016, approximately 112,000 women 

were incarcerated in state and federal prisons, but more than 88 percent of these women were 

serving time in state-operated facilities (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Women in Prisons, 1980 to 2016

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoner Series, Chart Made by Commission Staff

 

15 While other analyses of the U.S. penal system often times include an examination of local jails, this report focuses

on state and federal prisons. See “Local Jail Inmates and Jail Facilities, Terms and Definitions,” U.S. Department of

Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=12#terms_def (accessed Aug. 18,

2019) (noting that county or municipal officials run local jails, which incarcerate individuals prior to trial, and house

persons serving shorter sentences, which are usually less than a year); see also U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of

Justice Programs, Jail Inmates in 2016, by Zhen Zeng (2018) https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ji16.pdf (noting

recent incarceration trends among jail inmates).

16 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Correctional Population in the United States, by Danielle

Kaeable and Lauren Glaze (2015), p. 201, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus15.pdf; see also U.S. Dep’t of

Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Legal Resource Guide to the Federal Bureau of Prisons 2014, 2014, at 1,

https://www.bop.gov/resources/pdfs/legal_guide.pdf (noting that “[t]he BOP also has custodial responsibility for

District of Columbia felons sentenced to terms of imprisonment, and houses a number of state and military offenders

on a contractual basis. The current inmate population exceeds 218,000 men and women, housed in both federal

prisons and in private facilities under contract with the BOP”). See also McLearen Statement, at 2.

17 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Terms and Definitions: Corrections,

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tdtp&tid=1(accessed Aug.18, 2019); see also U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of

Justice Statistics, Probation and Parole in the United States, by Danielle Kaeble (2018),

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppus16.pdf (noting the Bureau of Justice Statistics’s definition of probation

and parole and recent supervision trends among probationers and parolees).
10 WOMEN IN PRISON

Since 1980, the growth of women in prison has increased dramatically—far outpacing that of men

in prison (see Figure 2). In fact, from 1980 to 2016, the number of women in prison increased by 

more than 730 percent compared to a 410 percent increase for men.

18 The figure below 

demonstrates how, from 1978 to 2015, the number of women in state prisons grew much faster 

than the number of men.

19 But despite the rapid increase in the number of women in prison, women 

only constitute 7 percent of the overall prison population.20

Figure 2: Growth of State Prison Population, by Gender, 1978-201521

Source: Prison Policy Initiative

 

18 These figures were calculated by Commission Staff using the Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner

Statistics data series. See Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Publication & Products: Prisoners,

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=40 (accessed Aug.18, 2019); U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice

Statistics, Prisoners in 2016, by E. Anne Carson (Jan. 2018), p. 3, Table 1, (hereinafter DOJ, Prisoners in 2016). A

number of other studies also note how the incarceration rate for women in prison have outpaced the incarceration

rates of their male counterparts. See e.g., “Fact Sheet: Incarcerated Women and Girls,” The Sentencing Project,

https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/incarcerated-women-and-girls/ (hereinafter “Fact Sheet:

Incarcerated Women and Girls”); Gina Fedock, “Number of Women in Jails and Prison Soars,” The University of

Chicago, School of Social Service Administrative Magazine, vol. 25, no. 1 (Spring 2018),

https://ssa.uchicago.edu/ssa_magazine/number-women-jails-and-prisons-soars; “Incarceration of Women is

Growing Twice as Fast as that of Men,” Equal Justice Initiative, May 11, 2018, https://eji.org/news/femaleincarceration-growing-twice-as-fast-as-male-incarceration; Wendy Sawyer, “The Gender Divide: Tracking

Women’s State Prison Growth,” Prison Policy Initiative, Jan. 9, 2018,

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/women_overtime.html (hereinafter Sawyer, “The Gender Divide”).

19 Sawyer, “The Gender Divide” (note that the y-axis measures the growth in terms of the number of times greater

than the group’s 1978 baseline population).

20 DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 3. 

21 Sawyer, “The Gender Divide.”
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 11

These data are partially explained by an increase in mass incarceration. A 2007 University of 

California study investigated why such a large number of Americans are in prison and offered two 

main causes: patterns of criminal activity and policy responses to crime.22 On the one hand, 

criminal activity relates to the extent that individuals are arrested for a crime and subsequently 

serve time in prison for said crime, while policy responses relate to enforcement practices and 

sentencing laws that determine the duration of a person’s sentence.23 The authors’ statistical 

analyses found that increased incarceration rates in the U.S. have more to do with legislative 

changes to sentencing policies since the 1980s, rather than increased criminal activity.24 Moreover,

the authors find that these public policy changes have increased the propensity to punish more 

offenders with lengthier prison sentences.25 Although women generally serve shorter sentences 

than men, nearly 7,000 (nearly 1 in every 15 women in prison) are serving life sentences.26

Examining the data on women in prison, research studies posit that the increase in the number of 

incarcerated women is a result of more expansive law enforcement efforts and stiffer drug 

sentencing laws (e.g. mandatory minimums)—especially for low-level offenses.27 According to 

one study, “since the only means of avoiding a mandatory penalty is generally to cooperate with 

the prosecution by providing information on higher-ups in the drug trade, women who have a 

partner who is a drug seller may be aiding that seller, but have relatively little information to trade 

in exchange for a more lenient sentence.”28 Hence, women were often less likely to be in a position 

to offer information to police in exchange for less prison time than their male counterparts.

29

 

22 Steven Raphael and Michael Stoll, “Why Are So Many Americans in Prison?”, National Poverty Center Working

Paper Series (Mar. 2007), p.1-3, http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/u/working_paper07-10.pdf.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid., 9, 12, 35.

25 Ibid., 12-13.

26 “Fact Sheet: Women and Girls Serving Life Sentences,” The Sentencing Project, July 3, 2019, p. 1,

https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/women-girls-serving-life-sentences/.

27 Marc Mauer, “The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women’s Incarceration,” The Sentencing Project, Feb. 2013, p.

5, https://sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/The-Changing-Racial-Dynamics-of-WomensIncarceration.pdf (hereinafter Mauer, “The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women’s Incarceration”); see also Natalie

J. Sokoloff, “Women Prisoners at the Dawn of the 21st Century.” Women & Criminal Justice, vol.16, no. 1-2

(2005), p. 127–37, https://doi.org/10.1300/j012v16n01_06 (hereinafter Sokoloff, “Women Prisoners at the Dawn of

the 21st Century”).

28 Sokoloff, “Women Prisoners at the Dawn of the 21st Century,” p. 128.

29 Ibid., 130.
12 WOMEN IN PRISON

Women in Prison Across U.S. States 

As mentioned above, more than 88 percent of women in prison are serving time in state facilities

(see Figure 1). Therefore, examining prison population growth at the state level provides important 

context, as changes in women’s state prison incarceration rates have been modest in some states 

(e.g. Maine), but stark in other states (e.g. Arizona and Oklahoma) (see Figure 3).30 A few states—

California, New York, and New Jersey—that previously had high incarceration rates have recently 

decreased their respective state prison populations significantly.

31 Appendix A provides a statelevel and gender analysis of how state prison populations have changed from 2000 to 2016 using 

data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). These data demonstrate that from 2000 to 2016 

the overall number of women in state prisons increased by 24 percent while the number of men in 

state prisons only increased by 9 percent.32 In 25 states, from 2000 to 2016, the incarceration rate 

for women in state prisons increased by more than 50 percent and dramatically outpaced the 

incarceration rates of their male counterparts.33 In 11 states, the incarceration rates of both men 

and women increased at similar rates,34 and in seven states the incarceration rates of both men and 

women decreased at mostly similar rates.

35 These data also illustrate that in only 3 states—

Delaware, Hawaii, and Louisiana —the incarceration rate increased for men in prison, but declined 

for women.

36 Lastly, there were four states—Alaska, Michigan, South Carolina, and Texas—where 

the incarceration rate increased for women, but decreased for their male counterparts.37

 

30 Sawyer, “The Gender Divide.”

31 Ibid.

32 U.S Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Correctional Statistical Analysis Tool (CSAT)—Prisoners 

(Custom Tables), 2000 State Prison Population (Year-end Jurisdictional Population with Sentence Greater than 1 

Year),” https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=nps (accessed Aug. 17, 2019); see also U.S Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of

Justice Statistics, Correctional Statistical Analysis Tool (CSAT)—Prisoners (Custom Tables), 2016 State Prison 

Population (Year-end Jurisdictional Population with Sentence Greater than 1 year),

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=nps (accessed Aug.17, 2019). The percent change was calculated by Commission 

staff.

33 These 25 states are: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts,

Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon,

Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. And in some of the

aforementioned states, the male incarceration rate decreased by over 10% while the female incarceration increased

over 50%. See Appendix A for more details.

34 These 11 states are: Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, 

and Wisconsin. See Appendix A for more details.

35 These 7 states are: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, and New York. See 

Appendix A for more details.

36 See Appendix A for more details.

37 Ibid.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 13

Figure 3: Number of Women in State prisons (per 100,000 female residents), 1922-201538

Source: Prison Policy Initiative

Research points to a number of policies and procedures that contribute to the gender differences 

observed in prison population growth.39 For instance, women in prison often face a greater 

likelihood of disciplinary action and more severe consequences for similar behavior than their 

male counterparts.40 Consequently, in comparison to men, women in prison may disproportionately 

lose good conduct credits that would reduce their sentence, causing women to spend more time 

behind bars.41 A 2015 psychiatric study also found that women in prison with mental health, 

substance abuse, and co-occurring disorders face greater hurdles acclimating to incarceration than 

women without such disorders.

42 In addition, the study found that women with co-occurring

disorders had higher odds of receiving an acute disciplinary response to minor misconduct when 

compared to incarcerated women with one disorder—mental illness or substance abuse—or those 

 

38 Sawyer, “The Gender Divide.”

39 Ibid.

40 Joseph Shapiro and Jessica Pupovac, “In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest on Women,” National Public

Radio, Oct. 15, 2018 (hereinafter Shapiro et al., “In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest on Women”)

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/15/647874342/in-prison-discipline-comes-down-hardest-on-women. This report will

also be discussed further in Chapter 5.

41 Ibid.

42 Kimberly Houser and Steven Belenko, “Disciplinary Responses to Misconduct Among Female Prison Inmates

with Mental Illness, Substance Use Disorders, and Co-occurring Disorders,” Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, vol.

38, no. 1 (2015), p. 23-34, https://doi.org/10.1037/prj0000110.
14 WOMEN IN PRISON

with no disorder.

43 Even when accounting for the total number of misconduct charges and other 

relevant factors, women with co-occurring disorders had over 4 times the odds of receiving a 

severe disciplinary sanction in comparison to women with no disorder.

44 Consequently, the 

authors’ findings suggest that prison officials are responding punitively to incarcerated women’s 

symptoms from co-occurring disorders.

45

Another possible explanation for an increase in women’s incarceration rates could be differences 

in the availability of prison diversion programs in men’s and women’s prisons. According to a 

2018 Prison Policy Initiative study, in comparison to men, women have less access to diversion 

programs.46 In Wyoming, for example, the Wyoming Youthful Offender Act allows first-time, 

male offenders under the age of 25 to participate in a boot camp in exchange for prison time.47 In 

addition to the six-month boot camp, participants in the program also receive specialized classes, 

educational programs, and training aimed at rehabilitation.48 Upon completion of the boot camp, 

participants are released to probation; or to Wyoming’s Intensive Supervision Program,49 which is 

a drug/alcohol program; or to an Adult Community Corrections Facility,50 which provides a 

transition housing option, or a halfway house, for inmates.51 Wyoming does not allow women to 

participate in this diversion program.52

 

43 Ibid., 28-30, Table 2.

44 Ibid. 

45 Ibid., 24.

46 Sawyer, “The Gender Divide;” see also Natasha Camhi, “Women’s Experience Behind Bars,” Brennan Center for

Justice, Aug. 24, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/womens-experience-behind-bars (noting that “[m]ost

facilities do not provide women with the same access to diversion programs as they do men, cutting off a vital

pathway that can lead to shorter sentences and help women with reentry”).

47 Wyo. Rev. Stat. § 7-13-1003; see also Wyoming Department of Corrections, Wyoming Honor Conservation

Camp & Wyoming Boot Camp,

http://corrections.wyo.gov/home/institutions/whcc?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2Ftemplates%2Fprint%2F&showPri

ntDialog=1 (accessed Aug. 18, 2019).

48 Wyoming Department of Corrections, Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp & Wyoming Boot Camp.

49 Wyoming Department of Corrections, Intensive Supervision Program, http://corrections.wyo.gov/home/servicesand-programs/intensive-supervision-program (accessed Aug. 18, 2019).

50 Wyoming Department of Corrections, Adult Community Corrections, http://corrections.wyo.gov/home/servicesand-programs/adult-community-corrections (accessed August 18, 2019).

51 Ibid.

52 Ibid.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 15

In July 2017, Taylor Blanchard and similarly situated women prisoners filed a lawsuit against the 

Wyoming Department of Corrections, alleging Equal Protection violations due to failure to permit 

women inmates to attend a boot camp program that was available to men.

53 Blanchard was 

subsequently transferred to a boot camp in Florida,54 after which her case was dismissed.

55

However, she claimed that it was inferior to Wyoming’s and caused her to be moved thousands of 

miles from her community, and filed an amended complaint;

56 yet that claim was also dismissed.57

From 2000 to 2016 in Wyoming, the male incarceration rate increased by 37 percent—but the 

women’s incarceration rate in Wyoming increased by 83 percent, which is over two times the rate 

of their male counterparts.58 While no known study has investigated the causal link between the 

lack of women’s access to this boot camp and increases in women’s incarceration rates in 

Wyoming, these data suggest that when these types of state and local policies do not consider 

including women participants they may not aide in decreasing the number of incarcerated women. 

For example, in 1993 a federal court in Arizona found that women prisoners lacked access to 

mental health and addiction programs that were available to male prisoners.

59 Specifically:

The Court finds the treatment of seriously mentally ill [female] inmates to be appalling. 

Rather than providing treatment for serious mental illnesses, ADOC punishes these inmates 

by locking them down in small, bare segregation cells for their actions that are the result 

of their mental illnesses. These inmates are left in segregation without mental health care. 

Many times the inmates, such as H.B. are in a highly psychotic state, terrified because of 

hallucinations, such as monsters, gorillas or the devil in her cell. Nor does it appear that 

H.B. is the exceptional case as seven to eight mentally ill women may be locked down at 

the Santa Maria Unit in Perryville at any one time and may remain there for months without 

care. In addition, such treatment is common for male inmates in other lockdown facilities 

or units in the state including SMU and CB6. The Court considers this treatment of any 

 

53 Blanchard v. Lampert, Complaint, No. 17-CV-124 (D. Wyo., July 18, 2017).

54 See Blanchard v. Wyoming Dep’t of Corrections Director, Order Den. Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss, 2018 WL 4760521,

*2 (D. Wyo., Jan. 3, 2018).

55 Blanchard v. Lampert, Judgment, No. 17-CV-124 (D. Wyo., Feb. 21, 2017).

56 See Blanchard v. Wyoming Dep’t of Corrections Director, Order Den. Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss, 2018 WL 4760521,

*2 (D. Wyo., Jan. 3, 2018).

57 Blanchard v. Lampert, Order Granting Mot. to Dismiss Pl.’s First Am. Compl. and Den. Pl.’s Mot. for Recons.,

2018 WL 4760520, *6 (D. Wyo., Feb. 20, 2018).

58 See Appendix A.

59 Casey v. Lewis, 834 F. Supp. 1477, 1551-52 (D. Ariz. 1993) (holding that women prisoners must have access to

the same levels of mental health treatment as male prisoners for the purposes of prison programs and services).
16 WOMEN IN PRISON

human being to be inexcusable and cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth 

amendment of the Constitution.60

And further, the Court determined male inmates have access to treatment, while female inmates 

have less access:

As a result, chronically ill women who are stabilized are returned to general population; 

act out when then are provided little or no mental health care; are locked down [sometimes 

within 24 to 72 hours]; remain in lockdown where they decompensate and eventually, after 

a serious delay, return to Flamenco or ASH. Yet, chronically ill men who are not assaultive 

are allowed to progress back to general population, through the SPU facility.61

The most recent Bureau of Justice Statistics data available on women’s incarceration rates at the 

federal and state level demonstrate that from 2015 to 2016 the female prison population decreased 

in federal BOP facilities and in 20 states, with the largest decreases occurring in Indiana and 

Alabama.62 During the same time period, 26 states experienced increases in their respective female 

prison population, with the largest increases in Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Washington.63 In 

2016, the number of women in prison sentenced to more than one year decreased in 17 states, 

while the number of men in prison sentenced to more than one year decreased in 31 states and in 

the BOP facilities.

64 The figure below shows how states compare in their women’s incarceration 

rates as of December 2016. The state with the highest relative rate of women in prison is Oklahoma 

(149 women in prison per 100,000 female residents) and the lowest relative rate of women in 

prison are Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in which both states only incarcerated 13 women per 

100,000 female residents (see Figure 4). 

 

60 Id. at 1150.

61 Id. at 1151 (brackets in original).

62 DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 4, Table 2.

63 Ibid.

64 Ibid.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 17

Figure 4: Women Imprisonment Rate, by Jurisdiction, 2016 (per 100,000 U. Residents)65

Source: DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, Figure created by Commission staff 

 

65 Ibid., 9.
18 WOMEN IN PRISON

Do Women in Prison Have Distinct Needs and Experiences from Men in Prison?

Since at least the 1990s, researchers and practitioners have examined whether the needs of women 

in prison are different than those of their male counterparts and whether a different approach for 

women in prison is required.66 Evidence shows that women often enter prison with different 

offending histories and with life experiences distinct from their male counterparts, so they likely 

have different needs due to these differential factors.

67 Some of the factors discussed below are 

common to both women and men in prison, but they impact women in prison disproportionately. 

These similarities and differences are discussed below.

Gender Differences in Offense Type

When compared to men, women are more likely to be sentenced to prison for non-violent drug and 

economic offenses. About 25 percent of women serving time in state prison were convicted of a 

non-violent drug offense compared to 14 percent of men.68 Bureau of Justice Statistics data relied 

upon in the sources disaggregated violent offenses (i.e. murder, manslaughter) from non-violent 

offenses (i.e. drug, property offenses).

69 At the federal level, 56 percent of women in prison are 

serving sentences for a non-violent drug offense, compared to 47 percent of men in prison.70 For 

instance, of the men and women convicted of property crimes such as (non-violent) larceny-theft 

or fraud, although men committed more of these types of crimes, women were more likely to be 

convicted of them.

71 Tables 1 and 2 below provide a detailed breakdown of how women and men 

in prison differ in the types of offenses they commit. 

 

66 Patricia Van Voorhis, “On Behalf of Women Offenders: Women’s Place in the Science of Evidence-Base

Practice,” Criminology & Public Policy, vol. 11, no. 2, (May 2012), p. 111-145 at 119,

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2012.00793.x; see also Anadora Moss, Founder and

Principal, The Moss Group, Written Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing

before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 1 (hereinafter Moss Statement).

67 McLearen Statement, at 1; Emily Mooney, Criminal Justice Policy Associate, R Street Institute, Written

Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil

Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 1-3 (hereinafter Mooney Statement); Emily Salisbury, Associate Professor of Criminal

Justice, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Written Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars

Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 2-9 (hereinafter Salisbury Statement).

68 DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 3; see also Marc Mauer, Cathy Potler, and Richard Wolf, “Gender and Justice:

Women, Drugs, and Sentencing Policy,” The Sentencing Project, Nov. 1999, p. 3,

https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Gender-and-Justice-Women-Drugs-and-SentencingPolicy.pdf (noting that from 1986 and 1995, drug offenses accounted for 91% of the increase in the number of

women sentenced to prison in New York State, 55% in California, and 26% in Minnesota).

69 See Tables 1 and 2, below.

70 DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 13.

71 Ibid., 13; see also “Crime in the United States, 2010, Larceny-Theft,” Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),

Uniform Crime Report, https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/property-
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 19

Table 1: Percentage of Sentenced State Prisoners, by Most Serious Offense Type and Gender, 

201572

Most Serious Offense

All 

Prisoners Male Female

Total 100% 100% 100%

Violent 54.50% 55.90% 37%

Murder 13.70% 13.80% 11.60%

Manslaughter 1.30% 1.30% 2.40%

Rape or sexual assault 12.50% 13.30% 2.40%

Robbery 13.20% 13.60% 8.10%

Aggravated or simple assault 10.50% 10.60% 8.60%

Other 3.40% 3.30% 3.90%

Property 18% 17.30% 26.90%

Burglary 9.70% 9.90% 7.30%

Larceny-theft 3.70% 3.30% 8.80%

Motor vehicle theft 0.70% 0.70% 0.80%

Fraud 1.90% 1.50% 7.10%

Other 2% 1.90% 3%

Drug 15.20% 14.40% 24.90%

Drug possession 3.40% 3.20% 6.80%

Other 11.70% 11.30% 18.10%

Public Order 11.60% 11.70% 10.20%

Weapons 3.90% 4.10% 1.70%

DUI 1.90% 1.90% 2.60%

Other 5.70% 5.70% 5.90%

Other/unspecified 0.70% 0.70% 1%

1,298,159 1,204,799 93,360

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2016

 

crime/larcenytheftmain.pdf (noting that larceny-theft is defined as “the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding

away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. Examples are thefts of bicycles, motor

vehicle parts and accessories, shoplifting, pocket-picking, or the stealing of any property or article that is not taken

by force and violence or by fraud. Attempted larcenies are included. Embezzlement, confidence games, forgery,

check fraud, etc., are excluded”).

72 DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 18, Table 12. 
20 WOMEN IN PRISON

Table 2: Percentage of Sentenced Federal Prisoners, by Most Serious Offense Type and Gender,

201673

Most Serious Offense All Prisoners Male Female

Total 100% 100% 100%

Violent 7.70% 8% 4.50%

Homicide 1.60% 1.60% 1.40%

Robbery 3.80% 4% 1.70%

Other 2.30% 2.40% 1.40%

Property 6.10% 5.20% 18.60%

Burglary 0.20% 0.20% 0.20%

Fraud 4.80% 4% 15.80%

Other 1.10% 1% 2.70%

Drug 47.50% 46.80% 56.40%

Public order 38.20% 39.50% 19.70%

Immigration 7.70% 8% 3.30%

Weapons 16.70% 17.60% 4.10%

Other 13.80% 13.90% 12.30%

Other/unspecified 0.50% 0.50% 0.70%

Total 172,554 161,332 11,222

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2016

Socioeconomic Differences Between Women and Men in Prison

Prior to incarceration, people in prison are often some of the poorest individuals in the United 

States. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the figures below demonstrate how 

incomes of men and women in state prisons differ from their non-incarcerated counterparts.74

 

73 Ibid., Table 14. 

74 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Data Collection: Survey of Inmates in State Correctional

Facilities (SISCF),” Apr. 23, 2019, https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=275; see also Bernadette Rabuy

and Daniel Kopf, “Prison of Poverty: Uncovering the Pre-Incarceration incomes of the Imprisoned,” Prison Policy

Initiative, July 9, 2015, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/income.html (hereinafter Rabuy and Kopf, “Prison of

Poverty”).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 21

Figure 5: Income for Incarcerated and Non- Incarcerated Men (Age 27 to 42)

Source: Prison Policy Initiative

Figure 6: Income for Incarcerated and Non- Incarcerated Women (Age 27 to 42)

Source: Prison Policy Initiative

These data demonstrate that prior to incarceration, 58 percent of men in prison had incomes below 

$22,500, while 72 percent of women in prison had incomes below $22,500. Similarly, while 57 

percent of non-incarcerated men had incomes more than $37,500, only 33 percent of nonincarcerated women had incomes more than $37,500.75 While both incarcerated women and men 

are concentrated at the lowest ends of the earning distribution, a much larger percentage of 

incarcerated women have incomes below $22,500.76

 

75 Rabuy and Kopf, “Prison of Poverty.”

76 Ibid.
22 WOMEN IN PRISON

According to a survey of men and women in state prisons, prior to their incarceration, women in 

state prisons were less likely than male counterparts to be employed full-time.77 At the 

Commission’s briefing, Emily Mooney of R Street Institute provided written testimony stating 

that, “while both incarcerated men and women are often living in poverty prior to their time behind 

bars, women are even less likely to be employed full-time prior to their incarceration and report 

lower pre-incarceration incomes than males.”78

A 2015 study found that incarcerated people in all gender, race, and ethnic groups earned 

considerably less prior to incarceration than their non-incarcerated counterparts.79 The table below 

demonstrates that while white men of both groups have the highest income, the gap in pay is most 

stark for white men, as non-incarcerated white men make 54 percent more than their white male 

incarcerated counterparts; non-incarcerated black men make 44 percent more than their black male 

incarcerated counterparts; non-incarcerated Latino men make 34 percent more than their Latino

men incarcerated counterparts.80 In contrast, Latina women experienced the smallest income gap. 

They had a 21 percent difference in income between their non-incarcerated and incarcerated 

populations. However, white women observed a 41 percent difference in pay between their nonincarcerated and incarcerated populations. Black women observe a 47 percent difference in pay 

between their non-incarcerated and incarcerated populations.81

Table 3: Median Annual Income by Gender, Incarceration Status, and Race/Ethnicity82

Race/Ethnicity

Incarcerated People

(Income Prior to Incarceration) Non-incarcerated People

Women Men Women Men

All Races $13,890 $19,650 $23,745 $41,250

Black $12,735 $17,625 $24,255 $31,245

Latino $11,820 $19,740 $15,000 $30,000

White $15,480 $21,975 $26,130 $47,505

 

77 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Women in Prison, by Tracy Snell and Danielle Morton (Mar.

1994) p. 2, Table 1, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3c52/24b1ac3490d62c4b91bf0cef65e0f43a8006.pdf

(hereinafter DOJ, Women in Prison).

78 Mooney Statement, at 5.

79 Rabuy and Kopf, “Prison of Poverty.”

80 Ibid.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 23

Gender Differences with Experiences of Trauma, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse

In comparison to men in prison, women in prison are more likely to report having experienced 

physical and/or sexual abuse as children and adults.83 Research and expert testimony suggest that 

at least 50 percent of women entering prison report experiencing physical and/or sexual abuse prior 

to their incarceration.84 Other studies suggest that as many as 90 percent of women in prison 

experienced traumatic events prior to their incarceration and the most common forms of traumatic 

experiences report included interpersonal or sexual violence.85 In contrast, data reflect that men are

reportedly less likely to have been direct victims of violence.86 Another important difference 

between the reported abuse histories of men and women is the length of time in which they 

experience abuse. While the risk of abuse for men declines after childhood, the risk of abuse for 

women endures throughout their juvenile and adult lives.87 For some women and men in prison, 

abuse can persist while they are incarcerated either at the hands of fellow inmates or prison staff.88

Trauma can lead to mental health and substance abuse issues.89 A 2006 survey found that 55 

percent of men in state prisons demonstrated signs of mental health challenges as compared to 73 

 

83 DOJ, Women in Prison, p. 5, Table 8. See also Nancy Wolff, Jing Shi, and Jane Siegel, “Patterns of Victimization

Among Male and Female Offenders and Evidence of an Enduring Legacy” Violence Victimization, vol. 24, no. 4

(2009), p. 469-84, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3793850, (hereinafter Wolff et al., “Patterns of

Victimization Among Male and Female Offenders”).

84 Wolff et al., “Patterns of Victimization Among Male and Female Offenders;” see also Kaitlin Owens Testimony,

Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Women in Prison, Washington, D.C., Feb. 22, 2019, p. 90

(hereinafter Owens Testimony).

85 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management of its

Female Population, Sept. 2018, p. 5, https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2018/e1805.pdf, (hereinafter DOJ, Review of the

Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management of its Female Population) (citing Niki A. Miller and Lisa M. Najavits,

“Creating Trauma Informed Correctional Care: A Balance of Goals and Environment,” European Journal of

Psychotraumatology, vol. 3 (2012) (noting that the BOP claims that the statistic 90% of women in prison

experienced trauma prior to prison is a low estimate because a number of traumatic experiences are not reported));

see also McLearen Statement, at 1; Mooney Statement, at 4; Kaitlin Owens, Policy Analyst, The American

Conservative Union, Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 6 (hereinafter Owens Statement); Wendy Still, Chief Probation

Officer, Alameda County Probation Department, Written Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice

Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 7 (hereinafter Still Statement);

Brett Dignam, Vice Dean of Experiential Education and Clinical Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, Written

Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil

Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 5 (hereinafter Dignam Statement).

86 DOJ, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management of its Female Population, p. 5.

87 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Women’s Pathways to Jail: The Roles & Intersections of

Serious Mental Illness and Trauma, by Shannon Lynch, Dana DeHart, Joanne Belknap, and Bonnie Green, 2012, p.

24, https://www.bja.gov/publications/women_pathways_to_jail.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Women’s Pathways to Jail).

88 Sexual abuse in prison will be discussed further in Chapter 4.

89 Owens Statement, at 6.
24 WOMEN IN PRISON

percent of women in prison.90 Women with mental health disorders also have higher disciplinary 

infraction rates than women who do not have mental health disorders while incarcerated,91 which 

may cause them to serve disparately longer sentences.

Prison Policies and Gender Differences Among Inmates 

Since data reflect differences in women’s pathways to prison compared to men’s, some researchers 

and advocates argue that prisons should develop gender-responsive, trauma-informed programs 

and policies.

92 A 2005 National Institute of Corrections report explains the term “genderresponsive” as follows:

Gender-responsive means creating an environment through site selection, staff selection,

program development, content, and material that reflects an understanding of the realities

of women’s lives and addresses the issues of the participants. Gender-responsive

approaches are multidimensional and are based on theoretical perspectives that

acknowledge women’s pathways into the criminal justice system. These approaches

address social (e.g., poverty, race, class and gender inequality) and cultural factors, as well

as therapeutic interventions. These interventions address issues such as abuse, violence,

family relationships, substance abuse and co-occurring disorders. They provide a strengthbased approach to treatment and skill building. The emphasis is on self-efficacy93

At the Commission’s briefing, Dr. Wendy Williams, Alabama Department of Corrections, Deputy 

Commissioner for Women’s Services provided testimony stating that, “[m]ost correctional agency 

policy manuals focus on guidelines specific to the male offender population... However, 

operational practices in women’s facilities should reflect the differences between men and women 

and inform policies that provide guidance to staff in their daily interactions with the population.”94

Dr. Williams also noted that Alabama has instituted over 60 gender-responsive policies, which she 

shared with the Commission. She particularly highlighted a policy change where feminine hygiene 

 

90 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates, by Doris

James and Lauren Glaze, Dec. 12, 2006, p. 4, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf (hereinafter DOJ,

Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates).

91 DOJ, Women’s Pathways to Jail, p. 4.

92 See infra notes 93-100.

93 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, National Institute Corrections, Gender Responsive Strategies: A Summary of Research,

Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders, by Barbara Bloom, Barbara Owen, and Stephanie

Covington, May 2005, p. 2, https://www.centerforgenderandjustice.org/assets/files/bloomowensummaryofrpg.pdf;

Still Statement, at 8-9.

94 Williams Testimony, p. 215.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 25

products are freely available in an open cabinet, no longer requiring women to request these 

products from staff. 95

A report from the National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women explains a “traumainformed” culture in the context of incarceration as one in which:

1. Staff understand trauma’s pervasive effects on the brain and body,

2. Innovative programs are introduced to educate women on the effects of trauma and help them cope 

with its effects, and 

3. Operational practices are specifically structured to help women manage difficult symptoms 

so they can safely engage in institutional programs and services.96

In addition, gender-responsive, trauma-informed programs and policies “promote safety by 

effectively addressing the underlying issues that promoted criminal activity and equip women with 

the tools to become productive citizens upon reentry.”97 Similarly, Professor Emily J. Salisbury, 

Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, posits that genderresponsive and trauma-informed policies do not coddle women in prison, but instead hold them 

accountable while providing them an opportunity to heal inside and outside of prison.98 Moreover, 

the Commission received testimony arguing that not having gender-responsive, trauma-informed 

policies and procedures in place leads to harm for women in prison, as without them, women are 

likely to serve more time in prison due to discipline policies and classification systemsthat disserve 

women as a group, which do not accurately capture women’s attributes and behavior.

99 For 

example, research indicates harsh punishments given to incarcerated women for minor infractions, 

such as solitary confinement for being disrespectful, tend to be a gendered outcome that can be 

effectively addressed through training.100 Other prison staff and administrators assert that while 

instituting programs for women in prison may be beneficial, these programs may be too costly or 

create resentment from men in prison or prison staff, or they may believe that their current policies 

 

95 Ibid., 216; see also, Resnick Testimony, p. 222.

96 Alyssa Benedict, “Using Trauma-Informed Practices to Enhance Safety and Security in Women’s Correctional

Facilities,” National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women, https://www.bja.gov/Publications/NRCJIWUsingTraumaInformedPractices.pdf (hereinafter Benedict, “Using Trauma-Informed Practices to Enhance Safety

and Security in Women’s Correctional Facilities”) (accessed October 6, 2019).

97 Mooney Statement, at 7.

98 Salisbury Testimony, pp. 87-88.

99 Salisbury Statement, at 4, 6, 9; see also Jessica Pupovac, Freelance Reporter, Written Statement for the Women in

Prison Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019 at 1, 3, 4-5, 7 (hereinafter Pupovac

Statement).

100 Pupovac Testimony, pp. 207-210; Still Testimony, at 217.
26 WOMEN IN PRISON

and procedures work adequately for their female population.101 In the few states that have instituted 

gender-responsive, trauma-informed policies and procedures for women in prison, these policies 

have often come about as a result of prison overcrowding, or when a state’s Department of 

Corrections has been successfully sued after widespread instances of prison rape and subpar prison 

conditions have been uncovered.102

Race, Ethnicity, and Women in Prison

Several research studies have found racial disparities in arrests, pretrial treatment, admissions, and 

incarceration rates among women in prison.103 For instance, a 2009 study found that despite their 

small population size, Native American women were admitted to prison at 6.7 times the rate of 

white women, and black women were admitted to prison at 3.9 times the rate of white women.

104

According to testimony received by the Montana State Advisory Committee to the U.S. 

Commission on Civil Rights, Native American women in Montana make up 3 percent of the state 

population but 36 percent of the incarcerated women population.105

In 2000, black women were imprisoned at over 6 times the rate of white women and over 3 times 

the rate of Latina women. Since 2000, the imprisonment rate for black women has declined over 

52 percent, but increased by over 44 percent for white women and almost 12 percent for Latina

women.106 Despite these significant changes, in 2016, black women were still imprisoned (97 per 

100,000 black female residents) at almost twice the rate of white women (49 per 100,000 white 

female residents).107 The Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoner Series added an “other” category in 

2012, which includes persons identifying as Native American, Alaska Native, Asian, Native 

Hawaiian, other Pacific Islander, and persons identifying as two or more races.108 The 

 

101 Moss Statement, at 1; see also McLearen Testimony, pp. 80-83.

102 Smith Testimony, p. 138.

103 Stephanie S. Covington and Barbara E. Bloom, “Gendered Justice: Women in the Criminal Justice System,” in

Gendered Justice: Addressing Female Offenders, by Barbara E. Bloom (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2003),

p. 3, https://www.stephaniecovington.com/assets/files/4.pdf.

104 Christopher Hartney and Linh Vuong, “Created Equal: Racal and Ethnic Disparities in the US Criminal Justice

System,” National Council on Crime and Delinquency, Mar. 2019, pp. 3, 16,

https://www.nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/created-equal.pdf.

105 Montana State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Bordentown Discrimination in

Montana,” May, 2019, p. 3 https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2019/05-29-Bordertown-Discrimination-Montana.pdf.

106 The Commission staff calculated these figures using data from DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 3.

107 Ibid., 13.

108 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2012: Trends in Admission and Releases, 1991-

2012, by E. Ann Carson and Daniela Golinrlli (Sept. 2, 2014), p. 24,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p12tar9112.pdf.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 27

imprisonment rate of Native American, Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, other Pacific 

Islander, and multiracial women remained around 90 per 100,000 female residents from 2012-

2015, but that rate increased by over 31 percent in 2016.109

Figure 7: Women Imprisonment Rate (per 100,000 U.S. Residents), by Race and Ethnicity, 

2000-2016110

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoner Series, Chart Made by Commission Staff

These data demonstrate that while the overall number of black people in prison has declined since 

2000, this decline is much more pronounced for black women. Since 2000, the incarceration rate 

for black men has declined over 30 percent, but incarceration rates for white and Latino men have 

stayed relatively the same.111 In 2016, black men (2,417 per 100,000 black male residents) were 

still imprisoned at over 6 times the rate of white men (401 per 100,000 white male residents) and 

over twice the rate of Latino men (1,093 per 100,000 Latino male residents).112 The imprisonment 

rate of Native American, Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, other Pacific Islander, and 

multiracial men from 2012-2015 was, on average, around 958 per 100,000 male residents, but 

increased by over 36 percent in 2016 (See Figure 8). 

 

109 Ibid., 25.

110 DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 27-28.

111 Commission staff calculated these figures using data from DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 3.

112 Ibid., 13.

0

50

100

150

200

250

20002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016

White Women Black Women Hispanic Women Other
28 WOMEN IN PRISON

Figure 8: Men Imprisonment Rate (per 100,000 U.S. Residents), by Race and Ethnicity, 2000-

2016113

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoner Series, Chart Made by Commission Staff

There is no single explanation for the racial, ethnic, and gender differences observed in the 

aforementioned incarceration trends. In assessing the changes observed in incarceration rates, a 

2013 study conducted by the Sentencing Project asserts that several factors may have contributed 

to changes observed in the racial and gender dynamics of incarceration rates. These include:

changes in crime involvement (e.g. from 2000-2009 significant declines in violent, property, and 

drug offenses among black people); changes over time in offenses women are convicted of (e.g. 

rise in use of methamphetamine, which is disproportionately used by white and Latino people); 

changes in law enforcement or sentencing practices; and changes in socioeconomics (e.g. life 

expectancy of white women with less than a high school education—which is related to a number 

of socioeconomic factors that are also correlated with incarceration rates—fell more than 5 years 

from 1990 to 2008).114 As mentioned above, some researchers also posit that stricter sentencing—

especially for low-level drug offenses—helps explain changes observed in women’s incarceration 

rates.115

 

113 The reports in this series did not start including “other” category—which includes American Indians, Alaska

Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races—until 2012.

114 Mauer, “The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women’s Incarceration,” pp. 6-10.

115 Ibid.; see also Sokoloff, “Women Prisoners at the Dawn of the 21st Century.”

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

20002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016

White Men Black Men Hispanic Men Other
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 29

While the aforementioned studies present several plausible explanations for the recent changes in 

women’s incarceration rates, they do not directly test whether the factors mentioned above 

statistically explained the racial differences observed in women’s incarceration rates. In contrast,

a 2011 study employed multivariate regression models to analyze economic and demographic 

factors that explained women’s incarceration rates from all 50 states from 1981 to 2003.116 In 

particular, Heimer and her colleagues argued that understanding women’s imprisonment rates 

necessitates attention to race and ethnicity, as black women are incarcerated at higher rates than 

white women but few studies have employed regression techniques to study race differences in 

women’s imprisonment rates using data over time.117 The authors found that black women’s 

imprisonment rates are positively associated with the concentration of black people in metropolitan 

areas, and that these rates increase as poverty grows.118 Dissimilarly, non-black women’s 

imprisonment rates are not impacted by poverty rates and decrease as the concentration of black

populations in metropolitan areas grows.119 These results were robust even when controlling for 

racial differences in arrests, crime statistics, and state-level economic factors such as gross state 

product.120

LGBT Women in Prison 

Ascertaining which women in prison identify as lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is difficult

because surveys of women in prison do not always inquire about sexual orientation and/or gender 

identity, and when they do, they do not always distinguish among sexual orientation, sexual 

identity, and sexual behavior.

121 In part, this is because not everyone who has a same-sex 

experience identifies as gay or lesbian.

122 According to Anadora Moss, an expert on women in 

prison issues for over three decades, “[m]ost women find close emotional relationships while 

incarcerated and those relationships may or may not be sexual in nature. The relationships can be 

healthy and healing or can drive considerable disruption and toxic behavior. Close emotional 

 

116 Karen Heimer, Kecia R. Johnson, Joseph B. Lang, Andres F. Rengifo, and Don Stemen, “Race and Women’s

Imprisonment: Poverty, African American Presence, and Social Welfare.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology, vol.

28, iss. 2, (June 2012), p. 221, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10940-011-9144-8.

117 Ibid., 220.

118 Ibid., 230-32.

119 Ibid., 231-32.

120 Ibid., 236.

121 Moss Statement, at 6; see also Carolyn Crist, “LGBT individuals more likely to be Incarcerated,” Reuters, Dec.

23, 2016, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-lgbt-incarceration-usa/lgbt-individuals-more-likely-to-beincarcerated-idUSKBN14C1ZI (hereinafter Crist, “LBGT individuals more likely to be incarcerated”).

122 Crist, “LBGT individuals more likely to be incarcerated.”
30 WOMEN IN PRISON

attachments can incorrectly be perceived as a lesbian relationship.”123 Despite this, the available 

data demonstrate that the LGBT populations are disproportionately incarcerated.124 A 2017 public 

health study found that sexual minorities, defined as people who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or 

bisexual (LGB) and people who do not identify as LGB but reported same-sex sexual experiences,

were disproportionately incarcerated: 42 percent of women in prison were sexual minorities—33 

percent of these women identify as lesbian or bisexual.125

Transgender women, especially transgender women of color, are incarcerated at higher rates than 

other groups. For instance, a 2011 survey found that approximately 16 percent of transgender 

people—including 21 percent of transgender women—have been incarcerated in jail or prison at 

some point in their lives.126 For comparison, DOJ reports the overall national incarceration rate is 

approximately 3 percent, although this number does not include people who are incarcerated in 

jails.

127 Among black transgender people, 47 percent have been incarcerated in jail or prison at 

some point,

128 which reflects equivalent overall racial disparities observed in national incarceration 

rates.129 According to BJS, there were approximately 3,209 transgender prisoners in state and 

federal facilities in 2011-2012.130 Of the more than 3,200 transgender prisoners, BOP houses 

 

123 Moss Statement, at 7.

124 Ilan H. Meyer, Andrew R. Flores, Lara Stemple, Adam P. Romero, Bianca Wilson, and Jody L. Herman,

“Incarceration Rates and Traits of Sexual Minorities in the United States: National Inmate Survey, 2011–2012,”

American Journal of Public Health, vol. 107 no. 2 (Feb. 2017), p. 267-273, at 234 (hereinafter Meyer et al.,

“Incarceration Rates and Traits of Sexual Minorities in the United States”); see also The National Center for

Transgender Equality, “LGBTQ People Behind Bars: a Guide to Understanding the Issues Facing Transgender

Prisoners and Their Legal Rights,” Oct. 2018, pp. 5, 16,

https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/TransgenderPeopleBehindBars.pdf, (hereinafter National

Center for Transgender Equality, “LGBTQ People Behind Bars”).

125 Meyer et al., “Incarceration Rates and Traits of Sexual Minorities in the United States,” p. 234.

126 Jaime M. Grant, Lisa A. Mottet, Justin Tanis, Jack Harrison, Jody L. Herman, and Mara Keisling, “Injustice at

Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey.” National Center for Transgender

Equality & National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2011, p. 163,

https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/NTDS_Report.pdf

127 Ibid.

128 National Center for Transgender Equality, “LGBTQ People Behind Bars,” p. 5.

129 “Transgender Rights Toolkit: A Legal Guide for Trans People and their Advocates. Transgender Incarcerated

People in Crisis,” Lambda Legal, p. 1, https://www.lambdalegal.org/sites/default/files/2015_transgenderincarcerated-people-in-crisis-fs-v5-singlepages.pdf (accessed Aug. 18, 2019) (hereinafter Lambda Legal,

“Transgender Rights Toolkit”).

130 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates,

2011-12 Supplemental Tables: Prevalence of Sexual Victimization Among Transgender Adult Inmates, by Allen

Beck (Dec. 2014), table 1, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/svpjri1112_st.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Sexual

Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2011-12 Supplemental Tables).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 31

approximately 700 federal inmates who self-identify as transgender and more than 80 percent, or 

approximately 560, of these inmates have self-identified as transgender women.131

LGBT Women in Prison, Housing, and Placement

Housing and placement are of particular concern for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) prisoners. 

A 2015 restrictive housing report conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics also found that 

lesbian, gay, and bisexual prisoners are more likely to be housed in solitary confinement or 

segregation than heterosexual prisoners, with 28 percent of LGB prisoners being placed in solitary 

confinement in just the past year, compared to 18 percent of heterosexual prisoners.132

Research suggests that not only are the experiences of LGB inmates distinct from other inmates, 

but transgender women in prison face challenges that are distinct from their cisgender133 women 

counterparts. The federal regulatory definition of transgender follows: “Transgender means a 

person whose gender identity (i.e., internal sense of feeling male or female) is different from the 

person’s assigned sex at birth.”134 On May 11, 2018, BOP amended the transgender housing policy 

in its “Transgender Offender Manual” to instruct BOP’s Transgender Executive Council to use the 

biological sex of an inmate in initial housing determinations.

135 In addition, the new policy added 

that the placement in a facility of the “inmate’s identified gender would be appropriate only in rare 

cases after consideration of all of the above factors and where there has been significant progress 

towards transition as demonstrated by medical and mental health history.”136 The previous 

Transgender Offender Manual allowed for housing decisions to be in accordance with an inmate’s 

gender identity, when appropriate.137 At the Commission’s February 2019 briefing, Dr. Alix 

 

131 McLearen Testimony, p. 93.

132 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Use of Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011–12,

by Allen J. Beck (Oct. 2015), p. 5, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/urhuspj1112.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Use of

Restrictive Housing) (note that this report did not provide any information on transgender inmates); see also U.S.

Dep’t of Justice, Report and Recommendations Concerning the Use of Restrictive Housing, Jan. 2016, p. 11-2

https://www.justice.gov/archives/dag/file/815551/download.

133 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Working for Inclusion: Time for Congress to Enact Federal Legislation to 

Address Workplace Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans, 2019, p. 20, 

https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/docs/LGBT_Employment_Discrimination2017.pdf (noting that cisgender is a term 

referring to individuals whose gender identity is congruent with the sex they were assigned at birth).

134 28 C.F.R. § 115.5 (Transgender).

135 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Change Notice to the Transgender Offender Memo, by Mark S. 

Inch (May 11, 2018), https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4459297/BOP-Change-Order-TransgenderOffender-Manual-5.pdf.

136 Ibid., § 5 (emphasis added).

137 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Transgender Offender Manual, Jan. 18, 2017, p. 6,

https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5200.04.pdf; see also McLearen Testimony, p. 92; see also 28 C.F.R. § 115.42

(c)(housing placement by gender identity should be done on a case-by-case basis, and “the agency shall consider on
32 WOMEN IN PRISON

McLearen, National Administrator, Women and Special Branch at Federal Bureau of Prisons,

testified that the change was made to clarify the importance of “the safety of that individual and 

safety of everyone else,” as well as a variety of other factors in looking at housing designations.138

In addition, she stated that:

In terms of what we consider, though, we still consider an individual’s wish as to where 

they wish to be housed, the safety of that individual, the safety of other individuals, and so 

the sex assigned at birth is simply a starting point. 

We usually have a great deal more data beyond that. That’s just a starting point. Internally, 

our process is a Transgender Executive Council that I sit on along with general counsel, 

health services, psychiatry, psychology, and our correctional services people.

139

[Biological sex] was always the starting point and so it just made that a little bit more clear, 

that in the absence of other information this would be the starting place for an individual 

but that would always be the case. And then when we have additional information about 

somebody’s transition, about their compliance with hormones or whether they’re taking 

them, about their mental health functioning and programming. And what their interest area 

is in terms of some people prefer to stay at a particular facility and we wouldn’t want to 

make a move that they didn’t support.140

While advocates stress the importance of transgender inmates being housed based on their gender 

identity, most prisons house transgender inmates either by their sex assigned at birth or according 

to their current genital characteristics.141 This can be highly risky: “According to federal data, 

transgender people are nearly ten times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general prison 

population, with an estimated 40% of transgender people in state and federal prisons reporting a 

sexual assault in the previous year.”142 Studies have also shown that transgender women housed in 

 

a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate’s health and safety, and whether the placement

would present management or security problems”).

138 McLearen Testimony, p. 94.

139 Ibid., 95.

140 Ibid., 95-96.

141 Cheema Testimony, p. 337; see also Lambda Legal, “Transgender Rights Toolkit,” p. 2-3.

142 National Center for Transgender Equality, “LGBTQ People Behind Bars,” p. 6, citing U.S. Dep’t of Justice,

Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails; U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Sexual Victimization in

Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, National Inmate Survey 2011-12, by Allen Beck, Marcus Berzofsky, Rachel

Caspar, and Christopher Krebs (May 2013), p. 17, http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/svpjri1112.pdf (hereinafter

DOJ, Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, National Inmate Survey 2011-12).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 33

men’s prisons “are at especially high risk of sexual abuse.”143 Moreover, the National Center for 

Transgender Equality reports that “though practices are changing, many facilities still house 

transgender people strictly according to their genital anatomy or the gender they were thought to 

be at birth—often increasing their vulnerability to abuse.”144

In 1994, in Farmer v. Brennan, the Supreme Court reviewed Eighth Amendment protections 

regarding a female transgender inmate who was allegedly abused by male inmates, due to being 

placed in a men’s prison instead of a women’s prison.

145 Dee Farmer had begun transitioning with 

estrogen therapy at age 14, had breast implants, and had been living as a woman for five years

before being sent to federal prison, but had not “completed” her surgical transition.

146 In her case 

before the Supreme Court in 1994, BOP told federal courts that its practice was “to incarcerate 

persons who have completed sexual reassignment with prisoners of the transsexual’s new gender, 

but to incarcerate persons who have not completed it with prisoners of the transsexual’s original 

gender.”147 Further, although Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that 

“Farmer was put in with male prisoners — but without incident,” the Supreme Court’s opinion 

detailed that after being transferred to the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana:

Within two weeks, according to petitioner's allegations, petitioner was beaten and raped by 

another inmate in petitioner's cell. Several days later, after petitioner claims to have 

reported the incident, officials returned petitioner to segregation to await, according to 

respondents, a hearing about petitioner's HIV positive status.148

The Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment’s protections against cruel and unusual 

punishment may be violated when “the official knows of and disregards an excessive risk to inmate 

health or safety.”149 The Court remanded Farmer’s case to determine if that standard was met with 

regard to the facts in her case.150 After a jury trial, her complaint alleging abuse was dismissed and 

verdict was entered in favor of the defendants.

151 However, the Eighth Amendment’s protections 

 

143 Ibid., 13.

144 Ibid., 6.

145 Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. at 833 (“prison officials have a duty ... to protect prisoners from violence at the

hands of other prisoners.”) (quoting Cortes–Quinones v. Jimenez–Nettleship, 842 F.2d 556, 558 (1st Cir. 1988)).

146 Farmer v. Haas, 990 F.2d at 319, 320 (7th Cir. 1993).

147 Farmer v. Haas, 990 F.2d at 320.

148 Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. at 829.

149 Id. at 837.

150 Id. at 851.

151 See Civil Docket for Farmer v. Brennan, Case No. 3:91-cv-00716 (W.D. Wis.) (discussing Jury Trial (Jan. 23,

1997)), Judgment Dismissing Plaintiff’s Complaint with Prejudice and Costs (Jan. 23, 1997), PACER.gov (last
34 WOMEN IN PRISON

against deliberate indifference to higher risks of sexual abuse of transgender women placed in male 

prisons still stand, if deliberate indifference can be proven.152 For example, in the 2015 case of 

Diamond v. Owens, a federal district court in Georgia held that a prison official was not immune 

from charges of deliberate indifference to the substantial risk of sexual assault that a transgender 

woman, Ashley Diamond faced while housed in a prison for male inmates.153 The court recited 

federal and state regulations that had documented such a risk:

In her complaint, Diamond has covered the waterfront with her allegations tending to prove 

subjective awareness [of the risk]. She has alleged that a transgender inmate’s vulnerability 

to assault at a closed-security male facility was obvious to Lewis and McCracken and that 

PREA [the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003] and GDOC [Georgia Department 

of Corrections] policies made clear transgender inmates are highly vulnerable to sexual

assault.154

The Georgia court also found that despite the prison official being aware that Diamond was a 

transgender female who had previously been sexually assaulted numerous times while in a men’s 

prison, the prison official took no reasonable measures to ensure Diamond’s “clearly established 

right to be protected from sexual assault.”155

Federal prison placement policy has changed since the Farmer case. Prison Rape Elimination Act

(PREA) regulations belately issued by DOJ in 2012 require an individualized assessment as well 

as taking into account a transgender person’s own views about their safety.

156 In particular, they 

require that, “[i]n deciding whether to assign a transgender or intersex inmate to a facility for male 

or female inmates, and in making other housing and programming assignments, the agency shall 

consider on a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate’s health and safety, 

and whether the placement would present management or security problems.”157 The National 

Center for Transgender Equity also argues that Eighth Amendment protections against deliberate 

indifference to the risk of violence would forbid prisons from housing transgender prisoners based 

on their genitalia alone, without consideration of other factors.158 Lambda Legal reports that 

 

accessed Oct. 2, 2019); see also “Farmer Loses at Jury Trial,” Prison Legal News (Sept. 15, 1997),

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/1997/sep/15/farmer-loses-at-jury-trial/.

152 Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. at 837; see also infra notes 152-54.

153 Diamond v. Owens, 131 F.Supp. 3d 1346, 1379 (M.D. Ga. 2015).

154 Id. at. 1378.

155 Id. at 1379-80.

156 28 C.F.R. § 115.42(c) – (f).

157 28 C.F.R. § 115.42(c).

158 National Center for Transgender Equality, “LGBTQ People Behind Bars,” p. 14.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 35

“[u]sing surgery to measure whether or not someone has transitioned is counter to established 

medical thinking,” and that “[a]n increasing number of localities—including Cook County, IL, 

Cumberland, ME, Denver, CO and Washington, DC—have had success with policies that classify 

prisoners by gender identity rather than sex assigned at birth.”159 This is in contrast to the new 

federal policy discussed above that was issued in 2018, in which gender identity (rather than 

surgical transition) could be used as the main prison placement criteria “only in rare cases.”160

Moreover, there are still cases of transgender women being misplaced in male prisons and 

subjected to higher risks of sexual abuse.

161 In 2016, a federal court in Texas found that: 

Transgender inmates in particular face a shockingly high rate of sexual abuse in prison. 

The BJS reported that 34.6% of transgender inmates reported being the victim of sexual 

assault. That is nearly nine times the rate for all prisoners, which is 4.0%. The vulnerability 

of transgender prisoners to sexual abuse is no secret. For example, the National Institute of 

Corrections has stated that “research on sexual abuse in correctional facilities consistently 

documented that men and women with nonheterosexual orientations, transgender 

individuals, and people with intersex conditions were highly vulnerable to sexual abuse.”162

These cases and data document abuse of transgender women by men.163 In another case, for nearly 

two years, Kanautica Zayre-Brown, a transgender inmate in Lillington, North Carolina who 

surgically transitioned from male to female, was placed in a men’s state prison.164 According to 

reports, Ms. Zayre-Brown faced constant harassment and humiliation, as she is housed with, as 

well as showers with and gets dressed in front of, male inmates.165 Ms. Zayre-Brown repeatedly 

requested to be moved to a women’s facility, but the state classified Ms. Zayre-Brown by her sex 

as assigned at birth and placed her in solitary confinement at the men’s facility.166 This situation 

 

159 Lambda Legal, “Transgender Rights Toolkit,” p. 2.

160 See supra notes 134-5.

161 See Diamond v. Owens, supra note 52, and see Zollicoffer v, Livingston, 169 F.Supp.3d 687

162 Zollicoffer v, Livingston, 169 F.Supp.3d 687, 691 (S.D. Tex. 2016).

163 Id.

164 Shaffer, Josh. “Help is Coming for Transgender Inmate Housed at Men’s Prison, NC Governor’s Office Says,”

News & Observer, Mar. 8, 2019, https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article227296014.html,

(hereinafter Shaffer, “Help is Coming”).

165 Ibid.; see also Cheema Testimony, WIP Briefing, p. 338.

166 Shaffer, “Help is Coming;” see also Cheema Testimony, WIP Briefing, p. 339.
36 WOMEN IN PRISON

was finally resolved when the North Carolina Department of Public Safety moved her to a 

women’s facility in August 2019.167

However, a 2007 California study found that: “We know that transgender inmates are at high risk 

[of sexual assault] (as reported in this study), but we know very little about how that risk is 

statistically associated with specific housing assignments as opposed to other factors that might 

also be amenable to intervention, such as surveillance, programming, and physical features of the 

carceral environment in which they reside.”168

Many state facilities place transgender women inmates in solitary confinement (also called 

protective custody) within facilities designated for cisgender male populations in order to alleviate 

any potential for violence against them and, ostensibly, not for punitive purposes. Moreover, many 

transgender women in prison are placed in protective custody, “not because of their actions, but 

because of their identities.”169 This weakens the requirement that, under the PREA, prisons may 

only use protective custody as a last resort.170 PREA regulations indicate that prisons must take

other steps to prevent abuse such as permitting transgender women to shower separately, and 

exploring alternatives such as moving an aggressor to another cell or facility before placing 

transgender women in solitary confinement.

171 Furthermore, research and expert testimony suggest 

that prolonged periods of isolation can have severe psychological and physical effects.172 In 

addition, prolonged solitary confinement makes it difficult for inmates to have access to the same 

rehabilitative opportunities and services that result in good time credit as other inmates.173 The

 

167 See Sneha Shah, “Kanautica Zayre-Brown Transferred to a Women’s Facility,” ACLU of North Carolina, Aug.

15, 2019, https://www.acluofnorthcarolina.org/en/news/kanautica-zayre-brown-transferred-womens-facility; “State

Moves Transgender Inmate to Women’s Prison,” WITN News, Aug. 15, 2019,

https://www.witn.com/content/news/ACLU-threatens-to-sue-state-over-transgender-inmate-from-Wilson--

506711701.html.

168 Valerie Jenness, Cheryl L. Maxson, Kristy N. Matsuda, Jennifer Macy Sumner, Violence in California

Correctional Facilities: An Empirical Examination of Sexual Assault, UC-Irvine, Center for Evidence-Based

Corrections, 2007, p. 4,

http://ucicorrections.seweb.uci.edu/files/2013/06/PREA_Presentation_PREA_Report_UCI_Jenness_et_al.pdf.

169 Lambda Legal, “Transgender Rights Toolkit,” p. 3; Ginsberg Testimony, p. 139; U.S. Department of Justice,

Office of Justice Programs, Review Panel on Prison Rape: Report on Sexual Victimization in Prisons, Jails, and

Juvenile Correctional Facilities, Apr. 2016, p. 51, https://ojp.gov/reviewpanel/pdfs/panel_report_prea_apr2016.pdf

(hereinafter DOJ, Review Panel on Prison Rape: Report on Sexual Victimization in Prisons, Jails, and Juvenile

Correctional Facilities) (Professor Shay explained that jails cannot rely solely on holding non-heterosexual inmates

in long-term isolation to “protect” them).

170 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.43, 115.68, 115.368.

171 Lambda Legal, “Transgender Rights Toolkit,” p. 3 (noting that prisons must justify any use of isolated

segregation for more than 30 days).

172 Ginsberg Testimony, p. 139; Resnik Testimony, p. 197; Cheema Testimony, p. 337.

173 Cheema Testimony, p. 337.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 37

National Center for Transgender Equality states that the use of restrictive housing for transgender 

inmates—not based on in prison behavior or need for punishment, but instead based merely on 

transgender status—communicates discrimination and does not advance either rehabilitative or 

punitive prison goals.174

In addition to housing and placement issues, transgender women in prison also face other 

challenges such as sexual assault or harassment and misgendering,175 negative interactions with 

staff and other inmates, and inadequate access to healthcare—including hormonal replacement 

therapy.176

Overview of Applicable Federal Legal Protections for Women in Prison

The Supreme Court has long held that, despite their status as convicted persons held in custody, 

prisoners retain some of their constitutional rights while incarcerated. The Court wrote in 1974 

that, “[t]here is no iron curtain drawn between the Constitution and the prisons of this country.”177

Furthermore, the Court has said that most constitutional rights survive during incarceration, 

although in a diminished state.

178 These include the freedoms of speech and religion,179 the right to 

petition courts for relief,180 the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment,181 the right to 

due process,182 and the right to be free from discrimination.183 However, some of the rights 

 

174 National Center for Transgender Equality, Policies to Increase Safety and Respect for Transgender Prisoners: A

Guide for Agencies and Advocates, 2018, p. 17-18.

https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/PoliciestoIncreaseSafetyandRespectforTransgenderPrisone

rs.pdf.

175 Misgendering is a term that refers to when a transgender or gender non-conforming person is referred to by a

pronoun that does not match the person’s correct gender identity. See “Pronouns: A Resource,” GLSEN.org,

https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/GLSEN%20Pronouns%20Resource.pdf (accessed Oct/21, 2019).

176 Moss Statement, at 7; Lambda Legal, “Transgender Rights Toolkit,” passim. (relying on federal and state-level

data); and see infra notes 324-26.

177 Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 555-56 (1974).

178 Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union, Inc., 433 U.S. 119, 129 (1977) (Restrictions on some rights of

prisoners are necessary and permissible, however prisoners do not forfeit all Constitutional rights while

incarcerated).

179 U.S. CONST. amend. I.

180 U.S. CONST. amend. I.

181 U.S. CONST. amend. VIII.

182 U.S. Const. amend. XIV § 1.

183 U.S. Const. amend. XIV § 1; Michael B. Mushlin, The Rights of Prisoners § 2:2 (5th ed. 2018); See generally,

Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 296-97 (1991) (cruel and unusual punishment); Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337,

346 (1981) (same); Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 84 (1987) (freedom of expression and right to marry); O’Lone v.
38 WOMEN IN PRISON

promised to most are necessarily curtailed for inmates, including for example some First 

Amendment rights such as the right to unionize184 and other rights based on freedom of 

association,185 and some, but not all privacy rights.

186 For the purposes of studying the civil rights 

of women in prison, this report focuses mainly on the Eighth Amendment right to be free from 

cruel and unusual punishment, and the Fourteenth Amendment rights of due process and equal 

protection, along with applicable statutes, regulations, and court decisions.187 Although there are 

other legal theories that have sometimes been applied to the situation of women in prison, such as 

under the First and Fourth Amendments, civil rights claims often focus on the Eighth and 

Fourteenth Amendment.

 

Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 348 (1987) (freedom of religion); Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 821-22 (1977)

(right of access to courts); Lee v. Washington, 390 U.S. 333, 333-34 (1968) (racial discrimination).

184 U.S. CONST. art. I; Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Union, 433 U.S. 119, 125-26 (1977):

The fact of confinement and the needs of the penal institution impose limitations on constitutional rights, including

those derived from the First Amendment, which are implicit in incarceration. We noted in Pell v. Procunier [417 U.

S. 817 (1974)], supra, at 822:

[A] prison inmate retains those First Amendment rights that are not inconsistent with his status as a

prisoner or with the legitimate penological objectives of the corrections system. Thus, challenges to prison

restrictions that are asserted to inhibit First Amendment interests must be analyzed in terms of the

legitimate policies and goals of the corrections system, to whose custody and care the prisoner has been

committed in accordance with due process of law.

Perhaps the most obvious of the First Amendment rights that are necessarily curtailed by confinement are

those associational rights that the First Amendment protects outside of prison *126 walls. The concept of

incarceration itself entails a restriction on the freedom of inmates to associate with those outside of the

penal institution. Equally as obvious, the inmate’s “status as a prisoner” and the operational realities of a

prison dictate restrictions on the associational rights among inmates.

185 See Overton v. Bazzetta, 539 U.S. 126, 131 (2003) (internal citations omitted):

The very object of imprisonment is confinement. Many of the liberties and privileges enjoyed by other citizens must

be surrendered by the prisoner. An inmate does not retain rights inconsistent with proper incarceration. And, as our

cases have established, freedom of association is among the rights least compatible with incarceration. Some

curtailment of that freedom must be expected in the prison context. We do not hold, and we do not imply, that any

right to intimate association is altogether terminated by incarceration or is always irrelevant to claims made by

prisoners.

186 U.S. CONST. amend. IV; Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 350-53 (1967).

187 While women in prison have a legal right to an abortion, since 1983, the Commission’s statute has prohibited

“the Commission, its advisory committees, or any other person under its supervision or control to study and collect,

make appraisals of, or serve as a clearinghouse for any information about the laws and policies of the Federal

Government or any other governmental authority in the United States, with respect to abortion.” See 42 U.S.C. §

1975a(f). Accordingly, the Commission does not further discuss abortion herein.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 39

The Eighth Amendment

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments,”188 and 

the Supreme Court has held that this language prohibits punishments involving wanton infliction 

of pain,189 or disciplinary actions that are grossly out of proportion to the nature of the crime.

190 In 

1976, in the case of Estelle v. Gamble, the Supreme Court held “that deliberate indifference to 

serious medical needs of prisoners constitutes the ‘unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain’ 

proscribed by the Eighth Amendment.”191 The Court’s holding in Estelle also granted prisoners the 

right to needed medical care under the Eighth Amendment,

192 and further cases have defined other 

rights of prisoners, including for women. But the Supreme Court has also articulated strict

standards for analyzing what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. In 1987, the Court held

that, “[w]hen a prison regulation impinges on inmates’ constitutional rights, the regulation is valid 

if it is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.”193 In applying these standards to 

women in prison, for example, a federal court has held that strip searches of juvenile female 

inmates upon admission to detention facilities are reasonably related to a legitimate penological 

interest.194

An inmate must also prove that prison officials have violated “contemporary standards of decency” 

in order to succeed on a prison conditions claim.195 Standards of decency as determined by the 

courts have changed over time.196 As discussed above, in 1979, in Estelle v. Gamble, the Court 

held that prisoners have a right to adequate medical care.197 In 1991, in Wilson v. Seiter, the Court 

also included adequate food, warmth, exercise, and safety as essentials that cannot be denied to 

 

188 U.S. Const. amend. VIII.

189 Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 173 (1976).

190 Id.

191 Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104-5 (1976) (quoting Gregg, 428 U.S. at 173); see also Andrew Cohen, “Cruel

and Usual: The Eighth Amendment Turned Upside Down,” Brennan Center for Justice, Apr 10, 2019,

https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/cruel-and-usual-eighth-amendment-turned-upside-down.

192 See Estelle, 429 U.S. at 105; Kendra Weatherhead, “Cruel but Not Unusual Punishment: The Failure to Provide

Adequate Medical Treatment to Female Prisoners in the United States,” Health Matrix, vol. 13 iss. 2, 2003, p. 429,

436.

193 Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 89 (1987) (upholding a Missouri rule barring inmate-to-inmate correspondence,

but striking down a prohibition on inmate marriages absent compelling reason such as pregnancy or birth of a child).

194 N.G. v. Connecticut, 382 F.3d 225, 235 (2d Cir. 2004).

195 Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 8-9 (1992).

196 Michael B. Mushlin, The Rights of Prisoners § 3:13 (5th ed. 2018).

197 Estelle, 429 U.S. at 103-04.
40 WOMEN IN PRISON

prisoners.198 In 1994, in Farmer v. Brennan, the Court extended standards of decency to include 

protection of a transgender inmate from abuse from other inmates.199 This precedent has been held 

to apply to protecting women inmates from sexual harassment and abuse.200

Under another line of cases, the overall conditions of a prison may be taken into account, and 

courts may consider a prison “an unconstitutional place.”201 In 1970, a federal court of appeals 

affirmed a lower court’s finding that the manner in which inmates were housed, in barracks 

containing more than 100 inmates with free access to one another at all times, condoned and in 

some cases encouraged sexual assault and violence.202 The district court also criticized inadequate 

medical and dental facilities, unsanitary kitchen conditions, lack of anything but the barest of 

necessities which resulted in the inability to maintain personal hygiene, and lack of rehabilitation 

programs as conditions that, alone may not have constituted a violation, but when taken together, 

“aggravate the more serious defects and deficiencies.”203 These conditions, when taken in totality, 

were held to be cruel and unusual, making the entire prison an unconstitutional place.204 Since this 

decision, federal courts have identified several factors that have contributed to Eighth Amendment 

violations.205 Contributing factors may include, inter alia, health and safety hazards created by the 

physical facilities,206 overcrowding,207 absence of an adequate classification system,208 conditions 

 

198 Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 304 (1991) (“Some conditions of confinement may establish an Eighth

Amendment violation “in combination” when each would not do so alone, but only when they have a mutually

enforcing effect that produces the deprivation of a single, identifiable human need such as food, warmth, or

exercise”) (emphasis in original).

199 Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. at 833 (“prison officials have a duty ... to protect prisoners from violence at the

hands of other prisoners.”) (quoting Cortes–Quinones v. Jimenez–Nettleship, 842 F.2d 556, 558 (1st Cir. 1988)).

200 See, e.g., infra notes 702-12 and 1291-96.

201 Holt v. Sarver, 309 F. Supp. 362, 383 (E.D. Ark., 1970), aff’d. 442 F.2d 304, 308-9 (8th Cir. 1971).

202 Holt, 309 F. Supp. at 373, 376-78, aff'd and remanded, 442 F.2d 304 (8th Cir., 1971) (conditions of confinement

in certain circumstances may constitute cruel and unusual punishment).

203 Id. at 380 (inmates were issued only one toothbrush and one tube of toothpaste, no towels, insufficient socks and

underclothing, and filthy bedding).

204 Id. at 383.

205 See Ira P. Robbins & Michael B. Buser, “Punitive Conditions of Prison Confinement: An Analysis of Pugh v.

Locke and Federal Court Supervision of State Penal Administration Under the Eighth Amendment”, 29 STAN. L.

REV. 893, 909-14 (1977).

206 Gates v. Collier, 501 F.2d 1291, 1300 (5th Cir. 1974) (discussing fire hazards).

207 Pugh v. Locke, 406 F. Supp. 318, 322, 325 (M.D. Ala. 1976) (showing that overcrowding may exacerbate other

prison conditions)).

208 Gates, 501 F.2d at 1308 (stating that classification systems can protect inmates by sequestering violent

offenders).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 41

in isolation and segregation cells,209 substandard or lack of access to medical facilities and 

treatment,210 lack of access to personal hygiene and sanitation,211 incidences of violence and sexual 

assault,212 insufficient quantity and training of prison personnel,213 and lack of rehabilitation 

programs.214

Applying this line of reasoning to women, in 1994, a federal court found the conditions in the 

District of Columbia correctional facilities for women included repeated rape and sexual assault 

by prison guards; deprivation of obstetrical and gynecological care, basic sanitation needs, basic 

shelter needs; fire hazards; poor nutrition; lack of educational programs and work opportunities;

lack of religious programs; lack of recreation; and lack of clean clothing.

215 The court found that 

the overall conditions of the place to be so egregious that it ordered injunctive relief to fix all of 

these unconstitutional prison conditions.216 However, upon appeal, the D.C. Circuit Court limited 

the remedies to those that were clearly necessary to prevent constitutional violations.

217

The Supreme Court has held that for victims of prison violence or neglect to prevail in 

demonstrating deliberate indifference, even in the case of sexual abuse, they must prove their case 

both objectively and subjectively.218 To meet the objective standard, a plaintiff first must show that 

 

209 Pugh, 406 F. Supp. at 327-28 (stating that indescribable conditions in solitary confinement cells resulted in

torture).

210 Estelle, 429 U.S. at 105.

211 Pugh, 406 F. Supp. at 323 (M.D. Ala. 1976) (stating that inmates had insufficient provision of toothpaste,

toothbrushes, shampoo, shaving cream, razors, or combs); Miller v. Carson, 401 F. Supp. 835, 869 (M.D. Fla. 1975)

(stating that vomit, urine and feces were left on prison floors).

212 Pugh, 406 F. Supp. at 324 (describing the daily occurrences of robbery, rape, extortion, and assault); Holt 309 F.

Supp.at 376-78 (stating that inmates housed in common barracks were at constant risk of violence and sexual assault

from of other inmates).

213 Holt, 309 F. Supp. at 373 (stating that the facility had 35 personnel in charge of almost 1,000 inmates).

214 Id. at 379 (showing that lack of rehabilitation programs may make up a constitutional violation when combined

with other infractions).

215 Women Prisoners of D.C. Dep’t of Corr. v. District of Columbia, 877 F. Supp. 634, 640 (D.D.C. 1994).

216 Women Prisoners, 877 F. Supp. at 679 (D.D.C. 1994); and see Id. at 666-670 (approving remedies to correct

deliberate indifference to risk of sexual assault, shackling of pregnant women, and of facility conditions that expose

women prisoners to high levels of risk of illness or injury) and 671 (“The Court has located conditions which violate

the Eighth Amendment not because they produce surroundings which are unattractive or food which is unappetizing.

These conditions are cruel and unusual because they combine to create an unconstitutionally high exposure to illness

or injury... Apart from the previously mentioned conditions, the Court is reluctant to find unconstitutional anything

which simply increases “stress” unless it is truly egregious. For this reason the Court does not find that the daytime

noise levels significantly threaten the health of women prisoners”).

217Women Prisoners of D.C. Dep’t of Corr. v. District of Columbia, 93 F.3d 910, 930-32 (D.C. Cir. 1996).

218 Russell W. Gray, Wilson v. Seiter: Defining the Components of and Proposing a Direction for Eighth

Amendment Prison Condition Law, 41 Am. U. L. Rev. 1339, 1341 (1992).
42 WOMEN IN PRISON

she was “incarcerated under conditions posing a substantial risk of serious harm.”219 To meet the 

subjective standard, she must show that prison officials acted with deliberate indifference to that 

risk, which requires a subjective inquiry into prison officials’ state of mind.220 Although the 

Supreme Court has held that deliberate indifference may be found if a prison guard knew or should 

have known of an inmate’s risk of serious illness or injury,

221 it has made clear that negligence 

does not constitute deliberate indifference.222 In Farmer, the Supreme Court stated that: 

Whether a prison official had the requisite knowledge of a substantial risk is a question of 

fact subject to demonstration in the usual ways, including inference 

from circumstantial evidence, and a factfinder may conclude that a prison official knew of 

a substantial risk from the very fact that the risk was obvious.

223

But the Court also stated that:

Because, however, prison officials who lacked knowledge of a risk cannot be said to have 

inflicted punishment, it remains open to the officials to prove that they were unaware even 

of an obvious risk to inmate health or safety. That a trier of fact may infer knowledge from 

the obvious, in other words, does not mean that it must do so. Prison officials charged with 

deliberate indifference might show, for example, that they did not know of the underlying 

facts indicating a sufficiently substantial danger and that they were therefore unaware of a 

danger, or that they knew the underlying facts but believed (albeit unsoundly) that the risk 

to which the facts gave rise was insubstantial or nonexistent.

In addition, prison officials who actually knew of a substantial risk to inmate health or 

safety may be found free from liability if they responded reasonably to the risk, even if the 

harm ultimately was not averted. A prison official’s duty under the Eighth Amendment is 

to ensure “reasonable safety[.]”224

 

219 Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834 (1994); See also Michael B. Mushlin, The Rights of Prisoners § 3:6 (5th

ed. 2018).

220 Farmer v. Brennan. 511 U.S. at 838-39; Hudson v. McMillan, 503 U.S. 1, 8 (1992) (internal quotation marks

omitted).

221 Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 320-21 (1986).

222 Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. at 835; Estelle, 429 U.S. at 106 (“Thus, a complaint that a physician has been

negligent in diagnosing or treating a medical condition does not state a valid claim of medical mistreatment under

the Eighth Amendment. Medical malpractice does not become a constitutional violation merely because the victim

is a prisoner.”).

223 Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. at 842 (internal citations omitted).

224 Id. at 844 (internal citations omitted).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 43

At the Commission’s briefing on the status of women in prison, Cardozo Law Professor, Betsy 

Ginsberg testified she is concerned the subjective standard is too deferential to defendants, stating, 

“[t]he subjective standard also allows courts to pay tremendous deference to prison officials, often 

characterizing a prisoner’s Eighth Amendment claim as a disagreement with medical staff that 

doesn’t rise to the level of deliberate indifference.”225 Professor Ginsberg testified that “the Eighth 

Amendment standard places a heavy burden on prisoners to show that prison officials had the 

requisite intent. This standard allows and even encourages prison officials to remain ignorant of 

health risks.”226 Additionally, the litigation required to secure a remedy is costly, time consuming, 

and oftentimes out of reach for women in prison because they do not have the resources to hire an 

attorney.

227 She added that, “prisons are designed for men, they aren’t designed to provide 

healthcare, and women have distinct healthcare needs” and the Eighth Amendment standard can 

at times become more of a legal barrier that prevents women in prison from receiving adequate 

care.

228

Prison officials often cite a lack of funding available to remedy alleged Eighth Amendment 

violations, or claim that prisoners should address their concerns to state legislatures in order to 

lobby for a budgetary increase.229 While budget shortfalls are a legitimate legislative concern,

federal courts have held that lack of funding is not a defense to a finding that a prison guard or 

official was deliberately indifferent to a prisoner’s condition, even if there was a lack of adequate 

funds to remedy the violation.230

In her testimony before the Commission, former chief of DOJ’s Special Litigation Section Julie 

Abbate stated that although real consent is impossible due to power imbalances between prison 

guards and female inmates, courts have allowed guards to use consent as a valid defense to 

allegations of sexual assault at trial.231 This area of law is still in flux, as the Supreme Court has 

not yet ruled on the availability of the defense of consent to prison guards and officials, and circuit 

 

225 Ginsberg Testimony, p. 137-38.

226 Ginsberg Testimony, p. 137.

227 Ibid., 138-39.

228 Ibid., 135.

229 Michael B. Mushlin, “The Rights of Prisoners” § 3:92 (5th ed. 2018).

230 Russell W. Gray, Wilson v. Seiter: Defining the Components of and Proposing a Direction for Eighth

Amendment Prison Condition Law, 41 Am. U. L. Rev. 1339, 1381 (1992); See, e.g., Smith v. Sullivan, 611 F.2d

1039, 1043-44 (5th Cir. 1980) (“It is well established that inadequate funding will not excuse the perpetuation of

unconstitutional conditions of confinement. ...” (citations omitted)); Battle v. Anderson, 564 F.2d 388, 396 (10th Cir.

1977) (a lack of financing is not defense for failure to provide minimum constitutional standards in Oklahoma’s

prisons).

231 Julie Abbate, National Advocacy Director, Just Detention International, Written Statement for the Women in

Prison Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 5-7 (hereinafter Abbate Statement).
44 WOMEN IN PRISON

courts of appeal are split on the applicability of the defense. By allowing defendants to claim that 

a sexual encounter was consensual, federal courts in the Eighth and Tenth Circuits bring into 

question the woman’s behavior around and during the alleged sexual act and may allow inquiry 

into the woman’s past sexual history.232 However, the Ninth Circuit Court, and recently the Sixth 

Circuit, have determined that incarcerated female plaintiffs are entitled to a rebuttable presumption 

that the sexual activity in question was not consensual due to the severe power imbalances that 

exist between inmates and guards.233 Under the Ninth Circuit approach, the trial court will examine 

the defendant’s conduct in greater depth, rather than questioning the plaintiff’s behavior. There is 

a presumption that the plaintiff did not consent, and unless that is rebutted, proving custodial sexual 

contact will establish a constitutional violation.234

The Fourteenth Amendment

Equal Protection

The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides that no state may “deny to 

any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”235 In order to bring a successful 

federal Equal Protection claim, a plaintiff must show that a governmental policy is discriminatory 

on its face or under a facially neutral policy.236 Furthermore, the policy in question must have a 

discriminatory impact and the government must have had a discriminatory purpose in creating it, 

even if men and women are similarly situated.237 Federal courts, however, have sometimes ruled 

that men and women prisoners are not in similarly situated positions while incarcerated; therefore 

the equal protection clause would not apply.238 For example, courts have found that male and 

female inmates are not similarly situated in prison security levels, crimes committed, average 

 

232 See Graham v. Sheriff of Logan Cty., 741 F. 3d 1118 (10th Cir. 2013); Hall v. Beavin, No. 98-3803, 1999 WL

1045694 (6th Cir. 1999); Freitas v. Ault, 109 F.3d 1335 (8th Cir. 1997); see also, Abbate Statement, at 5.

233 Rafferty v. Trumbull Cnty., 915 F. 3d 1087, 1096 (6th Cir. 2019) (inmates are generally regarded as unable to

consent to sexual relations with prison staff); Wood v. Beauclair, 692 F. 3d 1041, 1049 (9th Cir. 2012) (when a

prisoner alleges sexual abuse by a prison guard... the prisoner is entitled to a presumption that the conduct was not

consensual); see also Abbate Statement, at 5.

234 Abbate Statement, at 6.

235 U.S. CONST. amend. XIV § 1.

236 Erwin Chemerinsky, Richard A. Epstein, et al. eds., Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (new York:

Aspen Publishers, 1997), p. 528-29.

237 Ibid.

238 Kendra Weatherhead, “Cruel but Not Unusual Punishment: The Failure to Provide Adequate Medical Treatment

to Female Prisoners in the United States,” Health Matrix: The Journal of Law Medicine 13, iss. 2, (2003): 429-472,

https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1401&context=healthmatrix.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 45

length of sentence, child care responsibilities, likelihood of being violent, or the likelihood of being

victims of violence, including sexual abuse.

239

Under the Equal Protection clause, women in prison arguably have the right to facilities and 

programs that are equal to facilities and programs available to men. For example, in 1979, a federal 

court held that women in prison must be afforded the same opportunities as men, holding that men 

in Michigan prisons had access to better educational opportunities, vocational training, work 

programs, and library facilities.240

But the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Equal Protection claims relating to equal 

access to programs in prison, reasoning that in the District of Columbia, although women prisoners 

had access to fewer work and religious programs, because their numbers were smaller, and women 

were incarcerated for shorter periods then men.241 Moreover, it implied that views of gender 

differences could be taken into account, reasoning that:

While certain programs (such as a work detail in auto mechanics) may be available only to 

male inmates, other programs (such as a life skills class) may be available only to female 

inmates. Under the program-by-program method of comparison embraced by the dissent, 

any divergence from an identity of programs gives rise to equal protection liability. Thus, 

if male inmates have access to a work detail that is unavailable to women, that violates 

equal protection. If men can spend an extra hour a day in a gymnasium, that violates equal 

protection. Conversely, if women had access to a parenting class unavailable to men, that 

violates equal protection. Such an approach completely eviscerates the deference that 

federal courts are obliged to give prison administrators.242

Title IX

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex by 

educational programs receiving federal financial assistance, and is generally enforced by the 

federal government.

243 Title IX’s protections extend to prisons that receive federal funding to offer 

 

239 Ibid., 445-46; See generally, Pargo v. Elliot, 894 F. Supp. 1243, 1261 (S.D. Iowa 1995) (male and female

inmates are not similarly situated) ; Klinger v. Dep’t of Corrections, 31 F.3d 727, 731-32 (8th Cir. 1994) (describing

ways in which male and female inmates are not similarly situated); Timm v. Gunter, 917 F.2d 1093, 1103 (8th Cir.

1990) (different security concerns at male and female prisons means that male and female inmates are not similarly

situated).

240 Glover v. Johnson, 934 F. Supp. 703 (6th Cir. 1991).

241 Women Prisoners of the D.C. Dep’t of Corrections v. District of Columbia, 93 F.3d 910, 926-7 (D.C. Cir. 1996).

242 Id. at 926-7.

243 Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681-1683, 1687; 20 U.S.C. § 1682 (“In the case of

any action terminating, or refusing to grant or continue, assistance because of failure to comply with a requirement

imposed pursuant to this section, the head of the Federal department or agency shall file with the committees of the
46 WOMEN IN PRISON

educational or vocational programs to inmates.244 Title IX’s protections are difficult to access for 

women in prison. As applied to educational programs in prisons, courts have held that the there is 

a presumption that men and women’s prisons are similarly situated for comparing whether equal 

opportunity is being provided. 245 Courts have further clarified that prison systems need not offer 

the same programs, one-to-one, to both men and women in prisons, so long as reasonable similar 

opportunities are available for women as are available to men.246 Similarly, in 1997, in the case of 

Klinger v. Department of Correctionsregarding Nebraska state prison programs, the Eighth Circuit 

stated that:

This is not to say that no comparison can be made [between women’s and men’s 

educational programs], consistent with Title IX, where there are significant differences 

between male and female prison populations within a state's correctional system, such as 

unequal population sizes and lengths of stay. Rather, equal opportunities must be afforded 

consistent with those differences.247

Courts have also questioned which programs fall under Title IX. For example, using the standard 

articulated by the Eighth Circuit in Klinger, the D.C. Circuit Court rejected the application of Title 

IX to work, recreational, and religious programs for women in prison, because it reasoned that 

men and women prisoners were not similarly situated.248 Further, the D.C. Circuit judges 

“admit[ed] to grave problems with the proposition that work details, prison industries, recreation, 

and religious services and counseling have anything in common with the equality 

of educational opportunities with which Title IX is concerned.”249

 

House and Senate having legislative jurisdiction over the program or activity involved a full written report of the

circumstances and the grounds for such action. No such action shall become effective until thirty days have elapsed

after the filing of such report.”).

244 45 C.F.R. § 86.31(a).

245 Klinger v. Department of Corrections, 107 F.3d 609, 614 (8th Cir. 1997) (“Congress has indicated, by its

enactment of § 1681(a) [Title IX] and by the specific language employed therein, that female and male participants

within a given federally funded education program or activity are presumed similarly situated for purposes of being

entitled to equal educational opportunities within that program or activity.”).

246 Jeldness v. Pearch, 30 F.3d 1220, 1228-1229 (9th Cir. 1994).

247 Klinger, 107 F.3d at 616. In Klinger, the Title IX claim was lost on other grounds, as the court found that the

Nebraska state women’s prisons programs did not meet the definition of federally-funded programs falling under

Title IX. Id.

248 Women Prisoners of the D.C. Dep’t of Corrections, 93 F. 3d at 927.

249 Id. (emphasis in original).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 47

Substantive Due Process

The Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment states that no state may “deprive any person 

of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”250 In 1974, the Supreme Court held that 

due process applies to disciplinary proceedings while incarcerated,251 but because prison 

disciplinary proceedings are not part of a criminal prosecution, the “full panoply” of an 

incarcerated person’s rights are not available.252 The Court held that the minimum procedures 

required are determined by balancing the prisoner’s interest against the interest of the prison in 

maintaining security in the institution, in protecting guards and incarcerated persons against 

retaliation by other incarcerated persons, and in reducing prison tensions.253 The Court held that 

the prison must grant incarcerated persons who are the subject of a disciplinary proceeding 

“advance written notice of the claimed violation and a written statement of the fact findings as to 

the evidence relied upon and the reasons for the action taken.”254 The Supreme Court has also held 

that there must be a “valid, rational connection” between a prison regulation and a legitimate 

governmental interest put forward to justify it.255

Due process also provides prisoners’ rights to be placed in the least restrictive environment. In 

2005, the Supreme Court held that inmates had a liberty interest in avoiding haphazard and 

erroneous assignment to a state’s highest security prison.256 However, these rights must be balanced 

with legitimate security interests, with deference to the judgment of prison officials. For example, 

when women incarcerated persons challenged being placed in Pennsylvania’s maximum security 

prison, the D.C. Circuit Court applied the following standard from a 1987 Supreme Court case:

“when a prison regulation impinges on inmates’ constitutional rights, the regulation is valid if it is 

reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. In our view, such a standard is necessary if 

‘prison administrators ..., and not the courts, [are] to make the difficult judgments concerning 

institutional operations.”257 The court then held that the prisons’ concern with the capacity for 

 

250 U.S. CONST. amend. XIV § 1.

251 Wolff, 418 U.S. at 556.

252 Id. at 556.

253 Id. at 562-63.

254 Id. at 563.

255 Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987).

256 Wilkinson v. Austin, 545 U.S. 209 (2005).

257 Baraldini v. Thornburgh, 884 F.2d 615, 618 (D.C. Cir. 1989).
48 WOMEN IN PRISON

escape lead to placing the incarcerated persons in high-security confinement, with “a clear basis,” 

that was therefore reasonable.258

Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA)

The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) was enacted in 1980 to protect the 

constitutional and federal statutory rights of people confined to residential institutions, including 

prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities, run by or on behalf of state or local governmental entities.259

CRIPA is somewhat limited, as it only permits DOJ to investigate conditions at state and local 

facilities, not at federal facilities.260 The facilities covered include jails and prisons, as well as pretrial detention centers, juvenile correctional facilities, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and 

institutions for persons with psychiatric or developmental disabilities.261 CRIPA authorizes DOJ 

to investigate general conditions and practices within state and local correctional institutions, and 

to file suit upon reasonable cause that inmates are systemically and flagrantly being deprived of 

their civil rights.262 CRIPA requires certification before a lawsuit may be filed,263 and its main 

feature is that unlike in individual claims, DOJ must show “pattern or practice” of civil rights 

violations, and therefore the remedies that may be ordered are also systemic. The relevant statutory 

language provides that:

Whenever the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that any State or political 

subdivision of a State, official, employee, or agent thereof, or other person acting on behalf 

of a State or political subdivision of a State is subjecting persons residing in or confined to 

an institution, as defined in section 1997 of this title, to egregious or flagrant conditions 

which deprive such persons of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected 

by the Constitution or laws of the United States causing such persons to suffer grievous 

harm, and that such deprivation is pursuant to a pattern or practice of resistance to the full 

enjoyment of such rights, privileges, or immunities, the Attorney General, for or in the 

name of the United States, may institute a civil action in any appropriate United States 

district court against such party for such equitable relief as may be appropriate to insure 

 

258 Id. at 620.

259 42 U.S.C. § 1997-42 U.S.C. § 1997j; see also U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Department of Justice, “Activities Under the

Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, Fiscal Year 2018,” Apr. 23, 2019, at 2,

https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/file/1160466/download.

260 42 U.S.C. § 1997a(a).

261 42 U.S.C. § 1997(1)(B)(ii).

262 42 U.S.C. § 1997a(a).

263 42 U.S.C. § 1997(b)(a).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 49

the minimum corrective measures necessary to insure the full enjoyment of such rights, 

privileges, or immunities[.]264

Under this statutory language, DOJ may initiate a lawsuit if it certifies that it has found a pattern 

or practice of the alleged civil rights violations, the facts supporting the allegations, the remedies 

required, and that they have notified the Governor as well as the appropriate officials, who have 

been given reasonable time to correct the violations.265 DOJ’s Special Litigation Section of the 

Civil Rights Division handles all CRIPA investigations and litigation on behalf of the federal 

government.266 As discussed in Chapter 7 of this report (which evaluates DOJ’s enforcement 

efforts), DOJ has brought two recent enforcement actions against women’s prisons, two against 

juvenile facilities for girls, and various other enforcement actions against entities that house both 

men and women prisoners.267

A CRIPA investigation and settlement can have positive effects on conditionsfor women in prison. 

For example, in 2015, a federal district court issued a consent decree to resolve pervasive sexual 

harassment and assault of women prisoners by male staff at Julia Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka, 

Alabama, requiring that the state submit to periodic monitoring reports and, among other things,

to implement gender responsive policies and staff training, a new camera management plan to 

ensure inmate safety and privacy, increase staffing levels, educate inmates about their right to be 

free from sexual harassment and abuse, implement a gender-responsive classification system, and 

appropriately discipline staff members found to have violated prison policies regarding sexual 

assault and abuse.268 This DOJ case and others brought to protect women in prison are discussed 

in Chapter 7.

Although CRIPA remedies may be systemic and subject to ongoing federal monitoring, more may 

be needed. The Commission received written testimony from consultant Anadora Moss criticizing 

CRIPA and stating that the law is only a remedial measure, not designed to detect, protect against, 

or prevent future civil rights violations.269 She stated that:

Typically, until a civil lawsuit is filed, most facility staff and agency leadership may have 

little if any knowledge of the 8th Amendment. Those who do may not believe that the 8th 

 

264 42 U.S.C. § 1997a(a) (emphasis added).

265 42 U.S.C. § 1997a(b).

266 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Special Litigation Section, “Rights of Persons Confined to Jails and Prisons,”

https://www.justice.gov/crt/rights-persons-confined-jails-and-prisons (last updated Aug. 8, 2015).

267 See infra notes 1289-1381.

268 Settlement Agreement, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-00368 (M.D. Ala. 2015).

269 Moss Statement, at 15.
50 WOMEN IN PRISON

Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment would apply to a female 

inmate’s allegation of sexual abuse, as they lack understanding that the conditions of 

supervision and confinement, to include ignoring the conditions that led to the abuse, can 

make up an 8th Amendment claim. Like the 8th Amendment, most facility line staff have 

no real knowledge about CRIPA, or that it is used as an action by the federal government 

to sue facilities and agencies for unconstitutional conditions of confinement. Until such a 

suit is filed, CRIPA has no enforcement power, nor is it used as any sort of standard of care 

that can guide inmate protection. Both of these [CRIPA and PREA] are after-the-fact 

causes of action, not prevention, protection, or detection of sexual abuse strategies.270

Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003 and Subsequent Regulations 

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)271 was passed by unanimous votes in both houses of 

Congress in 2003.

272 It sets national standards for eliminating rape in correctional institutions.

These standards can only be enforced by the federal government, and the highest penalty is loss of 

a small fraction (5 percent) of federal funding.273 PREA directed the Department of Justice’s 

Bureau of Justice Statistics to analyze incidences of prison rape in federal, state, and local custodial 

institutions, and to provide information on preventing prison rape.274 When initially introduced in 

1998, the first draft of the bill exclusively addressed sexual abuse between male inmates.275 Later, 

Congress included protections for inmates subjected to sexual abuse by prison guards and officials, 

which occurs to incarcerated women at a much higher rates than incarcerated men.

276 PREA also 

created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, which from 2003 through 2009 studied 

the issue of prison rape and presented their findings to Congress and the DOJ.277 After the PREA 

Commission findings were issued, Congress then added legislative findings that “[t]he total 

number of inmates who have been sexually assaulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 

 

270 Ibid.

271 Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, Pub. L. 108-70, 117 Stat. 972 (Codified as 34 U.S.C. § 30301 et seq.).

272 See S. 1435, 108th Cong. (as passed by Senate on July 21, 2003), https://www.congress.gov/bill/108thcongress/senate-bill/1435/actions; S. 1435 108th Cong. (as passed by House on July 25, 2003).

273 See infra notes 306-8.

274 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape, 28 C.F.R. § 115; see

also “Prison Rape Elimination Act,” National PREA Resource Center,

https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/about/prison-rape-elimination-act-prea (accessed Oct. 4, 2019) (hereinafter

“Prison Rape Elimination Act,” National PREA Resource Center).

275 Brenda V. Smith, Professor of Law and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, American

University, Written Statement for the Women in Prison Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb.

22, 2019, at 6 (hereinafter Smith Statement).

276 Smith Statement, at 6.

277 “Prison Rape Elimination Act,” National PREA Resource Center.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 51

1,000,000.”278 Congress found that prisoners who are young, first-time offenders as well as inmates 

with mental illness are at increased risk of sexual assault,279 and that “[t]he frequently interracial 

character of prison sexual assaults significantly exacerbates interracial tensions[.]”280 There were 

no findings on gender, but the PREA Findings and Congress also acknowledged that there was 

still insufficient research on the characteristics of perpetrators and victims.281 However, 

considering the high incidence of sexual abuse of women in prison and the systemic conditions 

associated with it (discussed in Chapter 4 of this report), PREA’s comprehensive standards are

needed to protect women’s rights in prison.282

After several years’ delay, taking the PREA Commission’s findings and recommendations into 

account, DOJ promulgated its recommended PREA national standards as federal regulations in 

2012.283 These PREA regulations provide detention rules for all state and federal public 

correctional institutions, as well as institutions that are administered by a private organization on 

behalf of the federal government.284

The PREA national standard regulations include a number of provisions that, if implemented, may 

help protect women in prison. Overall, the PREA statute already mandated prevention, detection, 

and reporting requirements.285 The more specific PREA regulations more broadly and clearly 

define what are prohibited forms of sexual abuse (by both staff and other inmates), and sexual 

harassment (by staff or contractors only).

286 PREA regulations require having a “written policy of 

maintaining zero tolerance toward all forms of sexual abuse and sexual harassment and outlining 

an agency’s approach to preventing, detecting, and responding to such conduct.”287 The regulations 

 

278 34 U.S.C. § 30301(2).

279 34 U.S.C. § 30301(3) and (4).

280 34 U.S.C. § 30301(2).

281 Id. (more research needed); see 34 U.S.C. § 30303(1)(in acknowledgment of a lack of data, requiring the Bureau

of Justice Statistics to annually collect and analyses “the incidence[s] and effects of prison rape.”).

282 See infra notes 664-85.

283 The PREA national standards promulgated by the U.S. Department of Justice are codified at 28 C.F.R. § 115 et

seq.

284 Routh et al., “Transgender Inmates in Prisons,” at 9-10; The White House, Office of the Press Secretary,

“Presidential Memorandum – Implementing the Prison Rape Elimination Act,” May, 17, 2010,

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/17/presidential-memorandum-implementing-prison-rapeelimination-act (extending PREA to federal facilities); “Private Prisons in the United States,” The Sentencing

Project, Aug. 2, 2018, https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-prisons-united-states/ (accessed Oct.

4, 2019).

285 Moss Statement, at 15.

286 28 C.F.R. § 115.6.

287 Id. at §§ 115.211(a).
52 WOMEN IN PRISON

also include requirements for: keeping and publicizing facility-level data of sexual abuse in 

custody;

288 requiring audits of every correctional facility within a three-year period;289 ending crossgender supervision of women in custody, including viewing and searches;

290 providing greater 

protection for sexual minorities in custody,291 creating a mechanism for confidential reporting of 

abuse in custody;292 providing access to sexual assault and victim services;

293 training on effective 

communication strategies;

294 and mandating that facilities must in good faith consider the inmate’s 

gender identification and take associated risks into account when making assignments, including 

allowing the inmate to shower separately if requested.295 Furthermore, medical staff are required 

to have specialized training to address women’s health issues.296

PREA regulations cover every agency, with agency defined as follows:

Agency means the unit of a State, local, corporate, or nonprofit authority, or of the 

Department of Justice, with direct responsibility for the operation of any facility that 

confines inmates, detainees, or residents, including the implementation of policy as set by 

the governing, corporate, or nonprofit authority.297

Not only these agencies, but also any entities that an agency contracts for the confinement of 

residents, must adopt and comply with the PREA regulations.298 The regulations also state that 

agencies may not impose a time limit for inmates to file a grievance with allegations of sexual 

abuse, but they also state that agencies may impose a time limit for any other allegations (such as 

sexual harassment or other noncompliance).299 Agencies must ensure that inmates can file 

grievances alleging sexual abuse without requiring that it be filed with the accused, or letting it be

referred to the person accused of sexual assault,

300 and issue a final decision within 90 days after 

 

288 Id. at § 115.87.

289 Id. at § 115.93.

290 Id. at § 115.15.

291 Id. at §§ 115.41, 115.42 and 115.43.

292 Id. at § 115.51.

293 Id. at § 115.53.

294 Id. at § 115.31.

295 Id. at § 115.42

296 Moss Statement, at 3; see also 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.31 and 115.35. 

297 28 C.F.R. § 115.6 (definition of “agency”).

298 Id. at § 115.212.

299 Id. at § 115.52(b)(1) and (2).

300 Id. at § 115.52(c).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 53

the complaint is filed.301 Agencies must also provide for emergency grievances if there is an 

imminent risk of sexual abuse, which they must refer to a level of review which allows for 

immediate corrective action for these grievances agencies must also provide an initial written 

response within 48 hours and a final agency decision within 5 days.

302 The final agency decision 

on those grievances must be issued in five days.303 The grievance regulations also provide that 

“[t]he agency may discipline an inmate for filing a grievance related to alleged sexual abuse only 

where the agency demonstrates that the inmate filed the grievance in bad faith;”304 and that 

“[n]othing in this section shall restrict the agency’s ability to defend against an inmate lawsuit on 

the ground that the applicable statute of limitations has expired.”305

However, PREA regulations specifically do not require compliance. When DOJ published the final 

PREA regulations, it clarified that:

For State agencies that receive grant funding from the Department to support their 

correctional operations, Congress has provided that the Department shall withhold 5 

percent of prison-related grant funding to any State that fails to certify that it “has adopted, 

and is in full compliance with, the national standards,” or that fails to alternatively provide 

“an assurance that not less than 5 percent” of the relevant grant funding “shall be used only 

for the purpose of enabling the State to adopt, and achieve full compliance with, those 

national standards, so as to ensure that a certification [of compliance] may be submitted in 

future years 42 U.S.C. 15607(c)(2).” For county, municipal, and privately run agencies that 

operate confinement facilities, PREA lacks any corresponding sanctions for facilities that 

do not adopt or comply with the standards.306

As discussed in Chapter 7, these regulations can lead to a five percent reduction in federal funding, 

but they rarely do. Moreover, states like Texas have rejected the relevant funding to avoid 

compliance,307 and there is no enforcement mechanism against county, municipal or private 

prisons.308

 

301 Id. at § 115.52(d).

302 Id. at § 115.52(f)(2).

303 Id. at § 115.52(f)(2).

304 Id. at § 115.52(g).

305 Id. at § 115.52(b)(4).

306 National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape, 77 Fed. Reg., 37106, 37196 (June 20, 2012)

(codified at 28 C.F.R. § 115).

307 See infra notes 1256-60.

308 See supra note 306; see also 28 C.F.R. § 115.501.
54 WOMEN IN PRISON

PREA national standard regulations include specific provisions for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, 

Transgender,309 Intersex310 (LGBTI) and Gender Nonconforming Inmates,

311 which DOJ describes 

as follows:

The standards account in various ways for the particular vulnerabilities of inmates who are 

LGBTI or whose appearance or manner does not conform to traditional gender 

expectations. The standards require training in effective and professional communication 

with LGBTI and gender nonconforming inmates and require the screening process to 

consider whether the inmate is, or is perceived to be, LGBTI or gender nonconforming. 

The standards also require that post-incident reviews consider whether the incident was 

motivated by LGBTI identification, status, or perceived status. In addition,... the final 

standards do not allow placement of LGBTI inmates in dedicated facilities, units, or wings 

in adult prisons, jails, or community confinement facilities solely on the basis of such 

identification or status, unless such placement is in a dedicated facility, unit, or wing 

established in connection with a consent decree, legal settlement, or legal judgment for the 

purpose of protecting such inmates... such placement is not allowed at all in juvenile 

facilities.312

Based on the findings of the PREA Commission including data showing factors that increase risk 

of sexual assault, to protect against risk of sexual assault and to protect privacy rights, PREA 

national standards regulations limit cross-gender viewing and body searches or pat-downs.

313 But 

if a prison system improperly classifies a transgender inmate, that inmate could be subjected to 

cross-gender viewing and searches.314 The PREA standards do, however, state that prison officials 

are prohibited from searching a transgender inmate for the sole purpose of determining that 

inmate’s genital status.315 If the prison facility has need to know of the inmate’s genital status, it 

 

309 Under the regulatory definitions: “Transgender means a person whose gender identity (i.e., internal sense of

feeling male or female) is different from the person’s assigned sex at birth.” 28 C.F.R. § 115.5.

310 The regulations provide that: “Intersex means a person whose sexual or reproductive anatomy or chromosomal

pattern does not seem to fit typical definitions of male or female. Intersex medical conditions are sometimes referred

to as disorders of sex development.” 28 C.F.R. § 115.5.

311 28 C.F.R. § 115.5 (“Gender nonconforming means a person whose appearance or manner does not conform to

traditional societal gender expectations.”).

312 National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape, 77 Fed. Reg., 37106, 37109-110 (June 20,

2012) (codified at 28 C.F.R. § 115).

313 For further discussion of the relevant caselaw, see infra notes 915-67.

314 28 C.F.R. § 115.15(a).

315 Id. at § 115.15(e).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 55

may only learn that information through conversations with the inmate, medical records, or as part 

of a broader medical examination conducted by a medical professional in private.316 Furthermore:

In deciding whether to assign a transgender or intersex inmate to a facility for male or 

female inmates, and in making other housing and programming assignments, an agency 

may not simply assign the inmate to a facility based on genital status. Rather, the agency 

must consider on a case-by- case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate’s 

health and safety, and whether the placement would present management or security 

problems, giving serious consideration to the inmate’s own views regarding his or her own 

safety. In addition, transgender and intersex inmates must be given the opportunity to 

shower separately from other inmates.317

PREA further restricts the practice of placing inmates who have reported being the victim of a 

sexual assault in protective custody, which is also known as “segregation,” or solitary confinement, 

under the rationale that such measures will protect the inmate from further contact with the alleged 

assailant or harasser.318 Inmates may only be placed in protective custody if all other available 

alternatives to protect the inmate have been assessed and deemed inadequate.

319

These rights are specific and comprehensive, but when passing PREA, Congress did not create a 

private cause of action through which victims of sexual assault in prison could easily bring a 

lawsuit against specific officials or agencies that have not fully or effectively implemented PREA 

reforms.320 In order to file a lawsuit, inmates must claim another violation, which is typically made 

under the Eighth Amendment or Section 1983.

321 As discussed above, that constitutional violation 

requires proof of intent (deliberate indifference), a higher standard.322 Also, DOJ has used evidence 

of PREA violations in its CRIPA lawsuits against institutions with a pattern or practice of 

violations.

323

 

316 Id.

317 77 Fed. Reg. 37,110.

318 28 C.F.R. § 115.43.

319 Id.

320 Lena Palacios, “The Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Limits of Liberal Reform.” University of Minnesota,

The Gender Policy Report, Feb. 17, 2017, https://genderpolicyreport.umn.edu/the-prison-rape-elimination-act-andthe-limits-of-liberal-reform/ (hereinafter Palacios, “The Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Limits”).

321 Billy Scaltsas, “The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA): Shielding Prisons from Accountability for Sexual

Abuse,” Lambda Legal, June 13, 2015,https://www.lambdalegal.org/blog/20150613_humphrey-plra.

322 See supra notes 191 and 218-26.

323 See infra Table 11 and notes 1287-90.
56 WOMEN IN PRISON

The Gender Policy Report states that some prison officials have been misinterpreting PREA 

standards to discipline prisoners for consensual sexual activity or non-gender conforming sexual 

behavior, sometimes resulting in criminal prosecutions.324 Also, in response to PREA, some 

prisons have implemented a blanket ban on any sexual activity, which disproportionately affects 

LGBT inmates.325 Conversely, some prison staff have been misinterpreting PREA by claiming that 

transgender inmates consented to sexual activity, when in fact they had been victims of sexual 

assault.326

At the Commission’s briefing, American University Law Professor Brenda Smith provided 

testimony that PREAs’ effectiveness has been limited in part by the Violence Against Women Act 

of 1994 (VAWA).327 The 1994 VAWA and its 2000 Reauthorization have prohibited federal 

funding of any services helping any person with a felony conviction,328 meaning that organizations 

specializing in assisting women in prison were forced in some cases to choose between accepting 

federal VAWA funds and assisting female inmates who have been victims of custodial sexual 

abuse.329 Professor Brenda Smith published a law review article finding that: 

While initially enacted to prevent male perpetrators from gaining access to funds meant to 

assist female victims, the prohibition found in both VAWA I and VAWA II on the use of 

funds for any individual in custody, means that the significant number of women in prison 

with histories of physical and sexual abuse both prior to and during imprisonment are 

ineligible for services funded by VAWA II, the largest source of funding nationally for 

these programs.330

The 2019 VAWA Reauthorization Act, H.R. 1585, would, if enacted, allow funding to be used for 

services for women prisoners who have been abused, but the assistance could only be provided 

while in a custodial setting, not after they have left prison.331 Further, the proposed legislation as 

 

324 Palacios, “The Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Limits.”

325 Ibid.

326 See, Battista v. Clarke, 645 F. 3d 449, 452 (1st Cir. 2011); see also Palacios, “The Prison Rape Elimination Act

and the Limits.”

327 Smith Statement, at 7; The Violence Against Women Act, Title IV of P.L. 103-322, 108 Stat. 1796 (1994)

(Codified at 34 U.S.C. § 12291 et seq.).

328 34 U.S.C § 20101; 67 Fed. Reg. 56444 (Sept. 3, 2002); see also Brenda V. Smith, “Sexual Abuse of Women in

United States Prisons: A Modern Corollary of Slavery,” 33 Fordham Urb. L. J. 571, 592 (2006) (hereinafter Smith,

“Sexual Abuse of Women in United States Prisons.”).

329 Smith Statement, at 7.

330 Smith, “Sexual Abuse of Women in United States Prisons,” p. 592.

331 Smith Statement, at 7; see also Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, H. R. 1585, 116th Cong.

(2019) (passed House, awaiting vote in the Senate), https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 57

passed in the House would introduce additional data collection about women in prison.332 As of 

this writing, the bill has not yet been taken up in the Senate.333

Further Federal Legal Protections for Women in Prison, and Barriers to Enforcement

Inmates’ constitutional and statutory rights can also be upheld through federal statutes prohibiting 

deprivation of civil rights, including under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (“Section 1983”), which is a modern 

codification of the post-Reconstruction Enforcement Acts that prohibit deprivation of civil 

rights.334

Section 1983 permits prisoners to sue local or state officials whom they believe to have violated 

the federal rights of the prisoners in some way.335 Section 1983 has been successfully used by 

female prisoners to hold prison officials liable for their actions, such as in Giron v. Corrections 

Corp. of America, when a corrections official was found liable for the rape of a female prisoner.

336

Prisoners’ constitutional rights can be enforced against federal government officials in a type of 

lawsuit called Bivens actions. In Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of 

Narcotics, the Supreme Court allowed individuals to hold federal officials acting under the color 

of law liable for money damages for violating an individual’s constitutional rights.337 However, 

Bivens does not allow for lawsuits against federal agencies or entities, as it only applies to the 

 

bill/1585/text#toc-HB83E7824A6FF4289868F260536D49D1D (text of bill), https://www.congress.gov/bill/116thcongress/house-bill/1585/actions (accessed Oct. 1, 2019).

332 Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, H. R. 1585, at § 1103.

333 Id.

334 42 U.S.C. § 1983; see also 42 U.S.C. § 1985 (conspiracy to deprive civil rights).

335 Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961); Monell v. New York City Dep’t of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978).

336 Giron v. Corrections Corp. of America, 14 F. Supp. 2d 1245, 1247-51 (D.N.M. 1998) (“[Defendant] forced

[plaintiff] to have sex with him under color of state law because he exercised coercive authority over her through his

employment, and because he used his employment to gain access to her-he used his state-conferred authority as a

corrections officer to accomplish the deed”).

337 Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 397-98 (1971) (holding that the Constitution

implicitly creates a private cause of action against federal government officials who violate Constitutional rights).
58 WOMEN IN PRISON

individual officials.338 And while a Bivens action does allow for prisoners to recover monetary 

damages, it does not permit a court to order injunctive relief.339

Additionally, legal doctrines of immunity provide formidable shields from liability for prison 

officials. The doctrine of sovereign immunity provides that federal and state entities (and officials 

acting in their official capacity for such entities) are immune from liability unless it is specifically 

waived.340 For example, some prison officials have been sued by women under the Federal Tort 

Claims Act, which provides that they may be held liable in the same manner as a private person 

for negligence.341 However, the Act specifically did not waive the exception for discretionary 

activities, which are those falling outside of actions taken on behalf of the entity.

342 In several cases, 

prison officials have successfully utilized the discretionary defense to avoid liability for failure to 

protect women in prison against abuse.343

Another form of immunity, qualified immunity, is also available to government officials who are 

acting in their official capacity at the time and did not or could not have reasonably known that 

their conduct would violate clearly established constitutional or statutory rights.

344 Qualified 

immunity can be overcome by a plaintiff if she is able to establish that, 1) a constitutional right 

was violated due to the officer, and 2) the violated right was clearly established.

345 Put differently, 

in addition to a constitutional right existing, a prison official must have had notice that his or her 

actions would clearly result in a violation of constitutional rights.346

 

338 Rachel Meeropol and Ian Head, eds., Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook, (Center for Constitutional Rights and the 

National Lawyers Guild, 5th ed. 2010), ch. 2, http://jailhouselaw.org/bivens-actions-federal-injunctions/;

(hereinafter Meeropol and Head, Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook); Erwin Chemerinsky, Closing the Courthouse 

Doors, 90 DENV. U. L. REV. 317, 325 (2012) 

https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1049&context=faculty_scholars

hip.

339 Bivens, 403 U.S. at 410 (1971)(“It is damages or nothing.”).

340 See infra notes 724-40 (discussing sovereign immunity defense in cases brought by women in prison).

341 Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946, Pub. L. 80-773, 62 Stat. 869 (codified as 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1); see also infra 

notes 722-23. 

342 See infra note 724.

343 See infra notes 725-34.

344 See, e.g., Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231 (2009).

345 Id. and see Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201-2 (2001).

346 See Saucier, 533 U.S. at 202 (“If the law did not put the officer on notice that his conduct would be clearly unlawful, 

summary judgment based on qualified immunity is appropriate.” See Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 

1092, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986) (qualified immunity protects ‘all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly 

violate the law’).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 59

Enacted in 1996, the Prison Litigation Reform Act347 also imposes restrictions on prisoners’ ability 

to pursue legal claims in an effort to reduce the number of suits filed in the courts by inmates. It 

requires that prisoners exhaust all available administrative remedies before bringing any federal 

civil rights claims.348 Moreover, the statutory provisions permit federal judges to directly dismiss 

an action that is “frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or 

seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.”349 Such cases may be 

dismissed after a motion by defense counsel or by the court itself.350 Research indicates that the 

Prison Litigation Reform Act limits meritorious claims as well as frivolous ones, counter to the 

framer’s objective.351 Moreover, unlike any other action brought under Section 1983 to enforce 

civil rights, the Prison Litigation Reform Act also requires that inmates suffer a physical injury in 

order to file a lawsuit, unless there was a prior sexual act.352 This is evident in the following 

statutory language: “No Federal civil action may be brought by a prisoner confined in a jail, prison, 

or other correctional facility, for mental or emotional injury suffered while in custody without a 

prior showing of physical injury or the commission of a sexual act.”353

The Prison Litigation Reform Act also limits attorneys’ fees to 25 percent of the total judgment 

for plaintiffs, and the hourly rate that their attorneys may receive is limited to 150 percent of that 

of public defenders.354 Legal scholarship has noted the fees prohibition is contrary to the stated 

intent of the law – to deter frivolous cases – because it only applies to meritorious cases.355 The 

Commission received testimony from Cardozo Law Professor Betsy Ginsberg that two of these 

 

347 The Prison Litigation Reform Act is codified in part at 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) (requiring that inmates exhaust all 

administrative remedies before filing suit); 42 U.S.C. §1997e(d) (limiting attorneys’ fees); 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e) (proof 

of purely mental or emotional injury is not enough to recover damages, inmates must show physical injury in order to 

recover); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b) (requiring that plaintiffs pay court fees in full, court fees cannot be waived); 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1915(g) (implementing the ‘three strikes rule’ requiring that each lawsuit or appeal filed by an inmate that is 

dismissed for being frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim counts as a ‘strike.’ After three strikes, inmates are 

no longer allowed to file additional lawsuits in forma pauperis meaning that all court filing fees must be paid up front).

348 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) (“No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, 

or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such 

administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.”).

349 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c) (as amended by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321-

71).

350 Id.

351 See Margo Schlanger, Inmate Litigation, 116 HARV. L. REV. no. 6, p. 155, (2003).

352 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e).

353 Id.

354 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d) (as amended by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321-

71) (attorneys’ fees limited to 25% of judgment for plaintiff, with excess to be paid by the defendant but only up to 

150% of the judgment, and the hourly fees being limited to 150% of that of public defenders).

355 See, e.g., David C. Fathi, The Challenge of Prison Oversight, 47 AM. CRIM. L. REV. 1453-1462, at 1456 (2010).
60 WOMEN IN PRISON

hurdles, the administrative exhaustion provision and the attorneys’ fees provision, make it 

particularly difficult for prisoners to have their cases heard in court.356 Ginsberg explained that the 

exhaustion of administrative remedies requirement allows prison officials to control inmates’ 

access to the courts by making grievance forms unavailable, making the process complicated and 

technical, and retaliating against prisoners who file grievances.357 Prisons may also require that 

inmates begin the administrative process within a short window after the alleged incident, 

sometimes in as few as 15-30 days.358 Law Professor Gabriel Arkles asserts that, “Particularly for 

survivors reeling from the trauma of sexual abuse and reasonably fearful of retaliation for 

complaining about it, a two-week timeline is often not feasible.”359

By limiting attorneys’ fees, the Prison Litigation Reform Act makes it more difficult for prisoners 

to hire lawyers to represent them,

360 and most inmates are forced to represent themselves (pro se), 

thus making the unpresented incarcerated less likely to succeed.

361 Former San Quentin warden 

and California corrections director Jeanne Woodford has stated, “[private] litigation is probably 

the only thing that allows us to do our jobs as professionals...I said to the judge, ‘if it wasn’t for 

this litigation, I wouldn’t be able to do my job as a warden, and my job as a warden is to keep 

everyone safe.’”362 In her testimony before the Commission, Professor Betsy Ginsberg stated that

“[t]he attorneys’ fees provision essentially guts fees-shifting that is otherwise available in civil 

rights actions by drastically reducing the fees that lawyers can recover after bringing a successful 

prisoners’ right case, which is a provision that further compounds the access to counsel 

problem.”363

The following chapters will examine how the above civil rights law framework does or does not 

protect the fundamental rights of women in prison through the various stages of their incarceration.

 

356 Ginsberg Testimony, at 137.

357 Ibid.

358 Billy Scaltsas, “The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA): Shielding Prisons from Accountability for Sexual

Abuse,” Lambda Legal Blog, June 13, 2015, https://www.lambdalegal.org/blog/20150613_humphrey-plra

(hereinafter Scaltsas, “The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA): Shielding Prisons from Accountability for Sexual

Abuse”).

359 Gabriel Arkles, Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Perpetuation of Sexual Harm, 17 N.Y.U.J. OF LEGIS. AND

PUB. POL’Y 801, 810 (2014), https://www.nyujlpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Arkles-Prison-Rape-EliminationAct-Litigation-17nyujlpp801.pdf (hereinafter Arkles, Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Perpetuation of Sexual

Harm).

360 Scaltsas, “The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA): Shielding Prisons from Accountability for Sexual Abuse.”

361 Ibid.

362 David Fathi, “No Equal Justice: The Prison Litigation Reform Act in the United States,” Human Rights Watch,

June 16, 2009, https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/06/16/no-equal-justice/prison-litigation-reform-act-unitedstates#8f215f.

363 Ginsberg Testimony, p. 137; U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Objective Prison Classification: A Guide, p. xviii.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 61

CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY 

DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 

Background on Women in Prison and Custodial Classification 

Prior to or when a woman first enters the prison system, she will be subject to custodial 

classification. Classification and needs/risk assessment tools are used at all levels of corrections, 

and they determine where an individual will be housed and consequently, conditions of 

confinement, including what programs may be available to the individual. Custodial classification 

uses actuarial tools to predict factors such as a prisoner’s likelihood of re-offending, and whether 

prisoners will pose security risks to themselves, fellow inmates, and prison staff.364 The literature 

on custodial classification also stresses the importance of using both static factors, which are 

unchangeable aspects of a person (e.g. criminal record), and dynamic factors, which are aspects of 

the individual that are amendable and can be addressed through treatment (e.g. drug or alcohol 

abuse and other criminogenic needs), in developing classification systems.365 Valid and equitable 

classification is critical because how inmates are classified impacts decisions regarding their 

programming, housing, and work assignments.366 According to a 2004 National Institute of 

Corrections publication on objective prisoner classifications, which included guidelines for 

facilities, providing accurate classification assignments is also vital to allowing for prisoners to 

live in the least restrictive environment possible and have access to suitable programs, which 

allows them more opportunities to return to their community rehabilitated.367 In addition to 

custodial classification, many prison facilities also assess an individual’s needs for rehabilitative 

 

364 Salisbury Statement, at 3; see also U.S. Dep’t of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, Classification of

Women Offenders: Gender-Responsive Approaches to Risks/Needs Assessment, by Patricia Van Voorhis, 2004, pp.

2-3, 5, https://nicic.gov/classification-women-offenders-gender-responsive-approach-riskneeds-assessment;

(hereinafter DOJ, Classification of Women Offenders: Gender-Responsive Approaches.); see also U.S. Dep’t of

Justice, National Institute of Corrections, Objective Prison Classification: A Guide for Correctional Agencies, by

James Austin and Patricia Hardyman, 2004, p. 4,

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/019319.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Objective Prison Classification: A

Guide).

365 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, Developing Gender-Specific Classification Systems for

Women Offenders, by Patricia L. Hardyman and Patricia Van Voorhis (2004) p.viii-ix, https://nicic.gov/developinggender-specific-classification-systems-women-offenders (hereinafter DOJ, Developing Gender-Specific

Classification Systems for Women Offenders.); see also Salisbury Statement, at 4-5 (defining criminogenic needs as

factors that are “statistically predictive of future criminal behavior and, when treated, reduce an individual’s

likelihood of engaging in criminal behavior (e.g., substance abuse, antisocial attitudes, lack of employable skills,

educational needs”)).

366 DOJ, Classification of Women Offenders: Gender-Responsive Approaches, p 4.

367 DOJ, Objective Prison Classification: A Guide, p. 4; see also Salisbury Statement, at 4.
62 WOMEN IN PRISON

programs, treatment, and services upon entering prison through needs assessment tools, which will 

also be discussed in this chapter.368

In the late 1990s to the late 2000s, the National Institute of Corrections, a division of the 

Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), funded several cooperative agreements 

and published related reports intended to better understand the landscape and efficacy of custodial 

classification practices for women in prison in the U.S.369 The aforementioned cooperative 

agreements and reports demonstrated that most of the state Departments of Corrections and the 

BOP primarily use the same classification system for both men and women in prison.370

Researchers and practitioners have come to different conclusions concerning the appropriateness 

of using the same classification system for both men and women in prison. On the one hand, some 

experts argue that women entering prison generally have trauma histories and needs that are 

distinct from men, which, they argue, requires correctional institutions to develop and implement 

gender-responsive programming, policies, and classification systems for women in prison.371 On 

the other hand, other experts assert that prisons often, and should, take a gender-neutral approach 

 

368 Salisbury Statement, at 5.

369 National Institute of Corrections uses cooperative agreements to execute much of the agency’s strategic plan.

These agreements are a form of assistance relationship whereby National Institute of Corrections is involved during

the performance of award. See U.S. Dep’t of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, About NIC Overview,

https://nicic.gov/about-us (accessed Aug.19, 2019); see also DOJ, Developing Gender-Specific Classification

Systems for Women Offenders, p. 9, 12-14. (noting that the aforementioned classification cooperative agreements

were administered by Dr. Patricia Van Voorhis, at the Center for Criminal Justice Research at the University of

Cincinnati, who provide technical assistance to Colorado, Hawaii, and Nebraska and Dr. Patricia Hardyman at the

Institute on Crime, Justice and Corrections at George Washington University, who provided technical assistance to

Florida, Idaho, West Virginia, and Wisconsin); see also Patricia Van Voorhis, Jennifer Peiler, Lois Presser, Georgia

Spiropoulis, and Jennifer Sutherland, Classification of Women Offenders: A National Assessment of Current

Practices and the Experiences of Three States, The Center for Criminal Justice Research, University of Cincinnati,

pp. 2, 10-11, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.124.448&rep=rep1&type=pdf (accessed

Oct.18, 2019) (noting results of the cooperative agreements on women in prison and classification systems)

(hereinafter Van Voorhis et al., Classification of Women Offenders: A National Assessment of Current Practices and

the Experiences of Three States).

370 See, e.g. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, Women Offenders: Programming Needs and

Promising Approaches, by Merry Morash, Timothy Bayum, and Barbara Koons (Aug. 1998), p. 3

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/171668.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Women Offenders: Programming Needs and

Promising Approaches) (noting that “[d]espite women’s different needs, circumstances, and risk profiles, the same

classification instrument was used for women and men in 39 [s]tates; in 7 [s]tates the instrument for men was

adapt4ed for women, and in 3 [s]tates a special instrument was used”); see also Salisbury Statement, at 4.

371 Barbara Owen, James Wells, and Jocelyn M. Pollock, In Search of Safety: Confronting Inequality in Women’s

Imprisonment, (Oakland: University of California Press, 2017), p. 36-8 (hereinafter Owen et al., In Search of

Safety); see also DOJ, Developing Gender-Specific Classification Systems for Women Offenders, p. 11, 27.; see also

Salisbury Statement, at 4; see also Mooney Statement, at 7-8.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 63

to their classification tools and other policies in order to avoid disparities issues or legal challenges, 

and to maximize efficiency in their classification process.372

Custodial Classification and Women in State Prisons 

In 2001, the National Institute of Corrections published the results of a national survey of state 

correctional classification directors finding that only 14 states validated373 their respective 

classification systems on women in prison for accuracy in assigning them to an appropriate risk 

level.

374 According to the survey, classification directors believed that the gender-neutral systems 

were creating problems of over-classification—defined as placing a person in a higher risk or 

custodial classification than is necessitated based on the actual level of threat posed by his or her 

behavior—for women in prison.375 Professor Emily J. Salisbury, Associate Professor of Criminal 

Justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, testified regarding the impact that overclassification may have on women in prison. In particular, Dr. Salisbury stated that: 

[t]hese custody systems often violate the legal mandate for holding prisoners in the least 

restrictive environment. Even if women are held in a single prison despite their custody 

levels (as is the case in many state departments of corrections) the proscriptive labels of 

maximum, medium, and minimum custody determine nearly every subsequent decision 

made on behalf of the imprisoned person (e.g., assigned housing unit, freedom of 

movement throughout the prison facility, types of restraints required while transporting, 

access to programming and visitation, access to personal property, etc.). In other words, if 

custody classification on the front end of the intake process goes wrong, it goes wrong 

throughout the rest of her sentence, potentially even affecting her community placement 

and reentry opportunities upon release.

376

 

372 Tim Brennan, “Institutional Classification of Females: Problems and Some Proposals for Reform,” in Female

Offenders: Critical Perspectives and Effective Intervention, ed. Ruth T. Zaplin, (New York: Aspen Publishers,

1998), p. 179-20 (hereinafter Brennan, “Institutional Classification of Females: Problems and Some Proposals for

Reform”).

373 See DOJ, Objective Prison Classification; A Guide, p. 7 (noting that classification validation refers to the “accuracy 

of the classification system in predicting a prisoner’s behavior and assigning him or her to an appropriate risk level.”).

374 Van Voorhis et al., Classification of Women Offenders: A National Assessment of Current Practices and the 

Experiences of Three States, p. 12. 

375 Ibid., 12 ; see also U.S. Dep’t of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, Achieving Accurate Pictures of Risk

and Identifying Gender Responsive Needs: Two New Assessments for Women Offenders, by Patricia Van Voorhis,

Emily Salisbury, Emily Wright, and Ashley Bauman (Jan. 2008), p. 2,

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/022844.pdf.

376 Salisbury Statement, at 4 (emphasis added); see also Salisbury Statement, p. 34 (noting that “[t]he cost of treating

women like men are vast and exacerbated in confinement settings. A body of research shows that when we use

offender risks and needs assessments designed for men with women, they most typically end up over-classifying

women. This means that they over-predict women's likelihood of engaging in misconducts in prison and recidivism
64 WOMEN IN PRISON

Some state departments of corrections make modifications to their gender-neutral classification 

systems in an effort to provide more suitable classification assignments for women in prison. This 

is because among other factors, on average, women in prison score lower on risk assessment scales 

than their male counterparts and have lower base rates of criminal history.377 These systems 

typically employ one of three modification strategies to better address the needs of women in 

prison: override scored custodial levels, adjust risk factors, or develop distinct classification 

systems for women in prison.378 First, prison officials may use classification and assessment score 

overrides or different cutoff scores to correct for the over-classification of women in prison, such 

that a woman’s score must be higher than a man’s before a given custodial classification will show 

analogous predicted rates of recidivism.379 Research suggests that while this common modification 

may be beneficial as a short-term resolution for addressing a state’s concerns about gender overclassification, long-term problems may be presented as often, these classification decisions are 

based on subjective overrides rather than statistically corroborated risk factors.380 A second method 

is to adjust the current risk factors for women in prison.381 This strategy is usually employed by 

state prisons that have studied and found a statistically significant difference in the predictive 

power of the risk factors for their male and female inmates.382 In particular, the most common risk 

factors modified to better measure the potential risk posed by women in prison include: criminal 

history, current offense, institutional adjustment, education, history of substance abuse, and mental 

health issues.383 Third, on rare occasions, state prisons use entirely separate systems for assessing 

risk amongst men and women in prison.384

In its 2004 guidelines issued to facilities, based on the following reasoning, the National Institute 

of Corrections concluded that the first option, modifying risk factors, was best for women:

NIC has long advocated for the validation of any classification system within the 

population to which it is to be applied. The analyses highlighted in this chapter should be 

 

in the community. This over prediction causes prisons to keep women in more severe prison conditions and to put

more restrictions on them than is warranted by their behavior compared to men.”)

377 Brennan, “Institutional classification of females: Problems and some proposals for reform,” p. 188-9.

378 DOJ, Objective Prison Classification: A Guide, p. xviii.

379 Ibid.; see also Brennan, “Institutional classification of females: Problems and some proposals for reform,” pp.

188-9.

380 DOJ, Objective Prison Classification; A Guide, p. xviii; see also Brennan, “Institutional classification of females:

Problems and some proposals for reform,” p. 188-9.

381 DOJ, Objective Prison Classification: A Guide, p. xviii.

382 Ibid.

383 Ibid., 51.

384 Ibid., 55-6.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 65

replicated in other jurisdictions before final conclusions are drawn. Nevertheless, 

modifying current risk factors and/or scale cut points is the best option for making 

classification systems more responsive to the risk and needs of women prisoners because 

it refines risk factors and tests them in the population to which they will be applied. This 

strategy also provides the opportunity to develop and test new factors to assess the risk 

posed by women prisoners. The other two strategies, which do not rely on objective, 

reliable assessments, are at best short-term options for managing women prisoners during 

the development and pilot testing of a more gender-responsive system.385

Several state Departments of Corrections have used some of the aforementioned modifications to 

their classification system to attempt to better address the needs of women in prison. These 

classification changes have usually come about as a result of litigation or a federal court mandate 

regarding parity and conditions of confinement for women in prison.386 Others have come about 

through federally funded initiatives such as cooperative agreements with the National Institute of 

Corrections that provided technical assistance to seven state Departments of Corrections (i.e. 

Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, West Virginia, and Wisconsin).387 While each state 

Department of Corrections had a unique set of issues and questions regarding the classification of 

its women inmates, distinct patterns arose across all states that participated in the cooperative 

agreements.388 With the assistance of the National Institute of Corrections, the aforementioned 

state Departments of Corrections modified their classification systems using tested methods to 

avoid over-classification.389 This included introducing dynamic risk factors – as opposed to static 

demographic or criminal history data – into their assessment tools.390 By including such factors as 

age, education, employment, and performance in institutional programs and work, institutions 

were able to more accurately classify women in their systems.

391

Leann Bertsch, Director of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

testified that many women in North Dakota prison are mothers of young children. She shared that 

Native American women are disproportionately imprisoned, as they are only 5 percent of the 

 

385 Ibid.

386 Moss Statement, at 14.

387 DOJ, Developing Gender-Specific Classification Systems for Women Offenders, p. xi; see also Salisbury

Statement, at 5.

388 DOJ, Developing Gender-Specific Classification Systems for Women Offenders, p. 12.

389 Ibid., xi-xiv.

390 Ibid.

391 Ibid.
66 WOMEN IN PRISON

population, but make up 34 percent of women in prison in her state.392 She stated that “Native 

American women have specific family, cultural, spiritual, and criminogenic needs that the [North 

Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] ND DOCR must provide,” and in 

particular, being far from reservations has been problematic, but they will soon move to a more 

central location closer to reservations and therefore closer to services.393

Several other state Departments of Corrections have begun to make amendments to their 

classification systems to better address the needs of women in prison (e.g., Alabama, California, 

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, and Rhode Island).

394 For example, 

Wendy Still, Chief Probation Officer of Alameda County, California testified at the Commission’s 

February 2019 briefing that California updated its Penal Code to include classification and 

programmatic changes for women in prison. Ms. Still stated that:

what the Penal Code required was that, for each woman coming into prison, that there 

would be an individual treatment and rehabilitative plan that was aligned services that the 

Department would review and update, and create a system of classifications specifically 

related to women prisoners, women inmates. Also, that there would be a staffing review; 

that specialized training for officers would take place, working in women’s prisons; that 

programs would be created that were gender-responsive and trauma informed.

395

Dr. Salisbury suspects that these changes in prisons always run the danger of being eradicated 

when a prison’s administration changes.396 This is why, in addition to the changes in their policies 

and procedures on behalf of women in prison, many experts also stress the importance of cultural 

changes in women’s prisons, and the most cogent way to sustain cultural changes in women’s 

prisons is for leadership to illustrate these changes and to properly train their staff on new policies 

and procedures.

397

 

392 Bertsch Testimony, p. 204 -5.

393 Bertsch Testimony, p. 205.

394 Salisbury Statement, at 5.

395 Still Statement, p. 267.

396 Salisbury Statement, at 5.

397 Moss Statement, at 15; see also Williams Statement, p. 216, Bertsch Testimony, p. 248.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 67

Custodial Classification and Women in Federal Prisons

BOP states that upon sentencing by a federal district court, it has sole responsibility for where a 

prisoner will serve the prisoner’s sentence, according to its internal rules set forth in a Program 

Statement consistent with federal statutory authority.398 Moreover:

The expected results of this Program Statement are:

a. Each inmate will be placed in a facility commensurate with their security and program 

needs through an objective and consistent system of classification which also allows 

staff to exercise their professional judgment; and,

b. Staff will systematically and objectively review an inmate’s classification making the 

environment in which they are housed safer for both inmates and staff while protecting 

the public from undue risk.

399

In most circumstances, initial BOP custodial classification designations are made by BOP staff at 

the Designation and Sentence Computation Center, who enter inmates’ information into SENTRY, 

a BOP database, from the sentencing court, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Attorney’s Office or other 

prosecuting authority and the U.S. Probation Office.

400 The SENTRY database collects important 

information on federal inmates including their location, medical history, and released data,

401 and 

calculates a score for each inmate, which is then matched with a commensurate security level 

institution.402 BOP’s internal regulations rate males and females differently in some respects. 

According to BOP’s Program Statement, the following security point score system applies for men 

and women in prison:

 

398 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification,

Program Statement P5100.08, Sept. 12, 2006, at ¶ 1, https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5100_008.pdf (“The

Bureau’s classification, designation and redesignation procedures are consistent with the statutory authority

contained in 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b). All classification, designation and redesignation decisions are made without

favoritism given to an inmate’s social or economic status”) (hereinafter DOJ, Inmate Security Designation and

Custody Classification, Program Statement).

399 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification, Program Statement, at ¶ 2.

400 Ibid., 8.

401 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Select Application Controls Review of the Federal Bureau

of Prisons’s Sentry Database System, July 2003, p. i, https://oig.justice.gov/reports/BOP/a0325/final.pdf.

402 Ibid.
68 WOMEN IN PRISON

Table 4: BOP Custodial Classification Point System403

Security Level Men Women

Minimum 0 – 11 points 0 – 15 points

Low 12 – 15 points 16 – 30 points

Medium 16 – 23 points Not Applicable

High 24 or more 31 or more points

Administrative All point totals All point totals

Source: BOP Program Statement, Inmate Security Designation and Custody 

Classification

The BOP has five security classification levels for inmates: minimum, low, medium (for male 

inmates only), high, and administrative.404 BOP’s classification security levels are based on 

features such as the presence of external patrols, security barriers, the type of housing within the 

facility, and staff-to-inmate ratio.405 BOP considers other factors such as the inmate’s home 

residence, overcrowding at an institution, security level or program recommended by the 

sentencing court, and additional security measures to ensure the protection of witnesses and the 

public.406

Women convicted of federal crimes are housed in one of the 29 BOP facilities for women, and 

there are 111 federal facilities for men.

407 BOP states that it attempts to assign women in prison to 

 

403 Ibid.

404 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Prison Security Levels,

https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_sec_levels.jsp (accessed Aug. 19, 2019) (Inmates that have

not been assigned a security level are categorized as “unclassified”); See also DOJ, Inmate Security Designation and

Custody Classification, Program Statement, p. 7, 9 (noting that women in federal prison are only classified as

minimum, low, high and administrative); see also Appendix B.

405 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, About Our Facilities,

https://www.bop.gov/about/facilities/federal_prisons.jsp (accessed Aug. 19, 2019).

406 DOJ, Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification, Program Statement, p. 7.

407 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Female Offenders,

https://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/female_offenders.jsp (accessed Aug. 19, 2019) (hereinafter U.S.

Dep’t of Justice, Female Offenders); see also U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Review of the

Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management of its Female Population, p. 3,

https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2018/e1805.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prison’s

Management of Its Female Inmate Population) (noting that 8 of these female institutions are a part of larger

facilities that also contain at least one other female institution. As a result, BOP’s female institutions are in 16

locations throughout the country); U.S. Dep’t pf Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Our Locations,

https://www.bop.gov/locations/list.jsp (accessed Oct. 4, 2019) (regarding 111 facilities for men); see also Email
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 69

facilities that correspond with their security level and programmatic needs (e.g. specific 

educational, vocational or substance abuse programs).408 Most women in federal prison are 

classified as low or minimum security.409 In fact, as of February 23, 2019, 50 percent of sentenced 

women in federal prison were classified as low security and 43 percent of sentenced women in 

prison were classified as minimum security.410

Needs Classification and Women in Prison

For the last three decades, in addition to custodial classification, facilities may also classify women 

and men in prison based on their programming needs.411 Early versions of risk/needs assessments 

were typically developed by correctional agencies, through their own research departments or in 

collaboration with academic researchers.412 More recently, these assessments have been developed 

and validated by researchers and academics and assess both static and dynamic risk factors.413 The 

most common of risk/needs assessment are the Level of Service Inventory - Revised (LSI-R) 

developed by Don Andrews and James Bonta and the Correctional Offender Management 

Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) developed by Tim Brennan and colleagues.

414

 

conversation between Alix McLearen, , and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S. Commission on

Civil Rights (Oct. 15, 2019) (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights) (noting that there are also some Federal

Bureau of Prisons facilities that are operated by private companies).

408 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Custody & Care, Designations,

https://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/designations.jsp (accessed Aug. 19, 2019) (hereinafter DOJ,

Custody & Care, Designations).

409 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 3; see also DOJ, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prison’s

Management of Its Female Inmate Population, p. 4.

410 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 3 (percentages calculated by the Commission staff).

411 Patricia Van Voorhis, Emily M. Wright, Emily Salisbury and Ashley Bauman, “Women’s Risk Factors and Their

Contributions to Existing Risk/Needs Assessment: The Current Status of Gender-Responsive Assessment,” Criminal

Justice and Behavior, vol. 37, iss. 3, (2010), p. 261-288, https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854809357442.

412 “Women’s Risk Needs Assessment Research,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas,

https://www.unlv.edu/ccjp/assessment/wrna (accessed Aug. 19, 2019) (The Women’s Risk Needs Assessment

Research was created via a cooperative agreement between the National Institute of Corrections and the University

of Cincinnati through research conducted by Patricia Van Voorhis, Emily Salisbury, Emily Wright, and Ashley

Bauman. The center is now run by Dr. Emily Salisbury at UNLV) (hereinafter “Women’s Risk Needs Assessment

Research,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas).

413 Sarah Desmarais and Jay Singh, “Risk Assessment Instruments Validated and Implemented in Correctional

Settings in the United States,” Council of State Governments Justice Center, Mar. 27, 2013.

414 Ibid.; see also “Use of Valid Actuarial Assessments of Risks and Needs,” National Parole Resource Center,

https://nationalparoleresourcecenter.org/action-guide-use-of-valid-actuarial-assessments-of-risks-andneeds/selecting-and-validating-an-assessment-instrument.htm (accessed Oct. 4, 2019).
70 WOMEN IN PRISON

Sometimes needs assessment tools drive custodial classification decisions, but it depends on the 

jurisdiction, and availability and capacity of rehabilitative programs.415 Needs assessments are 

used for case management purposes and referring individuals to various treatment rehabilitation 

programs available in the facility.416

In the late 2000s, the National Institute of Corrections and its partners through cooperative 

agreements developed and released the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment, which is a statistically 

validated risk/needs assessment device for women in prison.417 The Women’s Risk Needs 

Assessment was first developed through a pilot study with the Colorado Department of 

Corrections.418 The Women’s Risk Needs Assessment was later developed and validated during 

research projects with women under supervision in Maui County, Hawaii, and state departments 

of corrections in both Minnesota and Missouri.419 According to Dr. Salisbury, one of the 

researchers who helped to develop and validate the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment:

WRNA allows prison staff to measure and case-plan around the specific areas of risk and 

need that justice-involved women have, and the manner in which the assessment is 

conducted is intentionally designed to be delivered in a collaborative, gender-responsive 

and trauma-informed way with women.420

Since its development, the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment has been implemented in almost a 

dozen state departments of corrections as well as several countries.421 Some of the correctional 

departments implemented the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment through trainings and technical 

assistance on gender-responsive corrections delivered by the National Institute of Corrections, 

while other correctional departments have adopted them based on prison executive staff interested 

 

415 Salisbury Testimony, p. 52.

416 Ibid.

417 “Women’s Risk Needs Assessment Research,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas; see also Salisbury Statement, at

7; there are other less robust gender-responsive assessments available. See also Orbis Partners, “Service Planning

Instrument for Women (SPIn-WTM),” https://orbispartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SPin-W-DataSheet.pdf

(accessed Aug.19, 2019) (SPIn-W is assessment tool is comprised of approximately 100 items that assess risk,

needs, and protective factors relevant for increasing responsiveness in casework with justice-involved women. This

tool was selected for use as part of the Women Offender Case Management Model); see also “COMPAS Women

Risk/Needs Assessment and Case Planning,” NorthPointe

http://www.northpointeinc.com/files/downloads/Womens.pdf (accessed Oct. 18, 2019) (noting that COMPAS

Women’s Instrument is a computerized tool which includes an integrated case planning feature).

418 Salisbury Statement, at 7.

419 Ibid.

420 Salisbury Testimony, p. 33.

421 Ibid.; see also Salisbury Statement, at 1.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 71

in using gender-responsive tools, with some also seeking to shrink the number of women in prison 

due to overcrowding.422

Evidence out of Alabama Department of Corrections suggests that the Women’s Risk Needs 

Assessment can more accurately assess the custodial classification for women in prison than risk 

assessments designed for men in prison that are also applied to women in prison.423 According to 

Dr. Wendy Williams, Deputy Commissioner for Women’s Services for the Alabama Department 

of Corrections, prior to implementing the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment, more than 30 percent 

of women in Alabama Department of Corrections were classified as moderate or high risk and 47 

percent of women in Alabama Department of Corrections were classified as low risk.424 However, 

two years after implementing the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment, only 20 percent of women in 

prison in Alabama were classified as moderate or high risk and more than 70 percent of women 

were classified as low risk.425 According to Dr. Williams, the custodial classification breakdown 

after the implementation of the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment more accurately depicts women 

in prison and the potential risk they may pose to the institution and public safety.426

According to Dr. Salisbury, BOP has not implemented the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment in 

federal prisons.427 According to its own guidelines issues for correctional institutions in 2004, BOP 

should at least use the “best option” among those identified in 2004, “modifying current risk factors 

and/or scale cut points” to make “classification systems more responsive to the risk and needs of 

women prisoners.”428 Furthermore, the current internal rules seem to include weighting of different 

risk factors differently for men and women.429 At the briefing, the Commission asked a BOP 

representative why the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment was not implemented in federal prisons 

for women, as National Institute of Corrections, a division of the BOP, funded the development of 

the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment.

430 Dr. McLearen of the BOP stated that: 

 

422 Emily Salisbury, Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Follow-up Written Statement for the Women in

Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Apr. 5, 2019, at l

(hereinafter Salisbury, Follow-up Statement).

423 Williams Testimony, p. 218.

424 Ibid.

425 Ibid.

426 Ibid.

427 Salisbury Testimony, pp. 33-4.

428 Ibid.

429 Ibid.

430 Commissioner Adegbile, WIP Briefing, p. 82.
72 WOMEN IN PRISON

Bureau of Prisons uses a custody classification system that’s been validated on our 

population using data specific to our population. And men and women were evaluated and 

validated separately. There are different cutting scores and values applied so that the tool 

is predictive for women that are in Bureau of Prisons custody. That’s primarily to the risk 

portion [of the classification process] although there are need pieces like substance abuse 

that are woven into that tool.

And then we do individualized assessments that I referenced earlier with individuals from 

there. So that is our current process but I believe people have mentioned that under the 

First Step Act, we’re working expeditiously to implement the provisions of that as 

required.431

Some experts contend that there is significant harm to women in prison when classifications 

systems are not specifically gender-responsive and trauma-informed (as the Women’s Risk Needs 

Assessment is).432 Moreover, they contend that when gender-responsive classification systems are 

not in place, the likelihood that women are over-classified increases, which, they argue, causes 

prisons to keep women in more restrictive conditions than is warranted by their behavior.433 Dr.

Salisbury stated that the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment should be more accessible and that 

funding cuts by the National Institute of Corrections were compromising the ability of state and 

local institutions to implement it.434

Family Separation, Parenting, and Women in Prison

Placement and Women in Prison 

This section discusses how the distance and amount of women’s facilities create barriers to family 

visitations, parenting, and maintaining familial relationships. As mentioned above, BOP houses

female federal inmates in one of their 29 facilities, which means that there is an average of fewer

than one women’s federal facility per state. Women’s facilities are especially lacking in the 

Northwestern and Central parts of the United States (see Figure 9). The figure below and Appendix 

C detail the locations and types of facilities that women in federal prison are housed in. 

 

431 McLearen Testimony, p. 79-80.

432 Salisbury Testimony, p. 32-37.

433 Ibid.

434 Salisbury Follow-up Statement, at 1-2.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 73

Figure 9: Map of BOP Institution Female Inmates435

Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons

Moreover, BOP’s placement policy states that the agency attempts to place all inmates in a facility 

within 500 miles of their home.436 The First Step Act of 2018 now also requires housing prisoners 

“as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence as possible, and to the extent 

practicable, in a facility within 500 driving miles of that residence.”437 Federal law now also 

requires that prisoners may transfer to facilities that are closer to their primary residence, subject 

to bed availability and security concerns, including recommendations of the sentencing court, the 

prisoner’s programmatic, mental and medical health needs, any expressed faith-based needs, and 

 

435 DOJ, “Female Offenders.”

436 DOJ, “Custody & Care, Designations;” see also McLearen Testimony, p. 62; see also Nathan James, “The First

Step Act of 2018: An Overview,” Congressional Research Service, Mar. 4, 2019, p. 17,

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45558. (noting that The First Step Act of 2018 “amends 18 U.S.C.

Section 3621(b) to require BOP to house prisoners in facilities as close to their primary residence as possible, and to

the extent practicable, within 500 driving miles, subject to a series of considerations. When making decisions about

where to house a prisoner, BOP must consider bedspace availability, the prisoner’s security designation, the

prisoner’s programmatic needs, the prisoner’s mental and medical health needs, any request made by the prisoner

related to faith-based needs, recommendations of the sentencing court, and other security concerns. BOP is also

required, subject to these considerations and a prisoner’s preference for staying at his/her current facility or being

transferred, to transfer a prisoner to a facility closer to his/her primary residence even if the prisoner is currently

housed at a facility within 500 driving miles.”)

437 The First Step Act of 2018, P. L. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 18 U.S.C.

§ 3621(b) deals specifically with the 500 mile residence requirement).
74 WOMEN IN PRISON

whether the prisoner wants a transfer.438 These same factors must also be taken into account when 

placing a prisoner for the first time.439

In addition, BOP’s Female Offender Manual states that the location of female inmates’ children 

and families should be considered and discussed when deciding where to place women in federal 

custody.440 However, placing women in prison near their families is challenging given the limited 

number of women’s facilities. In fact, more than 25 percent of women in federal prisons are housed 

in facilities further than 500 miles from their legal residence.441 By way of comparison, a recent 

study that analyzed data for the Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities found that only 

10 percent of people in state prisons lived over 500 miles from their homes.442 The issue of prison 

placement and distance from families therefore impacts women inmates significantly more than 

men inmates, if for no other reason than that there are fewer facilities in which to house 

incarcerated women, which increases their likelihood of distance from home. By comparison, BOP

has 127 facilities—an average of over 2 men’s prisons per state, in which men who have been 

convicted of federal crimes or are pretrial detainees may be housed.

443

At the Commission’s February briefing, BOP’s representative Dr. Alix McLearen stated that:

there’s 29 [women’s] facilities and I don’t think that we’re here to suggest that we build 

more prisons, but that means that just by math, if you’re spreading those across the country, 

there may not be a facility right near somebody’s home. 

[P]art of our process towards re-entry is the residential re-entry center, or what you might 

think of as a halfway house. We call them RRCs and those are the facilities that are 

community-based that somebody transitions into on their way out of the system where they 

can continue to do programs. And we have more than 200 of those facilities so it’s much 

more likely that somebody would be placed in their local community or very close to their 

 

438 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b).

439 Id.

440 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Female Offender Manual, Jan. 2, 2018,

https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5200.02_cn1.pdf; see also McLearen Testimony, p. 62.

441 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 3; see also Appendix C provides a breakdown of the number of

women in federal prison housed over 500 miles from their listed legal residence, by institution.

442 Bernadette Rabuy and Daniel Kopf, “Separation by Bars and Miles: Visitation in State Prisons,” Prison Policy

Initiative, Oct. 20, 2015, Figure 3, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/prisonvisits.html (hereinafter Rabuy and

Kopf, “Separation by Bars and Milestones”).

443 Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019 (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights) (noting that 11 of the

127 BOP facilities that house men are private prisons).
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 75

local community at that end part [of their sentence] before they are completely released 

from the system.444

Inmates serving lengthy sentences can mean that during the bulk of incarceration an inmate might

lack visits and connection to family that can support rehabilitation. Kaitlin Owens of the American 

Conservative Union told the Commission that “[a]ccess to visits and calls with loved ones help 

maintain a healthy mental state while incarcerated, and those who received visitors are 13 percent 

less likely to recidivate.”445

Many state departments of corrections also have a small number of facilities for women inmates.446

Also, women’s prisons are often located in rural areas that lack public transportation and lodging, 

which are far away from the urban communities where many of the women in prison lived prior 

to their incarceration and may create cultural barriers.447 This means that, in practice, many women 

are imprisoned a long distance from their homes, which reduces the possibility for family contact 

and maintaining familial relationships and hinders opportunities for rehabilitation.448 The distance 

and location where women are placed also adds significant financial costs and may even render 

the likelihood of prison visits impossible for some families.449

Washington, D.C. residents in prison face unique placement and family separation challenges in 

comparison to other U.S. inmates. Since the late 1990s, women and men in Washington, D.C. 

convicted under D.C. law of felony offenses and sentenced by D.C. courts are housed in federal 

prisons.450 Under federal statute, these local responsibilities of the D.C. government were 

 

444 McLearen Testimony, p. 62.

445 Owens Testimony, p. 30.

446 DOJ, Developing Gender-Specific Classification Systems, p. xviii.

447 Jade Laughlin, Bruce Arrigo, Kristie Blevins, and Charisse Coston, “Incarcerated Mothers and Child Visitation:

A Law, Social Science and Policy Perspective,” Criminal Justice Policy Review, vol. 19. no. 2 (June 2008), p. 215-

238 (hereinafter Laughlin et al., “Incarcerated Mothers and Child Visitation: A Law, Social Science and Policy

Perspective;” see also DOJ, Developing Gender-Specific Classification Systems, p. xviii ; see also Lashonia

Thompson-El, Written Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 5 (hereinafter Thompson-El Statement). 

448 Rabuy and Kopf, “Separation by Bars and Milestones,” at Figure 3; see also Laughlin et al., “Incarcerated

Mothers and Child Visitation: A Law, Social Science and Policy Perspective,” p. 215-6.

449 Ibid.

450 National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, 24 D.C. Code § 24-101, Pub. L.

No. 105-33, 111 Stat. 734; see also District of Columbia Government, Dep’t of Corrections, Department of

Corrections Closes Final Prison and Accomplishes Major Milestone, Nov. 19, 2001,

https://doc.dc.gov/release/department-corrections-closes-final-prison-and-accomplishes-major-milestone (noting

that several of the facilities on the Lorton Correctional Complex in Lorton, Virginia closed before the congressional

mandate and the women’s facility closed in 1998, and the remaining facilities closed over the next few years).
76 WOMEN IN PRISON

transferred to the federal government.451 As of November 2018, there were 161 female D.C. 

residents housed in federal prisons.452 About 24 percent of these women are serving time at the 

Federal Correctional Institution Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, which is about 185 

miles from D.C., and more than 9 percent of these women are serving time at the Federal Detention 

Center Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is about 141 miles from D.C.453 While 

the two aforementioned federal prisons are well within BOP’s 500-mile radius, some D.C. women 

complete their sentences as far as the Federal Correctional Institution Dublin in Dublin, California, 

which is more than 2,800 miles from D.C.454

Native American women in prison also face unique placement needs. At the Commission’s 

February briefing, Ms. Leann Bertsch, Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation, North Dakota 

testified that:

about 34 percent of our female population is Native American. That’s our largest minority 

population in North Dakota. And despite Native Americans composing just under five 

percent of the population, we have that high percentage incarcerated in our system. Native 

American women have specific family, cultural, spiritual, and criminogenic needs that the 

[Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation] DOCR must provide.

Currently, the women’s facility is far from most of the reservations in the state, as well as 

the cultural services provided in major cities. Moving to a more central location closer to 

both the reservations and these services will allow the [Director of Corrections and 

Rehabilitation] DOCR to provide for Native American women in custody.455

The Commission received testimony from Ms. Lashonia Thompson-El, Executive Director of 

Women Involved in Reentry Efforts, and a formerly incarcerated woman who served more than

18 years in various federal prisons. Ms. Thompson-El spoke first-hand about the difficulty that 

women in prison face in maintaining contact with their children and families while they are 

incarcerated.456 In particular, Ms. Thompson-El stated that:

 

451 D.C. Code § 24-101. Note that BOP designates that women serving short-term felony sentences be housed at the

Correctional Treatment Facility in D.C. See Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs,

D.C. Women in Prison: Continuing Problems and Recommendations for Change, Mar. 25, 2016, p. 9

http://www.washlaw.org/pdf/dc_women_in_prison_report.PDF; see also Thompson-El Statement, at 1.

452 Thompson-El Testimony, p. 185.

453 Ibid. (percentages calculated by Commission staff).

454 Ibid.

455 Bertsch Testimony, p. 205.

456 Thompson-El Statement, at 1.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 77

It is a nice gesture to mandate that everyone in the FBOP is at least [within] 500 [m]iles 

[of] their home. However, this is not nearly close enough for women in prison. Many of 

them were the primary caregiver of their children prior to incarceration and they have most 

likely left their children with elderly grandparents and extended family members. Many of 

these families are largely from disenfranchised, impoverished communities and cannot 

afford the cost of travel, and lodging required for visitation. Especially since FBOP 

facilities are almost always located in rural areas with no access to public transportation 

and sometimes lodging.

457

Advancements in technology have allowed for the introduction of email capability. Video

conferencing services at prisons have helped incarcerated men and women contact their family, 

friends and community members, but there are significant costs associated with this technology, 

and it is not always available. For instance, while the BOP offers telephone services at all of their 

facilities, video communication services are only available at 55 percent of its female facilities.458

According to the BOP, the cost of a video session is $6.00 for 25 minutes and inmates incur a 

$3.00 charge for no-shows.459 The following chart details the costs that federal inmates incur for 

phone services:

Table 5: BOP Costs Charged to Inmates for Telephone Services

Debit Calling 

Per Minute Rates

Prepaid Calling 

Per Minutes Rates 

(With No Connection Fee)

Collect Calling 

Per Minute Rate 

(With No Connection Fee)

Local $0.06 Local $0.06

Long Distance $0.21 Long Distance $0.21 Long Distance $0.25

Canada $0.35 Canada $0.35

Mexico $0.55

International $0.99

Source: BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 40

While many state prisons and local jails charge similar rates for telephone calls or video 

conferencing, a few state prisons and jails have made efforts to significantly reduce the cost of 

 

457 Ibid., 5.

458 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 40 (noting that the following 16 female facilities have video

services: FDC Alderson, FCI Aliceville, FPC Bryan, FMC Carswell, FPC Coleman, FPC and FSL Danbury, FCI

Dublin, FPC Greenville, SFF Hazelton, FPC Lexington, FPC Marianna, FPC Pekin, FPC Phoenix, FCI Tallahassee,

FPC Victorville, and FCI Waseca).

459 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 40.
78 WOMEN IN PRISON

phone calls (e.g. Texas),460 or make phone calls free for inmates (e.g. New York City, San 

Francisco).461 Improving the cost of calls from prisons and jails may assist incarcerated men and 

women in having more contact with their family and friends. Some experts say telephone calls or 

video conferencing can supplement, rather than replace, in-person visits—especially for 

incarcerated parents.462 Some institutions have banned in-person visits after implementing video 

visitation technology.463

Parenting in Prisons 

A 2010 BJS report entitled Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children shows that the majority of 

men and women in prison were parents of minor children prior to their incarceration.464 While 

most parents in prison are fathers, the number of mothers in prison is growing more rapidly (from 

 

460 Lauren McGaghy, “Texas Prisons Slash Inmate Phone Call Rates From 26 to 6 Cents Per Minute,” Dallas News,

Aug. 24, 2018, https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2018/08/24/texas-prisons-slash-inmate-phone-call-rates26-6-cents-per-minute.

461 Roxanne Squires, “New York City Makes All Inmate Phone Calls Free of Charge,” Correctional News, July 25,

2018, http://correctionalnews.com/2018/07/25/new-york-city-makes-inmate-phone-calls-free-charge/; see also

Dominic Fracassa, “SF to Allow Free Calls for Inmates, No Markups on Products Sold in Jail,” San Francisco

Chronicle, June 12, 2019, https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-to-allow-free-calls-for-inmates-nomarkups-on-13974972.php. 462 Emily Mooney and Steven Felton, “Family Through the Plexiglass Window,” The American Conservative, Oct.

16, 2018, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/family-through-the-plexiglass-window/ (hereinafter

Mooney and Felton, “Family Through the Plexiglass Window”); see also Sarah Beller, “Worlds Apart: Video-only

‘Visitation’ Shrouds the Reality of Life in Custody,” Real Life Magazine, Nov. 14, 2016,

https://reallifemag.com/worlds-apart/; see also Leon Digard, Margaret diZerega, Allon Yaroni, and Joshua Rinaldi,

“A New Role for Technology? Implementing Video Visitation in Prison,” Vera Institute of Justice, Feb. 2016, p. 10,

https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/video-visitation-inprison/legacy_downloads/video-visitation-in-prison_02.pdf.

463 Bernadette Rabuy and Peter Wagner, Screening Out Family Time: The For-Profit Video Visitation Industry in

Prisons and Jails, Prison Policy Initiative, Jan. 2015, p. 11,

https://static.prisonpolicy.org/visitation/ScreeningOutFamilyTime_January2015.pdf (noting that while almost state

prisons banned in-person visitation, 74 percent of jails banned in-person visits when they implemented video

visitation). The one state prison exception that uses video visitation instead of in-person visitation, Milwaukee

Secure Detention Facility in Wisconsin, considers itself to be very similar to a jail, writing on its website that it

“functions in a similar manner to that of a jail operation.” See Wisconsin Dep’t of Corrections, Milwaukee Secure

Detention Facility,

https://doc.wi.gov/Documents/OffenderInformation/AdultInstitutions/MSDFVisitingInformationEnglish.pdf

(accessed Aug. 19, 2019).

464 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children” by Laura

Glaze and Laura Maruschak, (Mar. 30, 2010), p. 1,https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pptmc.pdf (hereinafter DOJ,

“Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children.”); “Fact Sheet: Parents in Prison,” The Sentencing Project, Sept. 2012,

p. 1,https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Parents-in-Prison.pdf (hereinafter, “Parents in

Prison,” The Sentencing Project); see also Becki Ney, Principal of the Center for Effective Public Policy and

Director of the National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women, Written Statement for the Women in Prison:

Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019 at 7 (hereinafter

Ney Statement).
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 79

1991 to 2007, the number of fathers increased by 76 percent while the number of mothers increased 

by 122 percent).465 For example, as mentioned in Chapter 1, the number of women in prison in 

Oklahoma has increased substantially since 1980 and the state has the highest per capita women’s 

incarceration rate in the country.466 What is also relevant is that 85 percent of incarcerated women 

in Oklahoma are mothers.467 As in Oklahoma, across the country, women in state prisons (41 

percent) were more likely than their male counterparts (29 percent) to report having more than one 

child.468 In federal prisons, comparable percentages of mothers (36 percent) and fathers (39 

percent) reported having several children.469 In addition, incarcerated women disproportionately 

shouldered childcare responsibilities prior to their incarceration. In particular, only 18 percent of 

mothers in state prisons reported sharing the daily childcare of their children, compared to 63 

percent of fathers in state prisons.470 Approximately 10 percent of fathers in state prisons relied on 

someone to provide daily childcare for their children prior to their incarceration, compared to 5

percent of mothers. Analogous results were found amongst parents in federal institutions.471 Data 

also demonstrate that while men in prison primarily relied on the child’s mother to provide care 

for their children, incarcerated women primarily relied on the child’s grandparents—especially the 

child’s grandmother—to provide care (see Table 6).

472

The table below provides a summary of survey responses of the childcare arrangements of 

incarcerated parents by gender.

473

 

465 DOJ, “Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children,” p. 2.; see also “Parents in Prison,” The Sentencing Project,

p. 1.

466 See supra notes 62-64 and Figure 4. 

467 Sarah Stillman, “America’s Other Family Separation Crisis,” New Yorker, Oct. 28, 2018,

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/05/americas-other-family-separation-crisis (hereinafter Stillman,

“America’s Other Family Separation Crisis”).

468 DOJ, “Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children,” p. 2.

469 Ibid.

470 Ibid., 5

471 Ibid.

472 Mooney Testimony, p. 41; see also Thompson-El Statement, at 5; Mooney Statement, at 10.

473 DOJ, “Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children,” p. 10.
80 WOMEN IN PRISON

Table 6: Current Caregiver of Minor Children of Parents in State Prison in 2004, by Gender

Total

Children’s Caregiver

Men Women

Estimated Number of Parents in State Prisons 636,300 585,200 51,100

Other Parent 84.2% 88.4% 37.0%

Grandparent 15.1% 12.5% 44.9%

Grandmother 14.0% 11.6% 42.1%

Grandfather 4.3% 3.6% 12.0%

Other Relatives 6.2% 4.7% 22.8%

Foster Home or Agency 2.9% 2.2% 10.9%

Friends, Others 2.9% 2.4% 7.8%

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

In addition, the aforementioned Bureau of Justice Statistics report demonstrates that when 

compared to men, incarcerated women who were the primary caretaker prior to incarceration were

almost 5 times more likely to have their children be placed in foster care or state agency care (see 

Table 6)

474 and were likely to have their parental rights taken away more often.475 When a child 

goes into the foster care system, the child not only risks multiple placements with various families;

each time, the child may live in a new community, attend a new school, and possibly lose contact 

with parents who are incarcerated.476 In addition, under the federal Adoption and Safe Families 

Act,477 termination of parental rights is possible for parents of a minor child who spends 15 out of 

the past 22 months in foster care.478 Adoption, after a termination of parental rights, could thus 

ensue because of a parent’s incarceration—even if the parent is participating in rehabilitative 

services or parenting classes.479 However, there are statutory exceptions to the possibility of 

termination of parental rights, including when adoption may not be in the best interests of the 

 

474 Ibid.; see also Owens Testimony, p. 26; Mooney Testimony, pp. 42-43.

475 Eli Hager and Anna Flagg, “How Incarcerated Parents Are Losing Their Children Forever,” The Marshall

Project, Dec. 12, 2018, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/12/03/how-incarcerated-parents-are-losing-theirchildren-forever (hereinafter Hager and Flagg, “How Incarcerated Parents Are Losing Their Children Forever”).

476 Steve Christian, “Children of Incarcerated Parents,” National Conference of State Legislatures, Mar. 2009, p. 2,

https://www.ncsl.org/documents/cyf/childrenofincarceratedparents.pdf (hereinafter Christian “Children of

Incarcerated Parents”).

477 Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, Pub. L. No. 105-89, 111 Stat. 2115 (codified as amended in scattered

sections of 42 U.S.C.)

478 42 U.S.C. § 675(5)(E).

479 Christian “Children of Incarcerated Parents,” p. 5.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 81

child.480 Data regarding how many children have been impacted since the Adoption and Safe 

Families Act was enacted in 1997 are complex, because termination of parental rights due to 

incarceration was on the rise before then.481 Moreover, courts’ interpretation of the Adoption and 

Safe Families Act depends on state law, and several states (Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, 

New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Oklahoma) have enacted laws prohibiting termination of 

parental rights solely on the basis of incarceration.482 More than one-third of minor children whose 

parent or parents are incarcerated will turn 18 years old while a parent is incarcerated.

483 The 

Adoption and Safe Families Act may impact many incarcerated parents, as the vast majority of 

parents in state and federal prisons serve sentences that are a year or longer.484

Additionally, the Commission received testimony that prison and state child welfare systems may

not consistently work together to facilitate incarcerated women’s efforts to keep their parental

rights. Emily Mooney testified that although courts will take into account communication and

visitation in making a parental rights determination, social workers and correctional officers may

not communicate, making visitation and communication difficult or impossible.485 For example, a

social service agency may not know where a parent is incarcerated.486 Incarcerated parents also

may not be provided transportation to hearings regarding their children.487 There is no right to be

provided counsel for parents, and incarcerated women have reported they lack information about

 

480 42 U.S.C. § 675a (state agencies must implement procedures to ensure that at each permanency hearing, the

administrative body must make a judicial determination about why it is not in the best interests of the child to return

home or be placed with a legal guardian or a fit and willing relative).

481 Christian “Children of Incarcerated Parents,” p. 5.

482 Ibid. at note 21, citing Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 210, §3; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 211.447; Neb. Rev. Stat. §43-292.02;

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §170-C:5; N.M. Stat. Ann. §32A-4-28; Okla. Stat. tit. 10, §7006-1.1.

483 DOJ, “Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children,” p. 3.

484 “Parents in Prison,” The Sentencing Project, p. 3.

485 Mooney Testimony, p. 98.

486 Ibid.

487 Eli Hager and Anna Flagg, “Parenthood Lost: How Incarcerated Parents Are Losing Their Children Forever,”

Washington Post, Dec. 3, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/parenthood-lost-how-incarceratedparents-are-losing-their-children-forever/2018/12/02/e97ebcfe-dc83-11e8-b3f0-62607289efee_story.html (noting

that correctional departments are not obligated to drive inmates to family court, and county child-welfare agencies

rarely have the resources to bring children to faraway prisons for visits with Mom or Dad.); see also “Transportation

to Court for Hearings Affecting Prisoners’ Parental Rights,” Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, July, 2003,

https://www.prisonerswithchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Transportation-to-Court-2013.pdf (noting in

California, parents have a right to request transportation to non-termination hearings, but not a right to

transportation).
82 WOMEN IN PRISON

the legal process and resources explaining how to connect with their children’s social service

provider.488

At the Commission’s briefing, Kaitlin Owens, a Policy Analyst from the American Conservative 

Union, testified that:

Prior to incarceration, women are three times more likely than men to be the primary 

caretaker of children. Roughly 65,000 incarcerated women were mothers of 147,000 minor 

children. Considering there are only 29 federal women’s prisons as opposed to 93 prisons 

for men, women are disproportionately sent farther away from homes. Additionally, 11 

percent of incarcerated mothers reported that their children had to be placed in foster care 

because they were not able to take care [of] their children just because they were 

incarcerated, as opposed to 2 percent of men. The Adoption and Safe Families Act requires 

termination of parental rights after a child spends 15 to 22 months in foster care, effectively 

guaranteeing the loss of their children.489

A Marshall Project study of over three million child welfare cases nationwide found that from 

2006 to 2016 at least 32,000 incarcerated parents (men and women) had their children taken from 

them without being accused of abuse, and that:

In about 1 in 8 of these cases, incarcerated parents lose their parental rights, regardless of 

the seriousness of their offenses, according to the analysis of records maintained by the 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services between 2006 and 2016. That rate has held 

steady over time.

490

A 2001 study by University of California researchers found that: 

Gender of parent is a major factor in patterns of incarceration; fathers account for 90% of 

incarcerated parents. However, the number of mothers in prison grew at a faster rate than 

the number of incarcerated fathers across the decade 1991-2000. There was an 87% 

increase for mothers, but only a 61% increase for fathers. Not surprisingly, in view of their 

unequal rates of incarceration, the parents’ ethnicity matters, too. As expected, in both state 

and federal prisons, there are more African American parents (47% and 49% in state and 

federal prisons respectively) than either Hispanic parents (19% and 30%) or white nonHispanic parents (29% and 22%). Stating this racial disparity in terms of minor-age 

 

488 Wear Simmons, Charlene and Emily Danker-Feldman, Parental Incarceration, Termination of Parental Rights

and Adoption: A Case Study of the Intersection Between the Child Welfare and Criminal Justice Systems, 25

JUSTICE POL’Y, (2018), http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/Parental_Incarceration.pdf.

489 Owens Testimony, pp. 29-30; Owens Statement, at 3.

490 Hager and Flagg, “How Incarcerated Parents Are Losing Their Children Forever.”
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 83

children, nearly 7% of African American children, 3% of Hispanic children, and 1% of 

white children of the total population of children in the United States had an incarcerated 

parent.491

The University of California researchers also found that a majority of “mothers in either state 

(64%) or federal (84%) prisons were living with their children at the time of admission to prison. 

In contrast, only half of the fathers were living with their children at the time of their incarceration 

(44% for state and 55% for federal prison).”492 Moreover, when fathers are in prison, mothers most 

typically are primary caretakers, but when mothers go to prison, fewer fathers and more 

grandparents become caretakers. However, they found that in 2001, “fewer than 10% of the 

children of mothers in state prisons and fewer than 4% of the children of mothers in federal prisons 

are in foster care.”493

Impact of Parental Incarceration and Women in Prison 

Along with these data mentioned above, the Commission also received testimony stating that 

women’s incarceration often disrupts family ties, since many women entering prison have been 

the primary caretakers of their children.494

While many experts encourage prison visits between incarcerated parents and their children, 

studies and personal anecdotes have also demonstrated how incarceration has a profoundly 

negative impact on the children of incarcerated parents.495 In particular, children of incarcerated 

parents have an increased risk of mental health problems and economic difficulty.496 These 

 

491 U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Services, “Effects of Parental Incarceration on Young Children” by Ross D.

Parke and K. Alison Clarke-Stewart, paper presented at From Prison to Home: The Effects of Incarceration and

Reentry on Children, Families and Communities Conference, pp. 1-2

https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/60691/410627-Effects-of-Parental-Incarceration-on-YoungChildren.PDF (accessed October 18, 2019).

492 Ibid.

493 Ibid.

494 DOJ, “Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children,” p. 5; see also Mooney Statement, at 10; Thompson-El

Statement, at 5.

495 Eric Martin, “Hidden Consequences: The Impact of Incarceration on Dependent Children,” National Institute of

Justice Journal, iss. 278, (May 2017) pp. 3-4, https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250349.pdf ; see also Rosalyn

Lee, Xiangming Fang, and Feijun Luo, “The Impact of Parental Incarceration on the Physical and Mental Health of

Young Adults,” Pediatrics, vol. 131 iss. 4 (2013), p. 1188-95 (hereinafter Lee et al., “The Impact of Parental

Incarceration on the Physical and Mental Health of Young Adults”).

496 Stillman, “America’s Other Family Separation Crisis;” see also Susan Phillips, Alaattin Erkanli, Gordon Keeler,

E. Jane Costello, and Adrian Angold, “Disentangling the Risks: Parent Criminal Justice Involvement and Children’s

Exposure to Family Risks,” Criminology and Public Policy, vol. 5, iss. 4, (Nov. 2006), p. 677-702 (noting that

children of incarcerated parents often live in households that struggle economically and may move frequently); see

also Mooney and Felton, “Family Through the Plexiglass Window.”
84 WOMEN IN PRISON

financial difficulties are a result of loss of income from the incarcerated parent (which exacerbates 

prior inequities),

497 and the cost of staying in contact with the incarcerated parent (e.g. cost of 

prison visits).498 Families of the incarcerated may also have to move more frequently and have 

more difficulty retaining jobs as compared to the general population.

499 When children of 

incarcerated parents grow up, they face an increased risk of various health problems such as 

disproportionately higher rates of asthma, migraines, high bad cholesterol, increased risk of 

contracting HIV/AIDs, and are more likely to have substance abuse issues.500 The National 

Conference of State Legislators stated that:

One major challenge confronting researchers is disentangling the effects of parental 

incarceration from the effects of other factors that could have existed long before 

incarceration, such as child maltreatment, parental use of alcohol or drugs, parental mental 

illness and domestic violence. Because many studies fail to account for these background 

risk factors and include other methodological flaws, some claims about how parental 

incarceration affects children that appear in the research, advocacy and policy literature 

might not be supported by empirical evidence. One such claim is that children of 

incarcerated parents are six times more likely than other children to be incarcerated as 

adults. No empirical data currently support this claim.501

Regarding maternal incarceration, research in this area suggests that long-term effects on children 

include: questioning of maternal authority, negative perceptions of the legal system, and the 

inability to cope with trauma.502 Children of mothers in prison have higher rates of crime 

involvement and imprisonment than those adolescents whose mothers have not spent time in 

 

497 See supra notes 74-92.

498 Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, “Transforming Prisons, Restoring Lives: Final

Recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections,” Jan. 2016, p. 15,

http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/77101/2000589-Transforming-Prisons-Restoring-Lives.pdf;

(hereinafter Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, “Transforming Prisons, Restoring Lives: Final

Recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections”); see also Brenda P. Murray, Co-Chair

Women in Prison Committee, National Association of Women Judges, Written Statement for the Women in Prison:

Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 6 (hereinafter

Murray Statement); see also Ney Statement, at 7.

499 Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, “Transforming Prisons, Restoring Lives: Final

Recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections,” p. 15.

500 Ibid.; see also Lee et al., “The Impact of Parental Incarceration on the Physical and Mental Health of Young

Adults,” p. 1191.

501 Christian, “Children of Incarcerated Parents,” p. 5.

502 Laughlin et al., “Incarcerated Mothers and Child Visitation: A Law, Social Science and Policy Perspective,” p.

221. 
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 85

prison.503 In addition, some studies found that maternal incarceration has a unique and independent 

effect on children’s behavioral and emotional development and children’s crime involvement in 

adulthood.504

Prison Parent-Child Polices and Maintaining Familial Relationships While in Prison 

The majority of incarcerated men and women have some contact with their children while they are 

incarcerated.505 At the state prison level, 56 percent of mothers reported having at least weekly 

contact of any type with their minor children in comparison to 39 percent of fathers.506 A higher 

percentage of parents in federal prison reported contact with their children: 85 percent reported 

contact with their minor children via telephone, 84 percent had exchanged letters via postal mail 

with their children, and 55 percent reported having had in-person visits with their children.507

Mothers and fathers were equally likely to report having had in-person visits with their children, 

but mothers reported having more frequent contact of any type.508

Mothers in prison face unique barriers to parent-child visits, as many prisons require that a legal 

guardian accompany children, and since children of incarcerated mothers are often in the care of 

grandparents or other extended family, they may be unable to visit if they are not official legal 

guardians via a court order.

509 Appendix E provides a detailed breakdown of the frequency of 

contact that incarcerated parents have with their minor children by gender and type of contact.

The distance and location of prison facilities, the rules and policies of prisons, and how prison 

facilities are designed make it difficult to parent from behind bars.510 Previous research on the 

impact of parent-child visits has come to different conclusions. Some experts argue that 

incarcerated women who maintained close relationships with their family and receive visits from 

 

503 Ibid. 

504 Beth Huebner and Regan Gustafson, “The Effect of Maternal Incarceration on Adult Offspring Involvement in

the Criminal Justice System,” Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 35 no. 3 (2007), p. 283-296; see also Mooney

Statement, at 11.

505 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children, by Laura

Glaze and Laura Maruschak, revised Mar. 30. 2010, p. 6, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pptmc.pdf

(hereinafter DOJ, Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children).

506 Ibid., 18; see also Appendix E.

507 DOJ, Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children, p. 6.

508 See Appendix E.

509 Chesa Trevor Stutz Boudin and Aaron Littman, Prison Visitation Policies: A Fifty-State Survey, 32 YALE POL’Y

REV. 1, 149-89 (2013).

510 Ney Statement, at 7.
86 WOMEN IN PRISON

their children were less likely to recidivate.511 However, other experts found that that the rules, 

regulations, and design of prisons can have a negative impact on a child’s growth and 

development.512 As a 2017 Urban Institute report on the parent-child practices of prisons put it, the 

previous research in this area suggests, “parent-child visiting is neither innately harmful nor 

therapeutic. A confluence of family dynamics and systematic issues determines whether visits 

mitigate or exacerbate the separation and trauma a child experiences when their parent is 

incarcerated.”513

Few studies have empirically tested the relationship between type of caregiver and likelihood of 

prison visitation between children and their incarcerated parents. However, a recent dissertation 

research study by Melinda Tasca, funded by the Department of Justice’s National Institute of 

Justice, examined the predictors of child visitation and what factors determine a positive or 

negative impact for the child.514 The study surveyed 600 incarcerated mothers and fathers in the 

Arizona Department of Corrections.515 The author and research team also conducted in-depth 

interviews with 100 caregivers who facilitated the visits of 218 children from Maricopa County, 

Arizona.516 Tasca found that mother and grandmother caretakers were the most likely to encourage 

visitation because they have an interest in seeing the incarcerated parent return to a supportive role 

in the child’s life upon reentry, especially if that parent was involved with the child’s life prior to 

incarceration.517 Children in state placements (e.g. foster care or group homes), on the other hand, 

may not have the same incentive for familial reunification and thus may not be able or motivated 

to arrange in-facility visitation.518 According to Tasca, visitation patterns also differed based on 

custodial classification and distance to the facility. That is, visits to incarcerated mothers were 

 

511 Owens Testimony, p. 27; see also Creasie Finney Hairston, “Mothers in Jail: Parent-Child Separation and Jail

Visitation,” Women and Social Work, vol. 6 no. 2 (Jul. 1, 1999), pp. 9–27.

512 Joyce Arditti, “Locked Doors and Glass Walls: Family Visiting at a Local Jail,” Journal of Loss and Trauma, no.

8, p.115-138 (Jan. 7, 2011), https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15325020305864.

513 Lindsey Cramer, Margaret Goff, Bryce Peterson, and Heather Sandstrom, “Parent-Child Practices in Prisons and

Jails: A Synthesis of Research and Practice,” Urban Institute, Apr. 2017, p. 9,

https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/89601/parent-child_visiting_practices_in_prisons_and_jails.pdf.

514 Melinda Tasca, “It’s Not All Cupcakes and Lollipops: An Investigation of the Predictors and Effects of Prison

Visitation for Children During Maternal and Paternal Incarceration,” AZ State U., May 2014, p. i, 8-9.

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248650.pdf (hereinafter Tasca, “It’s Not All Cupcakes and Lollipops”).

515 Ibid., 64.

516 Ibid.,76.

517 Ibid., 6, 119-20.

518 Ibid.,128.
CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION, PLACEMENT, FAMILY DISRUPTION, AND PARENTING 87

more likely to occur if they were housed at low-level security facilities and were adjacent to the 

child’s home.519 The National Conference of State Legislators also reported that: 

Ironically, though contact and visitation are most important for incarcerated parents whose 

children are in foster care [to avoid termination of parental rights], some evidence suggests 

that such children are the least likely to visit their parents in prison. That is because visits 

must be authorized and arranged by child welfare caseworkers who carry high caseloads 

and who may be inclined to “abandon” the prospect of reunification with an imprisoned 

parent.520

These are some of the major issues impacting women and their families upon incarceration. The 

Commission’s research shows that classification is vitally important and may impact whether a 

woman in prison receives family visits and has an opportunity to keep custody of her children.

 

519 Ibid., 92, 97.

520 Christian “Children of Incarcerated Parents,” p. 6.
88 WOMEN IN PRISON

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CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 89

CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH

AND PERSONAL DIGNITY IN THE U.S. PRISON 

SYSTEM

Overview of Women’s Care in Prison 

As will be discussed below, access to health care may vary significantly for women in prison.521

This may be related to the vagueness of some of the current legal standards, or the lack of federal 

oversight. For example, while shackling during pregnancy is now clearly prohibited in federal

prisons except in exceptional circumstances, other standards discussed below such as the 

requirement that there be “adequate access to health care” are less precise and in some areas, such 

as accreditation for health care in state prisons, no standards exist at all.

Legal Standards for Providing Healthcare to Women in Prison

The federal First Step Act of 2018 has two clear provisions for women’s health in prison. It bans 

shackling during pregnancy and lifts restrictions on access to menstrual products to women in 

federal facilities.522 These are discussed in further detail below.

But at the state level, while some state prisons may be mandated by their respective state 

government to obtain health care accreditation, there is no one organization or agency that provides 

accreditation or a standard of health care for all state prisons.523 Several organizations such as the 

National Commission on Correctional Health Care,

524 and the American Correctional 

Association525 offer voluntary accreditation programs for state prisons, but the lack of standardized 

health care results in significant variance in the quality of care in state prisons.526 Other 

 

521 See infra notes 602-61.

522 Anjana Samant, “The First Step Act Is a Small Step for Incarcerated Women,” ACLU, Dec. 27, 2018,

https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/women-prison/first-step-act-small-step-incarcerated-women.

523 McCaa Baldwin, Katherine and Jacquelyn Jone, Health Issues Specific to Incarcerated Women: Information for

State Maternal and Child Health Programs, Women’s and Children’s Health Policy Center at Johns Hopkins

University, May 2000, p. 3 (hereinafter McCaa Baldwin and Jones, Health Issues Specific to Incarcerated Women:

Information for State Maternal and Child Health Programs).

524 “NCCHC Accreditation: National Recognition from the Most Respected Name in Correctional Health Care,”

National Commission on Correctional Health Care, https://www.ncchc.org/filebin/Accreditation/Accreditationflier-2017.pdf (accessed May 29, 2019).

525 “Manual of Accreditation Policy and Procedure,” American Correctional Association, Mar. 15, 2017,

https://www.aca.org/ACA_Prod_IMIS/docs/standards%20and%20accreditation/ALM-1-3_15_17-Final.pdf.

526 Sufrin Testimony, p. 171; see also McCaa Baldwin and Jones, Health Issues Specific to Incarcerated Women:

Information for State Maternal and Child Health Programs, p. 3.
90 WOMEN IN PRISON

organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists offer guidance for 

what services should be provided in prisons.527 At the federal level, Federal Medical Centers are 

accredited and routinely surveyed by the Federal Joint Commission on Accreditation in Health 

Care Organizations.528 BOP also provides detailed guidelines for common preventive health care 

services and infectious disease prevention, detection, and treatment of inmates and correctional 

staff who face exposure to infectious diseases in correctional facilities.529 BOP also has programs 

for pregnant women, discussed herein. However, in 2018 the Office of Inspector General of DOJ

found that BOP’s programming and policy “may not fully consider the needs of female 

prisoners.”530 The DOJ Inspector General found that BOP has not adequately staffed its trauma 

treatment program for women, there was a lack of staff awareness and training regarding the needs 

and resources available for pregnant inmates, and feminine hygiene products were not sufficiently 

accessible and distributed.531

Under the precedent set in 1976 by the Supreme Court in Estelle, prisons are required to provide 

adequate medical care to all prisoners while in a custodial setting.532 Prisoners are one of the few 

groups in the United States who have a constitutionally protected right to adequate healthcare.533

Furthermore, the Court held that cruel and unusual punishment can be found to have occurred 

when doctors are indifferent to a prisoner’s health needs, when there is an intentional denial or 

delay in access to care, or when prison officials interfere with a prisoner’s treatment.534 In a 2011

Supreme Court decision stemming from the Coleman litigation against a series of California

Governors,

535 Justice Kennedy wrote that “for years the medical and mental health care provided 

 

527 Sufrin Testimony, p. 171.

528 Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Medical Care,

https://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/medical_care.jsp, (accessed May 29, 2019).

529 “Health Management Resources,” U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons,

https://www.bop.gov/resources/health_care_mngmt.jsp (accessed May 30, 2019).

530 DOJ, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prison’s Management of Its Female Inmate Population, p. 18.

531 Ibid., 18-32.

532 Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103 (1976).

533 See supra notes 191-92.

534 Estelle, 429 U.S. at 104-05.

535 In 1990, in Coleman v. Schwartzenegger, a federal court issued an injunction requiring reforms to ensure access

to care for California prisoners with mental health issues, but 12 years later, severe overcrowding had led to

deteriorating mental health care, and in another case, Brown v. Plata, the state conceded that there were deficiencies

in prison medical care that violated prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights. See Brown v. Plata, 563 U.S. 493 (2011)

(summarizing procedural history). These cases were consolidated, See Coleman v. Schwarzenegger, 2010 WL 99000

(E.D. and N.D. Cal. 2010), and the decision was appealed directly to the Supreme Court, which found that crowding

was the primary cause of constitutional violations. Brown v. Plata, 563 U.S. 493 (2011) (summarizing procedural

history).
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 91

by California’s prisons has fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements and has failed to 

meet prisoners’ basic health needs. Needless suffering and death have been the well-documented 

result.”536 The Court agreed that whatever remedy was needed to improve conditions should be 

ordered.537

In 1993, a federal court in Arizona found that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth 

Amendment may require that women in prison receive the same level and access to health care, as 

compared to similarly situated men in prison.538 The Arizona federal court first found Eighth 

Amendment violations in women’s prisons across the state and in particular: 

The Court finds the treatment of seriously mentally ill inmates to be appalling. Rather than 

providing treatment for serious mental illnesses, ADOC punishes these inmates by locking 

them down in small, bare segregation cells for their actions that are the result of their mental 

illnesses. These inmates are left in segregation without mental health care.539

The court also found an Equal Protection violation, noting that the state prisons provided fewer 

mental health resources for women as compared to men, and that the lack of services “resulted in 

more egregious cases of deliberate indifference to women’s mental health needs.”540 It also noted 

the qualitative differences in mental health care. For example:

At Flamenco [state prison], men are provided more advanced programming and facilities 

than women. Men can progress in a phase program from the acute unit to the sub-acute unit 

and then into SPU or general population. Women of all levels are treated in G [general] 

ward. Men have better access to occupational therapy with more equipment and supplies. 

In addition, mental health activities logs indicate that men are offered more substantive 

programs such as computer training, communication training, stress management and 

anger control. However, at the same time, women are offered aerobics, board games, 

movies and ‘Women Who Love Too Much.’541

 

536 Brown, 563 U.S. at 501.

537 Id. at 502. Due to this continuing injury, the Supreme Court held that the lower court properly ordered a

reduction in prison population as severe overcrowding had “overtaken the limited resources of prison staff; imposed

demands well beyond the capacity of medical and mental health facilities; and created unsanitary and unsafe

conditions that make progress in the provision of care difficult or impossible to achieve.” Id.

538 See Casey v. Lewis, 834 F. Supp. 1477, 1551-52 (D. Ariz. 1993) (holding that women prisoners must have access

to the same levels of mental health treatment as male prisoners for the purposes of prison programs and services).

539 Id. at 1550.

540 Id. at 1551.

541 Id.
92 WOMEN IN PRISON

The state argued that additional mental health services, including separate treatment facilities as 

compared to being returned to the general prison population, were necessary for men because they 

“are more predatory,” but the court found that this argument did not justify the unequal 

treatment.542

In contrast, in 1994, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that women and men in prison 

were not similarly situated for purposes of prison programs and services in Nebraska, because the 

men’s prisons housed six times more inmates whose average length of stay was longer, the men’s 

prisons were higher security, and further, “plaintiffs’ witnesses also testified at trial that female 

inmates as a class have special characteristics distinguishing them from male inmates, ranging 

from the fact that they are more likely to be single parents with primary responsibility for child 

rearing to the fact that they are more likely to be sexual or physical abuse victims. Male inmates, 

in contrast, are more likely to be violent and predatory than female inmates.”543 Because “as a 

matter of law” female inmates were not considered to be similarly-situated to male inmates in 

Nebraska prison system, the Eighth Circuit therefore dismissed their Equal Protection claim.

544

In recent years, Colorado,545 Connecticut,546 Kentucky,547 Maryland,548 and Virginia549 have passed 

legislation to ensure that female inmates have access to menstrual products, in some cases 

appropriating funds to allow sanitary napkins and/or tampons to be provided to inmates for free. 

Additionally, in April of 2019, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker along with 

Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Karen Bass reintroduced the Dignity for Incarcerated Women 

Act in Congress, which aims to allow women in prison to receive trauma informed care and basic 

 

542 Id.

543 Klinger v. Dep’t of Corrections, 31 F. 3d 727, 731 (8th Cir. 1994).

544 Id. at 733.

545 COLO. SESS. L. Ch. 131 (Apr. 25, 2019), https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb19-1224.

546 CONN. PUB. ACT. No. 18-4 § 3 (May 14, 2018), https://www.cga.ct.gov/2018/ACT/pa/pdf/2018PA-00004-

R00SB-00013-PA.pdf.

547 Ky. S.B. 133 (Apr. 10, 2018), https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/947301; see also “Kentucky Dignity Bill:

A Game-Changer for Women Behind Bars,” Public Service News, Mar. 28, 2018,

https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2018-03-28/criminal-justice/kentucky-dignity-bill-a-game-changer-for-womenbehind-bars/a61970-1.

548 Dodd, Cameron. “Governor Signs Prison Menstrual Pads Bill,” The Frederick News-Post, Apr. 24, 2018,

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/governor-signs-prison-menstrual-pads-bill/article_3d5b8f47-24e5-5765-b416-

6dcd68677440.html; see also “Chapter 255, Senate Bill 588,”

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2018RS/chapters_noln/Ch_255_sb0598T.pdf (accessed Oct. 18, 2019).

549 “Virginia Law Requiring Jails to Supply Tampons, Pads Passes,” Associated Press, Apr. 26, 2018,

https://www.apnews.com/d0e4b939e7ab4e179f382b1c351d1b8d.
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 93

hygienic products for free while incarcerated.550 The bill, originally introduced in 2017, in part 

prompted the Federal Bureau of Prisons to change their policy and require federal custodial 

institutions to provide menstrual hygiene products to female inmates free of charge.551

CRIPA investigations at times result in settlements or consent decrees, by which the Department 

of Justice can attempt to ensure that women and girls in prison are receiving adequate healthcare.

But CRIPA can only be enforced by DOJ, when it can prove a pattern or practice of constitutional 

violations.552 For example, to address unconstitutional conditions at Julia Tutwiler prison for 

women in Alabama that included widespread “staff-on-prisoner sexual abuse and harassment,”553

the consent decree between Tutwiler and the U.S. listed a number of substantive policies to 

improve the mental and medical health care available to Tutwiler prisoners. According to the 

consent decree information regarding access to mental and physical health services must be made 

available to inmates upon intake.554 Specific services must be made available to inmates who have 

been sexually abused, including “timely, unimpeded access to emergency medical and mental 

health care and treatment and crisis intervention services... medical and mental health 

evaluation[s]... mental health counseling and emotional support services.”555 Furthermore, 

Tutwiler and ADOC must provide DOJ with information regarding investigations into and reports 

about the medical and/or mental health of Tutwiler inmates.556

Additionally, DOJ found that Tutwiler inmates often performed sex acts on prison staff in 

exchange for receiving necessary hygienic products, including tampons, pads, and toilet paper.557

 

550 Frazin, Rachel. “Warren, Booker reintroduce Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act.” The Hill, Apr. 3, 2019,

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/437271-warren-booker-reintroducing-dignity-for-incarcerated-women-act.

551 Chandler, Michael A. “Federal Prisons Must Now Provide Free Tampons and Pads to Incarcerated Women,” The

Washington Post, Aug. 24, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/federal-prisons-must-providefree-tampons-and-pads-to-incarcerated-women/2017/08/23/a9e0e928-8694-11e7-961d2f373b3977ee_story.html?utm_term=.58eb49082de6.

552 Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980, Pub. L. 96-247, 94 Stat. 349 (codified as 42 U.S.C. §

1997(a)).

553 Letter from U.S. Dep’t. of Justice, Civil Rts. Div., Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels to

Governor Robert Bentley (Jan. 17, 2014), at 1,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/01/23/tutwiler_findings_1-17-14.pdf.

554 Consent Decree, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-368 (M.D. Ala., June 18, 2015), at 49-50.

555 Id. at 80-83.

556 Id. at 114.

557 Letter from U.S. Dep’t. of Justice, Civil Rts. Div., Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels to

Governor Robert Bentley (Jan. 17, 2014), at 14.
94 WOMEN IN PRISON

Often this was Tutwiler inmates’ only means of securing these products.558 DOJ described the 

conditions as follows: 

Thirty-one percent of the correspondence we received [during the DOJ investigation] 

reported a lack of basic hygiene and laundry services, especially for indigent prisoners. 

Prisoners reported that hygiene products were not evenly distributed and alleged that staff 

either took supplies for themselves or provided additional supplies to their ‘favorites.’ 

Several prisoners reported going two to three months without supplies...and others 

reported having to borrow supplies.

559

The limited supply created a bartering system, a “black market,” and increased inmate risk of 

sexual assault and abuse from both other prisoners and staff.560 The consent decree between the 

U.S. and Alabama requires that Tutwiler provide these hygienic necessities to the inmates.561

Health Care in Prisons 

As discussed, the Supreme Court has held that prisons must provide needed medical care for 

inmates, reasoning that “[a]n inmate must rely on prison authorities to treat his [or her] medical 

needs; if the authorities fail to do so, those needs will not be met.”562 The Commission received 

testimony that because of prior unmet medical needs, prisons often become a “healthcare provider 

of last resort” for incarcerated people.563 Also, because the vast majority of men and women in 

prison will eventually be released, incarceration can be a “‘moment of opportunity’ to identify and 

treat people’s health conditions, thereby, improving individual and public health outcomes.”564

However, providing quality care to incarcerated men and women is challenging for prisons 

because of the significant financial and logistical costs associated.

While prisons are not designed principally for delivery of health care, men and women enter prison 

with disproportionately higher than average physical and mental health issues.565 For instance, 

mental health problems among men and women in prison range from 44 to over 60 percent 

 

558 Id. at 14-15.

559 Id.

560 Id.

561 Id. at 24.

562 Estelle, 429 U.S. at 103; see also supra notes 540-45.

563 Dr. Jaimie Meyer, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing, Yale School of 

Medicine, Written Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. 

Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 2 (hereinafter Meyer Statement).

564 Meyer Statement, at 3.

565 Meyer Statement, at 2. 
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 95

compared to 11 percent in the general population.566 In addition, substance abuse occurs in 30 to 

70 percent of the incarcerated population compared to only 3 to 6 percent in the general 

population.567 Also, more than 40 percent of prisoners reported having chronic medical issues such 

as diabetes, heart-related problems, and high blood pressure compared to 31 percent of the general 

population.568 Infectious diseases such as Hepatitis B and C, and sexually transmitted diseases are 

especially high amongst prisoners, as over 20 percent of prisoners reported having an infectious 

disease compared to 5 percent of the general population.569 A 2011 survey conducted by the 

National Survey of Prison Health Care found that the proportions of prison admissions occurring 

in states that tested at least some inmates for the following conditions were: 77 percent tested for 

Hepatitis A, 82 percent tested for Hepatitis B, 87 percent tested for Hepatitis C, 40 percent tested 

for traumatic brain injury, 83 percent tested for cardiovascular conditions and risk factors, 70 

percent tested for elevated lipids, and almost all of the prisons in the study tested for high blood 

pressure, tuberculosis, and mental health conditions and suicide risk.570

The National Survey of Prison Health Care also found that prisons use a combination of on-site 

and off-site care facilities to deliver inpatient and outpatient medical procedures.571 Most prisons 

provide the following service on-site: mental health care, treatment for chronic diseases, nursing 

home care, and hospice care.

572 However, psychiatric, diagnostic, or radiologic tests are often 

completed off-site.573 When health services and procedures are provided off-site this adds 

additional costs to providing care, as prisons have to pay for transportation to and from the location, 

and have guards monitor the patient at all times.574

 

566 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates, by Doris

James and Lauren Glaze, Dec. 14, 2006, p. 3-5, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf at 3-

4.https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/027e/5dc61e426b10e850bf60a5b29930bcce9e46.pdf.

567 Peters, Rogers, Paul Greenbaum, John Edens, Chris Carter, and Madeline Ortiz. “Prevalence of DSM-IV

Substance Abuse and Dependence Disorders Among Prison Inmates.” Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 24 (1988):573-587.

568 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Medical Problems of State and Federal Prisoners and Jail

Inmates, 2011-12 by Laura Maruschak and Marcus Berzofsky, Oct. 4, 2016, p. 1,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mpsfpji1112.pdf.

569 Ibid.

570 Chari, Karishma, Alan E. Simon, Carol J. DeFrances, and Laura Maruschak. “National Survey of Prison Health

Care: Selected Findings,” National Health Statistics Reports no. 96, (July 28, 2016): 3-5

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr096.pdf.

571 Ibid.

572 Ibid.

573 Ibid., 5-6.

574 Huh, Kil, Alex Boucher, Stephen Fehr, Frances McGaffey, Matt McKillop, and Maria Schiff. “State Prisons and

the Delivery of Hospital Care,” The Pew Charitable Trusts, July 2018, https://www.pewtrusts.org/-
96 WOMEN IN PRISON

In 2015, states spent almost $8.1 billion in health care costs for men and women in prison, which 

accounted for approximately 20 percent of prison expenditures.575 In examining the cost of 

providing health care in prison, most prison systems do not absorb the raw costs of treatment.576

Prison health care expenses are often offset by partial or complete coverage by Medicaid or 

Medicare, depending on how these programs are administered and their availability in each state.577

States can also allay their health care costs through the federal Health Resources and Services 

Administration’s (HRSA) 340B pricing, centralizing statewide purchasing drugs, using Medicaid 

for high-cost treatments, and passing some cost to inmates via copays.578

A 2016 survey fielded by Pew Charitable Trusts and the Vera Institute of Justice found that 16 

state DOCs worked with eligible hospitals and other health care providers to receive high-cost 

drugs through discounted drug pricing programs with eligible providers, or nominal pricing 

negotiation strategies regarding medications for specific diseases at reduced costs for bulk 

purchases (e.g. Hepatitis C or HIV).579 How prisons deliver health care to inmates can also impact 

the costs of care and drugs, as states either provide care via a direct-provision model, where all or 

most care is provided by DOC clinicians (17 states)580 or contracted-provision model, where all or 

 

/media/assets/2018/07/prisons-and-hospital-care_report.pdf (hereinafter Huh et al., “State Prisons and the Delivery

of Hospital Care”).

575 Huh, Kil, Alex Boucher, Stephen Fehr, Frances McGaffey, Matt McKillop, and Maria Schiff. “Prison Health

Care: Costs and Quality How and Why States Strive for High-Performing Systems,” The Pew Charitable Trusts,

Oct. 2017, p. 3, (hereinafter Huh et al., “Prison Health Care: Costs and Quality How and Why States Strive for

High-Performing Systems”)

http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2017/10/sfh_prison_health_care_costs_and_quality_final.pdf.

576 Dr. Jaimie Meyer, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing, Yale School of

Medicine, Follow-up Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Apr. 10, 2019, at 2 (hereinafter Meyer Follow-up Statement).

577 Huh et al., “State Prisons and the Delivery of Hospital Care,” p. 4, Table 1; see also “How Correctional Facilities

Could Lower Drug Prices,” The Pew Charitable Trusts, June 2018, https://www.pewtrusts.org/-

/media/assets/2018/11/correctional-facilities-lower-drug-prices_factsheet_nov2018_final.pdf; see also Meyer

Follow-up Statement, at 1.

578 Huh, Kil, Alex Boucher, Frances McGaffey, and Maria Schiff. “Pharmaceuticals in State Prisons: How

Department of Corrections Purchase, Use, and Monitor Prescription Drugs,” The Pew Charitable Trusts, Dec. 2017,

p. 8-12 (hereinafter Huh et al., “Pharmaceuticals in State Prisons”)

https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2017/12/pharmaceuticals-in-state-prisons.pdf.

579 Huh et al., “Pharmaceuticals in State Prisons, p. 2, 8, 17, Figure 3;” see also Meyer Follow-up Statement, at 1, 4.

580 These 17 states that have a direct-provision health care model are: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Iowa, North

Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota,

Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 97

most care is delivered by clinicians employed by a private vendor (20 states)581 and a handful of 

states either use a state university model582—care provided by state’s public school medical staff—

or hybrid model583 that uses a combination of the aforementioned models to provide health care to 

inmates.584

According to available data, the estimates of health care costs vary significantly across state 

prisons, which can impact the quality of care delivered to women and men in prison.585 For 

instance, in 2015, the annual per-inmate prison healthcare expenditures ranged from $2,173 

(Louisiana) to $19,796 (California).586 According to experts, cheaper health care is not always 

better in terms of health outcomes.587 But as mentioned earlier, how state prisons design their 

respective health care systems may contribute to spending differences observed across states as 

well as several other factors including: pre-incarceration access to adequate community care, 

regional medical prices, staff capacity and compensation levels, facility capacity and related 

economies of scale, and incidences of high-risk behaviors and associated disease prior to 

incarceration.588

Another consideration is the cost of care that inmates incur, as some prisons require inmates to pay 

$2.00 to $5.00 copays for each medical visit.589 If inmates cannot afford the copay at the time of 

service, these fees are added to their accounts, which would result in a negative balance.590 If a 

family member or friend adds money to their account or if an inmate earns income from prison 

 

581 These 20 states that have a contracted-provision health care model are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware,

Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New

Mexico, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

582 These 4 states are: Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, and Texas.

583 These 8 states are: Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and

Virginia.

584 Huh et al., “Prison Health Care: Costs and Quality How and Why States Strive for High-Performing Systems,” p.

58.

585 Meyer Follow-up Statement, at 1.

586 Huh et al., “Prison Health Care: Costs and Quality,” p. 6 (also finding that “According to data submitted to Pew

and Vera, in fiscal 2015 the typical state department of corrections spent $5,720 per inmate to provide health care

services including medical, dental, mental health, and substance use treatment. However, departments in four states

(California, New Mexico, Vermont, and Wyoming) spent more than $10,000 per inmate, while five (Alabama,

Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, and South Carolina) spent less than $3,500 per inmate”).

587 Meyer Follow-up Statement, at 1.

588 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, State Prison Expenditures, 2001, by J.J. Stephan (2004),

p. 6, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf; see also Meyer Statement, at 5-6.

589 Harner, Holly, Brian Wyant, & Fernanda Da Silva. “Prison Ain’t Free Like Everyone Thinks,” Qualitative

Health Research 25, no. 5 (2017): 688-99 at 689, https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316664460.

590 Ibid.
98 WOMEN IN PRISON

work, some of the funds are applied to their medical debt.591 These costs can add up over time and 

research suggests that incarcerated women use health care services at higher rates than their male 

counterparts.592 A 2017 study examined the financial concerns that women in prison confront 

through conducting approximately 100 interviews with women serving time in medium and 

maximum security prisons.593 The authors found that over 70 percent of women in prison in their 

study reported not seeking medical care because of the associated copay.594 Of the women who 

reported not seeking medical care because of the related costs, the vast majority of them reported 

not seeking care at least two or three other times in the last three months.595 Instead, women 

reported making tradeoffs by not seeking medical treatment in order to use their limited funds to 

purchase hygiene products or stay in contact with their family members.596 Of the women who 

reported being seen by prison health professionals, many reported that they did not feel heard by 

the staff, they received erroneous billing charges, or were never informed of their test results.597

The National Commission on Correctional Health Care recommend that prisons discontinue 

charging inmates for health-related co-pays.598 The authors stated that, “Our findings... provide 

evidence to support the elimination of mandatory medical co-payment fees for incarcerated 

women.”599 In addition, the authors state that while a fee for service health care model does appear 

to reduce usage of health care services, it is difficult to ascertain if decreased utilization is the 

result of less frivolous complaints or if individuals who truly need care have reduced their use of 

health care services.

600

Women in Prison and Their Unique Health Care Needs 

The Commission received testimony, including data, showing that some of the health problems 

and conditions that impact all prisoners occur with greater frequency among women in prison 

 

591 Ibid.

592 Owens, Gary. “Gender Differences in Health Care Expenditures, Resource Utilization, and Quality of Care,”

Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy 14, no. 3 Supp A (2008) 2-6 at 2, https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2008.14.s3-

a.2.

593 Harner, Holly, Brian Wyant & Fernanda Da Silva. “Prison Ain’t Free Like Everyone Thinks,” Qualitative Health

Research 25, no. 5 (2017): 688-99, https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316664460.

594 Ibid., 692.

595 Ibid.

596 Ibid., 693-4.

597 Ibid., 693.

598 Ibid., 698.

599 Ibid., abstract.

600 Ibid. at 692.
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 99

compared to their male counterparts.601 Women in prison report higher rates of serious 

psychological distress than men (20 percent vs 14 percent).602 Women entering prison are more 

likely than their male counterparts to report a history of mental health problems (66 percent vs 35 

percent).603 This more significant reported history is also based upon significantly higher reported

levels of trauma, especially in juvenile and adult years.604 There is also a statistically significant 

difference in the rates of chronic diseases amongst men and women in prison, as 63 percent of 

women in prison report having a chronic health condition in comparison to 50 percent of men in 

prison.605 Women in prison report disproportionately higher rates of infectious diseases in 

comparison to men in prison (25 percent vs 21 percent), but these results are not statistically

significant.

606 In addition, twice as many women in prison are living with HIV than their male 

counterparts, which is likely tied to substance use and engagement in high risk sex prior to 

incarceration.607

In its 2014 evaluation of Alabama’s Julia Tutwiler Prison for women, DOJ reported that “repeated 

sexually explicit and threatening language coupled with pervasive sexual misconduct, ‘mutually 

heighten the psychological injury of women prisoners’... The health problems created by sexual 

harassment include significant depression, nausea, frequent headaches, insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, 

irritability, nervousness, and a loss of self-esteem.”608 The consent decree between Tutwiler and 

the U.S. listed a number of substantive policies needed to improve the mental health services 

available to Tutwiler prisoners. For example, information regarding access to these services must 

be made available to inmates upon intake.609 Specific services must be made available to inmates 

who have been sexually abused, including “timely, unimpeded access to emergency medical and 

mental health care and treatment and crisis intervention services... mental health evaluation[s]... 

 

601 Moss Statement, at 2; see also Meyer Statement, at 2.

602 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Indicators of Mental Health Problems Reported by Prisoners

and Jail Inmates, 2011-2012, by Jennifer Bronson and Marcus Berzofsky, June 2017, p. 1,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/imhprpji1112.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Indicators of Mental Health Problems

Reported by Prisoners and Jail Inmates, 2011-2012).

603 Ibid., 4 (noting that the aforementioned comparisons are statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence

interval, which means that these results were unlikely due to chance).

604 See supra notes 83-87.

605 DOJ, Indicators of Mental Health Problems Reported by Prisoners and Jail Inmates, 2011-2012, p. 5.

606 Ibid., 5.

607 Salisbury Testimony, p. 122.

608 U.S. Department of Justice, Investigation of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and Notice of Expanded

Investigation, prepared by J. Samuels for the Civil Rights Division (2014), p. 13,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/01/23/tutwiler_findings_1-17-14.pdf.

609 Consent Decree, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-368 (M.D. Ala., June 18, 2015), at ¶¶49-50.
100 WOMEN IN PRISON

mental health counseling and emotional support services.”610 Furthermore, Tutwiler must provide 

DOJ with information regarding investigations into and reports about the mental health of women 

inmates.611 Similar fact patterns, which led to similar remedies and monitoring requirements, were 

also documented in DOJ findings about the situation of incarcerated girls.612

In addition to disparities in health, women have certain unique health needs. The Commission 

received testimony that sanitary napkins are just as essential as clothes, bed sheets, or toilet 

paper.613 In addition, menstrual products are important to women’s dignity and health, as 

inadequate access to sanitary napkins may force women to reuse feminine products and risk 

acquiring pelvic infections, or some women just bleed through their clothes, which may risk the 

spread of infectious diseases.614 It costs women in some state prisons two weeks’ pay to buy one 

box of feminine products and if there is a lack of feminine products, possibly more.615 Some state 

prisons, like the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), allow women in prison to have 

unlimited access to personal hygiene items and other toiletry items without permission from staff, 

storing the productsin cabinets in all bathroom areas.616 According to Dr. Wendy Williams, Deputy 

Commissioner for Women’s Services at ADOC, “[t]his may sound like a minor change. But this 

 

610 Id. at ¶¶ 80-83.

611 Id. at ¶ 114.

612 Id. at ¶¶ 33-4 (in 2010 DOJ found serious constitutional violations in the facilities’ mental health care procedures

at two juvenile facilities for girls, Indiana's Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility and New York’s facilities of

the Office of Children and Family Services. Some of the most significant deficiencies at Indiana were inadequate

mental health and suicide screenings, assessments of inmates upon intake to determine inmates’ risk categorizations,

“grossly inadequate” staffing of the mental health department, and “confusing and contradictory” and “inconsistent”

systems of record keeping.) See also Settlement Agreement, United States v. New York, No. 1:10-CV-0858.,

(N.D.N.Y. Jul. 14, 2010) at ¶¶ 19, 23, 26 (noting that in 2010, in New York, DOJ found high levels of mental health

needs, but the institutional response was insufficient treatment and programming for inmates with substance abuse

issues, inappropriate medication procedures, and a failure to provide adequate treatment planning. Finally, DOJ

reported that the facility disregarded the young women inmates’ substance abuse issues.) See Id. at 10-1, 16, 18

(noting that Because of these failures and deficiencies, the consent decree between New York and the U.S. detailed a

number of remedial measures intended to ameliorate the lack of adequate mental health care at the facilities for girls.

These measures included implementing a behavioral treatment program, providing adequate services for mental

health crises, sufficiently evaluating inmates’ mental health needs, creating adequate treatment planning procedures,

and ensuring appropriate transition planning for inmates with mental health or substance abuse issues.

613 Owens Testimony, p. 29.

614 Ibid.; see also Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, Written Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars

Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 3 (hereinafter Sufrin Statement).

615 Owens Testimony, p. 29.

616 William Testimony, p. 216.
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 101

policy alone began a cultural shift in operational practices in the department’s women’s 

facilities.”617

Women also have other distinct health concerns such as menopause, need for cervical and breast 

cancer screenings, reproductive medical care, and pregnancy needs—including pre-natal and postpartum care—that are distinct from needs of men in prison.618

The available data on women in prison suggests that between 3 to 5 percent of incarcerated women 

are pregnant and approximately 1,500 to 2,000 prison births happen each year.619 However, 

according to Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, who is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Researcher at Johns 

Hopkins School of Medicine, these statistics may be inaccurate, as these data are old and the scope 

and methodology utilized to gather this information is limited.620 At the Commission’s briefing, 

Dr. Sufrin stated that:

We have no idea how many pregnant incarcerated women there are and what happens to 

these pregnancies. 

Women who don’t count don’t get counted. That is, the lack of any comprehensive or 

updated statistics about pregnancy among women behind bars signals the systematic 

disregard in the carceral system, and indeed our country, for incarcerated pregnant 

people.621

Dr. Sufrin and her research team recently published an article on pregnancy outcomes in all federal

and 22 state prison systems from 2016 to 2017.622 The article studies the pregnancy outcomes of 

1,396 pregnant women in prison.623 According to this study, almost 4 percent of newly admitted 

incarcerated women and 0.6 percent of all incarcerated women were pregnant in December 2016.624

 

617 Ibid.

618 Sufrin Statement, at 2-3; see also Meyer Statement, at 3.

619 Sufrin Testimony, p. 127.

620 Ibid., 128.

621 Ibid.

622 Carolyn Sufrin, Lauren Beal, Jennifer Clarke, Rachel Jones, and William Mosher. “Pregnancy Outcomes in US

Prisons, 2016–2017,” American Journal of Public Health 109, no. 5 (May 2019): 799- 805

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305006 (hereinafter Sufrin, et al., “Pregnancy

Outcomes in US Prisons, 2016–2017”). The following 22 state prisons participated in this study: Alabama, Arizona,

Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi,

Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

623 Carolyn Sufrin et al., “Pregnancy Outcomes in US Prisons, 2016–2017,” p. 801.

624 Ibid.
102 WOMEN IN PRISON

There were 753 live births (92 percent of pregnancy outcomes)—685 births occurred among 

women in state prisons and 68 among women in BOP’s custody, 46 miscarriages (6 percent), 4 

stillbirths (0.5 percent), 3 newborn deaths, and no maternal deaths.625 Six percent of live births 

were preterm and 32 percent were cesarean (or C section) deliveries.626 According to the authors, 

these percentages vary across prisons, as for example, in Arizona, as many as 20 percent of 

pregnancies ended in miscarriages.627 The authors note, however, that differences observed in 

pregnancy outcomes across prisons may be due to other factors such as individual patient 

attributes, prison health care policies and procedures, and access to community reproductive health 

care prior to incarceration.628

Comparing pregnancy outcomes and births in prisons to the general population has limitations, as 

these data are collected differently and in the general population. Given their confinement,

pregnant women in prison are distinct from pregnant women who are not in prison in ways that 

are not captured in these comparisons. Notwithstanding that comparison challenge however, the 

authors find important differences between these groups.629 First, the authors find that the national 

fertility rate in 2016, a measure of the number of live births among women 15 to 44 years of age, 

was 62 per 1000 women in the United States,630 but for incarcerated women, the fertility rate was 

much lower, 18 per 1000 imprisoned women 18 to 44 years old.631 According to the authors,

notwithstanding that women incarcerated for long periods are not likely to become pregnant, this 

lower rate of live births speaks to the need to “address the numerous complexities of birth in 

custody, such as the medically unsafe practices of placing pregnant women in solitary confinement 

and shackling women in labor, ensuring proper pregnancy and postpartum care, and determining 

who will care for the infants born to mothers in custody.”632

 

625 Sufrin et al., “Pregnancy Outcomes in US Prisons, 2016–2017,” p. 801. Of note, abortion as a pregnancy

outcome is not included because since 1983, the Commission’s statute has prohibited “the Commission, its advisory

committees, or any other person under its supervision or control to study and collect, make appraisals of, or serve as

a clearinghouse for any information about the laws and policies of the Federal Government or any other

governmental authority in the United States, with respect to abortion.” 42 U.S.C. § 1975a(f). Accordingly, the

Commission does not further discuss abortion herein.

626 Sufrin et al., “Pregnancy Outcomes in US Prisons, 2016–2017,” p. 801.

627 Ibid., 803.

628 Ibid.

629 Ibid.

630 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Births in the United

States, 2017, by Joyce Martin, Brady Hamilton, and Michelle Osterman, no. 318 (Aug. 2018),

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db318.pdf.

631 Sufrin et al., “Pregnancy Outcomes in US Prisons, 2016–2017,” p. 803.

632 Ibid.
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 103

Next, nationally 10 percent of live births were preterm, as compared with 6 percent of live births 

in prisons.633 While there is significant variability in access to and quality of prenatal care across 

prisons, according to the authors, this lower preterm birth proportion in the prisons in this study 

may be partially related to the relative presence of prenatal care, food, and shelter and the limited 

access to illicit substances, conditions that may be different for some pregnant women not in 

custody.634 Moreover, the authors assert that some state prison systems had preterm birth rates that 

are higher than the national rate, which suggests that the context of the individual prison system 

and pre-incarceration conditions may play a role in pregnancy outcomes,

635 and may be a result of 

the lack of standardization of care.

At the Commission’s briefing, Ms. Pamela Winn, a registered nurse, Executive Director of 

RestoreHER, and a formerly incarcerated woman, shared her experience suffering a miscarriage

while in federal custody.

636 When Ms. Winn entered federal prison, she was 6 weeks pregnant, and 

anytime she was transported, she was shackled, which meant that she was chained at her ankles 

with another chain around her belly that bound her hands in front of her waist with a black box.637

According to Ms. Winn:

While shackled, attempting to step up into a van, I fell. A couple days later I begin spotting 

with streaks of blood, which I reported to the medical staff for approximately two weeks 

with no response. The initial reply I finally received was that bleeding was normal with 

pregnancy. Then they informed me that the prison was structured for men and had literally 

‘no’ means of caring for me and would have to get approval from the US Marshals to take 

me to the emergency room. The turnaround time for the request and approval ended up 

being 4 weeks. At that point, it was no longer an ‘emergency,’ so I was turned away and 

unable to be treated at the emergency room. The ER physician recommended an 

obstetrician but was told by the transporting officers that I was only approved for an 

emergency room visit. I then required a second approval for an obstetrician, which took 4 

more weeks. The obstetrician would need an ultrasound which was not performed on site, 

therefore requiring a third approval. Once I received the ultrasound, follow-up was 

 

633 Ibid.

634 Ibid.

635 Ibid.

636 Pamela Winn, Written Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 2 (hereinafter Winn Statement).

637 Winn Statement, at 2.
104 WOMEN IN PRISON

required, and a fourth approval was requested. I ended up miscarrying at approximately 20 

weeks without any formal or proper prenatal care.638

Ms. Winn testified that after her miscarriage, she was placed in solitary confinement, which meant 

that she was locked in a 6’ by 9’ room with a bed, toilet, sink, and no window for 23 hours a day,

for “medical observation.”639 Also at the briefing, Dr. Carolyn Sufrin of Johns Hopkins School of 

Medicine, who provides clinical care for incarcerated women, researches their reproductive health 

needs, and advises prisons across the country, stated that data showing that 1,500-2,000 women 

per year give birth in custody is “decades old and limited in scope and methodology.”640 She told 

the Commission this is because BJS “rigorously and routinely collects data about incarcerated 

people and their demographics, but they do not collect any information about pregnancy. This is 

profound elision.”641 Further, Dr. Sufrin stated that: 

The paucity of this data means that no one is paying attention. Anything can happen to 

them, as Ms. Winn movingly and harrowingly described. They can be placed in solitary 

confinement, shackled, they can receive sub-standard pregnancy care and nutrition, their 

symptoms of contractions or bleeding can be ignored.642

Reports of possible mistreatment of incarcerated pregnant women and unsafe birth conditions 

include a Denver woman, Diana Sanchez, who has alleged in a lawsuit she was denied medical 

treatment while in labor and gave birth alone in her cell, including security camera footage which 

appears to confirm her account.643 Although the case is ongoing and officials deny any wrongdoing, 

the department has changed its policies to require immediate emergency transportation to the 

hospital for women in any stage of labor.644 Dr. Sufrin added that the fact that only 26 states have 

prohibited shackling during pregnancy is troubling, because shackling increases many medical 

risks for both the mother and the child.645 Kaitlin Owens of the American Conservative Union 

 

638 Ibid.

639 Ibid.

640 Sufrin Testimony, p. 128-29.

641 Ibid.

642 Ibid., 130.

643 Chiu, Allyson. ‘“Nobody Cared’: A Woman Gave Birth Alone in a Jail Cell After Her Cries for Help Were

Ignored, Lawsuit Says.” The Washington Post, Aug. 29, 2019,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/29/pregnant-woman-diana-sanchez-birth-alone-jail-cell-denver/.

644 Ibid.

645 Sufrin Testimony, p. 130.
CHAPTER 3: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND PERSONAL DIGNITY 105

agreed that given the high number of births in prison, more states should ban “this barbaric 

practice.”646

BOP stated that it banned the practice in 2008, but women’s rights groups have found that 

shackling at BOP institutions continued past the BOP ban.647 The First Step Act of 2018 

permanently banned the shackling of incarcerated women during pregnancy and childbirth and for 

a period thereinafter, in the federal prison system.

648 At the Commission’s briefing, several experts 

testified that despite the passage of the First Step Act, some women in state prisons or women who

are housed in a private facility that contracts with BOP, are still shackled during pregnancy and 

delivery.649 Harvard Law School’s Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties published an essay 

stating that the First Step Act’s exceptions to the rules against shackling for “when (i) the woman 

“is an immediate and credible flight risk that cannot reasonably be prevented by other means;” or 

(ii) “poses an immediate and serious threat of harm to herself or others that cannot reasonably be 

prevented by other means,” are too broad and open to abuse.650

According to medical experts, shackling women in prison at any point in pregnancy can increase 

the risk of falls, which can lead to placental separation, hemorrhage, and still birth.651 Moreover, 

shackling women in prison may impede routine and emergency medical interventions when there 

is fetal distress, maternal hemorrhage, the baby gets stuck in the birth canal, or if an emergency 

caesarian section needs to be performed during labor and delivery.652 There is extensive research 

showing a lack of safety concerns if shackling is not used on women prisoners when they give 

 

646 Owens Testimony, p. 31.

647 See Jessica Jackson, How the First Step Act Would Restore Dignity to Incarcerated Women, 31 Fed. Sent. R.

116, 2018 WL 6928323 (Dec. 2018); see also “Mothers Behind Bars,” Rebecca Project for Human Rights and

National Women’s Law Center, 2010, https://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/mothersbehindbars2010.pdf.

648 See 18 U.S.C. § 4322 (as amended by the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5217); see also

Smith Statement, at 8; see also James, Nathan. The First Step Act of 2018: An Overview, Congressional Research

Service, Mar. 4, 2019, p. 17 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45558.); see also United Nations,

Convention against torture and Other Cruel, In human or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, (Dec. 2014), p. 12,

https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CAT/C/USA/CO/3-

5&Lang=En, (noting that US should “[r[evise the practice of shackling incarcerated pregnant women, bearing

in mind that the prison regime should be flexible enough to respond to the needs of pregnant women, nursing

mothers and women with children.” (emphasis in original).

649 Winn Testimony, p. 49; see also Owens Testimony, p. 68; see also Sufrin Testimony, p. 129.

650 “Barbaric Beyond Bans: How the First Step Act’s Provision Fails to Protect Women,” Harvard Civil Rights Civil

Liberties Law Review, Feb. 14, 2019, https://harvardcrcl.org/barbaric-beyond-bans-the-first-step-acts-shacklingprovision-may-not-protect-women/; see also 18 U.S.C. § 4322 (b) (exceptions to the shackling ban).

651 Sufrin Testimony, p. 129.

652 Ibid., 130.
106 WOMEN IN PRISON

birth.653 In addition, the vast majority of women in prison are classified as low security,

654 and 

therefore, under the First Step Act, shackling would be inappropriate in the vast majority of 

cases.655

Some pregnancies may result from sexual abuse. For example, DOJ found that in Tutwiler prison, 

widespread rape of prisoners had resulted in pregnancies.656 Though only one pregnancy was 

reported in the three years prior to DOJ’s investigation, DOJ had reason to believe that this number 

was inaccurate, possibly due to inadequate investigative procedures.657 To address this occurrence, 

Tutwiler agreed to abide by a number of policies intended to reduce the risk of pregnancy and care 

for women who become pregnant, including documenting and reporting the pregnancy of 

individuals transferring from other correctional facilities (especially if the pregnancy is suspected 

to be the result of rape);

658 providing, when medically appropriate, information about and access 

to pregnancy tests, emergency contraception, and lawful pregnancy-related medical procedures 

and services;659 and monitoring the number pregnant Tutwiler prisoners.660

 

653 McLearen Testimony, p. 59-60; see also Still Testimony, p. 297.

654 DiNardo, Chris. Pregnancy in Confinement, Anti-Shackling Laws and the “Extraordinary Circumstances”

Loophole, 25 DUKE J. OF GENDER LAW & POL’Y, 271, 280 (2018).

655 18 U.S.C. § 4322 (b) (exceptions to the shackling ban).

656 Letter from Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney Gen., Civil Rights Div., Dep’t of Justice to Governor

Robert Bentley, Jan. 17, 2014, https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/01/23/tutwiler_findings_1-

17-14.pdf, at 10.

657 Ibid.

658 Consent Decree, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-368, 56, 83(M.D. Ala., June 18, 2015),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2015/07/09/tutwiler_agreement_6-18-15.pdf.

659 Id. at 83.

660 Id. at 104.
CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE 107

CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON 

AND SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE U.S. PRISON SYSTEM

Women in Federal Prison and Sexual Assault & Abuse

Some men and women in prison experience sexual abuse by other inmates and prison staff. 

Although prevalence is difficult to measure, as explained below, assault and abuse are a significant 

problem for incarcerated women, and prison officials have an obligation to protect incarcerated 

people from assault and abuse. The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was passed in 2003 to 

provide additional tools to keep incarcerated people safe. The Commission received testimony that 

the sexual assault and abuse remain a serious concern. 

Under PREA regulations issued in 2012, the definition of what is considered sexual abuse is very 

broad. It includes:

(1) Sexual abuse of an inmate, detainee, or resident by another inmate, detainee, or resident; 

and

(2) Sexual abuse of an inmate, detainee, or resident by a staff member, contractor, or 

volunteer.

Sexual abuse of an inmate, detainee, or resident by another inmate, detainee, or resident 

includes any of the following acts, if the victim does not consent, is coerced into such act 

by overt or implied threats of violence, or is unable to consent or refuse:

(1) Contact between the penis and the vulva or the penis and the anus, including 

penetration, however slight;

(2) Contact between the mouth and the penis, vulva, or anus;

(3) Penetration of the anal or genital opening of another person, however slight, by a 

hand, finger, object, or other instrument; and

(4) Any other intentional touching, either directly or through the clothing, of the 

genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or the buttocks of another person, excluding 

contact incidental to a physical altercation.

Sexual abuse of an inmate, detainee, or resident by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer 

includes any of the following acts, with or without consent of the inmate, detainee, or 

resident:

(1) Contact between the penis and the vulva or the penis and the anus, including 

penetration, however slight;

(2) Contact between the mouth and the penis, vulva, or anus;
108 WOMEN IN PRISON

(3) Contact between the mouth and any body part where the staff member, contractor, 

or volunteer has the intent to abuse, arouse, or gratify sexual desire;

(4) Penetration of the anal or genital opening, however slight, by a hand, finger, object, 

or other instrument, that is unrelated to official duties or where the staff member, 

contractor, or volunteer has the intent to abuse, arouse, or gratify sexual desire;

(5) Any other intentional contact, either directly or through the clothing, of or with the 

genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or the buttocks, that is unrelated to official 

duties or where the staff member, contractor, or volunteer has the intent to abuse, 

arouse, or gratify sexual desire;

(6) Any attempt, threat, or request by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer to 

engage in the activities described in paragraphs (1)-(5) of this section;

(7) Any display by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer of his or her uncovered 

genitalia, buttocks, or breast in the presence of an inmate, detainee, or resident, and

(8) Voyeurism by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer. Voyeurism by a staff 

member, contractor, or volunteer means an invasion of privacy of an inmate, detainee, 

or resident by staff for reasons unrelated to official duties, such as peering at an inmate 

who is using a toilet in his or her cell to perform bodily functions; requiring an inmate 

to expose his or her buttocks, genitals, or breasts; or taking images of all or part of an 

inmate’s naked body or of an inmate performing bodily functions.

661

In addition, the regulations implementing PREA define sexual harassment as:

(1) Repeated and unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or verbal 

comments, gestures, or actions of a derogatory or offensive sexual nature by one inmate, 

detainee, or resident directed toward another; and

(2) Repeated verbal comments or gestures of a sexual nature to an inmate, detainee, or 

resident by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer, including demeaning references to 

gender, sexually suggestive or derogatory comments about body or clothing, or obscene 

language or gestures.662

In 2015, three years after the PREA national standards were implemented, Department of Justice’s 

Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that there were 24,661 allegations of sexual abuse in prison, 

 

661 28 C.F.R. § 115.6.

662 Id.
CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE 109

only 1,473 of which were substantiated after investigation.663 To clarify, 91 percent of the claims 

were investigated, and those that were considered “unsubstantiated” meant that there wasn’t 

enough evidence to determine whether sexual abuse had occurred or not.664 The report doesn’t 

discuss why there is such a large gap between the number of allegations and the number 

substantiated by prison officials. It does state that allegations tripled from 2011 to 2015, coinciding 

with the release of the national PREA standards.665 But concurrently, the number of substantiated 

incidents also rose, with the annual number of substantiated incidents of sexual victimization 

increasing by 63 percent from 2011 to 2015.

666 Another Bureau of Justice Statistics survey found 

that women in prisons and jails reported higher rates of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual victimization

than their male counterparts (6.9 percent vs 1.7 percent) and these differences were found to be 

significantly different.667

While men and women in prison report similar rates of staff-on-inmate misconduct (2.4 percent 

vs 2.3 percent),668 nearly 82 percent of the female victims in prison said they were pressured by 

staff to engage in sexual activity, compared to 55 percent of male victims in prison.669 For both 

male and female inmates, the perpetrator of staff sexual misconduct was most often of the opposite 

sex.670 In 2017, of 100 (out of 122) federal institutions participating, there were 417 allegations of 

inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse, of which only 26 were substantiated—four of which involved 

women in prison.671 In 2016, of 94 (out of 122) federal institutions participating, there were 334 

allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse, of which only 25 were substantiated—six of which 

involved women in prison.672 In 2015, of 121 (out of 122) federal institutions participating, there 

were 365 allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse, of which only 15 were substantiated—

three of these victims were women in prison.673

 

663 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional

Authorities, 2012-15, by Ramona Rantala, July 2018, p. 1, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/svraca1215.pdf.

664 Ibid.

665 Ibid.

666 Ibid., 9.

667 DOJ, Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, National Inmate Survey 2011-12, p. 17.

668 Ibid.

669 Ibid.

670 Moss Statement, at 12.

671 U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Bureau of Prisons Annual PREA Report, by

Hugh Hurwitz, p. 4, 6-8, https://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/docs/prea_2017.pdf.

672 Ibid., 4, 5-9.

673 Ibid., 4-7.
110 WOMEN IN PRISON

Table 7: Sexual Assault/Abuse Allegations Against BOP Staff in Female Facilities, 2014–2018, 

by Institution674

Facility 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Total

FPC Alderson 3 0 0 2 0 5

FCI Aliceville 3 4 3 0 0 10

MDC Brooklyn 0 1 2 0 0 3

FPC Bryan 3 3 1 3 0 10

FMC Carswell 10 8 6 8 3 35

MCC Chicago 1 0 0 2 0 3

FCC Coleman 6 2 0 1 4 13

FCI Danbury 2 1 0 1 0 4

FCI Dublin 4 4 3 1 0 12

FCI Greenville 0 2 1 0 1 4

MDC Guaynabo 0 0 1 0 0 1

FCC Hazelton 1 1 1 0 1 4

FDC Honolulu 0 0 0 0 0 0

FDC Houston 0 1 1 1 0 3

FMC Lexington 0 1 0 3 1 5

MDC Los Angeles 1 0 0 0 0 1

FCI Marianna 0 0 3 0 0 3

FDC Miami 3 1 3 1 0 8

MCC New York 0 1 1 1 0 3

FTC Oklahoma 0 0 1 0 0 1

FCI Pekin 0 0 0 0 0 0

FDC Philadelphia 4 0 1 0 0 5

FI Phoenix 0 4 0 0 0 4

MCC San Diego 1 0 2 0 0 3

FDC SeaTac 0 1 1 0 0 2

FCI Tallahassee 7 2 3 1 0 13

FCC Tucson 0 0 0 1 0 1

FCC Victorville 0 0 0 3 0 3

FCI Waseca 5 3 4 1 0 13

Total 54 40 38 30 10 172

The relatively low numbers in BJS reports are contradicted by findings of widespread sexual abuse 

in certain institutions. For example, the Department of Justice received letters from roughly onequarter of the inmates at Julia Tutwiler prison describing concerns regarding sexual assault and 

 

674 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 25.
CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE 111

harassment, dehumanizing behavior, and discriminatory conduct by staff.675 Forty-four of the 233 

letters were about sexual abuse and harassment.676 The investigation uncovered a culture of sexual 

abuse and harassment of prisoners by prison guards developed over two decades.677 After its 

investigation, DOJ filed a complaint in federal court alleging that “[d]efendants have allowed a 

sexualized environment to exist at Tutwiler, such that sexual abuse and sexual harassment are 

constant, and prisoners must sometimes submit to unlawful sexual advances from staff in order to 

obtain necessities or to avoid punishment.”678 The complaint further alleged that prison staff did 

not maintain an adequate grievance filing system, and that women who did attempt to report sexual 

harassment and abuse were met with retaliation, including being placed in solitary confinement.679

According to Professor Brenda V. Smith, of the American University Washington College of Law 

and Former Commissioner of the National Prison Rape Commission (2003-2009):

It is evident that sexual abuse is still a serious contemporary issue facing women in custody. 

Sexual victimization of women in custody is an enduring theme in the history of women in 

custody. Over the last twenty years, I have been called to testify and present on the issue 

of women in custody multiple times. Generally, that testimony occurred when there had 

been a major scandal such as the ones in Alabama, California, Michigan, DC, Washington, 

Oregon, and Florida. They are not outliers; there have been scandals related to the treatment 

of women in custody in every jurisdiction. While legislation, such as PREA, has furthered 

dialogue on the issue, we, as a nation, need a comprehensive and durable strategy for 

improving the treatment of women and girls in custody.680

 

675 See Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels, letter to Governor Robert Bentley, Jan. 17, 2014, at p. 5,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/01/23/tutwiler_findings_1-17-14.pdf.

676 Id. at 7.

677 See Letter from Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney Gen., Civil Rights Div., Dep’t of Justice to

Governor Robert Bentley, (Jan. 17, 2014),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/01/23/tutwiler_findings_1-17-14.pdf at 5.

678 Complaint, U.S. v. Alabama, 2:15-cv-00368 (M.D. Ala., May 28, 2015).

679 Id.

680 Smith Statement, at 3-4.
112 WOMEN IN PRISON

Women in State Prison and Sexual Assault & Abuse

In 2012, BJS published a survey of more than 18,000 former state prisoners,681 of whom 9.6 percent 

reported one or more incidents of sexual victimization682 during their most recent period of 

incarceration—and the rate of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization reported was three times 

higher for women (13.7 percent) than for men (4.2 percent).683 Furthermore:

• Female heterosexual inmates reported lower rates of inmate-on-inmate victimization 

(13%) and staff sexual misconduct (4%) than female bisexual inmates (18% and 8%, 

respectively).

• Among female homosexual or lesbian inmates, the rate of inmate-on-inmate sexual 

victimization was similar to that for female heterosexual inmates (13%), while the rate of 

staff sexual victimization was at least double (8%) that for female heterosexual inmates 

(4%).

• Among victims of staff sexual misconduct, 79% were males reporting sexual activity with 

female staff.

• Following their release from prison, 72% of victims of inmate-on-inmate sexual 

victimization indicated they felt shame or humiliation, and 56% said they felt guilt.

• The majority of victims of staff sexual misconduct involving unwilling activity said they 

felt shame or humiliation (79%) and guilt (72%) following their release from prison.

• More than half (54%) reported having difficulty feeling close to friends or family members 

as a result of the sexual victimization.

684

Ms. Leann Bertsch, Director of North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,

reported to the Commission what happens to incarcerated women in the North Dakota Department 

of Corrections and Rehabilitation (ND DOCR) who report sexual assault and/or harassment, 

stating that:

[T]he ND DOCR adheres to the PREA guidelines which call for a coordinated response.

The PREA coordinated response procedure is used to coordinate actions taken in response 

 

681 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Sexual Victimization Reported by Former State

Prisoners, 2008, by Allen Beck and Candace Johnson, (2012), p. 7,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/svrfsp08.pdf.

682 Ibid., 13. (noting that sexual victimization was defined as “all types of unwanted sexual activity with other

inmates (e.g., oral, anal, or vaginal penetration, hand jobs, or touching of the inmate’s buttocks, thighs, penis,

breasts, or vagina in a sexual way), abusive sexual contacts with other inmates, and both willing and unwilling

sexual activity with staff.”)

683 Ibid., 5-6.

684 Ibid.
CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE 113

to an incident of sexual abuse, among staff first responders, medical and behavioral health 

practitioners, investigators, and facility leadership. The first staff member responding to an 

allegation of sexual abuse must separate the alleged victim from the alleged abuser; notify 

the shift supervisor and preserve and protect any crime scene. The shift supervisor contacts 

external victim advocate services, if there is no need for external medical services.

Behavioral health staff are notified and requested to immediately assess the victim to 

counsel and support. The behavioral health staff may sit in on the interviews with the victim 

if requested to do so by the victim or by a law enforcement officer. Medical staff are 

notified and the alleged victim is escorted to the medical department. Medical staff reassure 

the alleged victim medical services are involved only to ensure that the proper evaluation 

and treatment of any injuries is obtained and psychological support is offered. If a sexual 

assault examination is appropriate, one is performed by a trained [Sexual Assault Nurse 

Examiner] SANE or [Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner] SAFE. Any use of segregated 

housing to protect an incarcerated person who is alleged to have suffered sexual abuse are 

subject to the requirements of standard 115.43 Protective Custody of PREA. Adults in 

custody at high-risk for sexual victimization may not be placed in involuntary segregated 

housing unless an assessment of all available alternatives has been made and a 

determination has been made there not available alternative means of separation from 

likely abusers. Individuals placed in segregated housing for this purpose shall have access 

to programs, privileges, education, and work opportunities to the extent possible.

Incarcerated individuals will only be assigned to involuntary segregated housing until an 

alternative means of separation from the abuser can be arranged. The assignment may not 

exceed a period of 30 days. Every effort shall be made to keep the victim in the victim’s 

normal housing unit to prevent re-traumatization.685

Several reports found that prison staff often do retaliate or threaten to retaliate against women who 

report assault and proper procedures are not always followed.686 According to an Amnesty 

International report regarding women in U.S. prisons, female prisoners are often reluctant to 

complain about sexual misconduct for a variety of reasons, including the following: 

 

685 Leann Bertsch, Director of North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Follow-up Statement for

the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Apr. 2,

2019, at 2 (hereinafter Bertsch Follow-up Statement).

686 “The Very Basics About Sexual Abuse in Detention,” Just Detention International, Oct. 2019,

https://justdetention.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Fact-sheet-The-Very-Basics-about-Sexual-Abuse-inDetention.pdf; see also Law, Victoria. “For People Behind Bars, Reporting Sexual Assault Leaders to More

Punishment,” Just Detention International, Sept. 30, 2018, https://justdetention.org/for-people-behind-barsreporting-sexual-assault-leads-to-more-punishment/; see also “All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S.

State Prisons,” Human Rights Watch, Dec. 1996, https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/Us1.htm.
114 WOMEN IN PRISON

1. The difficulty of proving an allegation, particularly when the only evidence is the prisoner’s 

account;

2. The possibility that making a complaint may place a prisoner in protective segregation 

while the complaint is investigated, which many have said they find punitive;

3. Fear of retaliation.687

The Commission also received testimony that women in prison who are victims of sexual assault 

often experience trauma and fear retaliation if they pursue legal remedies.688

Related Litigation by Private Parties689

At the Commission’s briefing, Cardozo Law Professor Betsy Ginsberg testified that current legal 

protections against sexual abuse of women in prison are inadequate due, for example, to issues 

such as limits on damages and attorneys’ fees in private cases.690 Moreover, as discussed in Chapter 

1, the 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act requires that prisoners exhaust all available 

administrative remedies before bringing any federal civil rights claims,691 permits federal judges 

to dismiss actions based on the doctrine of qualified immunity of state officials,692 limits damages 

by requiring a showing of physical (not mental or emotional) injury,693 and severely limits 

attorneys’ fees.694 The Commission received extensive testimony from federal civil rights litigators 

 

687 “Women in Custody,” Amnesty International, https://www.amnestyusa.org/pdf/custodyissues.pdf (accessed

Oct.18, 2019); see also “Women in Prison: A Fact Sheet,” Amnesty International,

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/women_prison.pdf (accessed Oct. 18, 2019.

688 Moss Statement, at 11.

689 The work of DOJ in enforcing federal protections against sexual assault of women in prison is discussed in

Chapter 7 of this report.

690 Ginsberg Testimony, p. 137.

691 Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, P.L 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321 (codified as 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) (“No action

shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a

prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available

are exhausted.”)

692 See supra note 349, citing 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c) (as amended by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, Pub.

L. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321-71).

693 See supra note 352, citing 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e) (as amended by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, Pub.

L. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321-72. (“No Federal civil action may be brought by a prisoner confined in a jail, prison, or

other correctional facility, for mental or emotional injury suffered while in custody without a prior showing of

physical injury.”)

694 See supra note 354, citing 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d) (as amended by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, Pub.

L. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321-71) (attorneys’ fees limited to 25 percent of judgment for plaintiff, with excess to be paid

by the defendant but only up to 150 percent of the judgment, and the hourly fees being limited to 150 percent of that

of public defenders).
CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE 115

that these limits diminish access to constitutional protections for women in prison, including in 

cases of rape.695 For example, the Commission received testimony that states may impose short 

timelines for making any complaints and under the requirement that administrative remedies must 

be exhausted, if a victim is too traumatized or intimidated or does not know her rights to file a 

grievance within that short time period, the PRLA does not permit her to bring a private lawsuit to 

enforce her civil rights.696

The Commission also received written testimony from Julie Abbate, the former chief of the DOJ 

section charged with enforcing the civil rights of women facing sexual abuse in prison. Regarding 

litigation in general and private litigation in particular, Abbate stated that:

Litigation can address some of the most public and egregious sexual abuses of women 

prisoners. But litigation is not the solution. Litigation is expensive, time consuming, and 

not always successful due to misunderstanding concerning ‘consent’ in custody. Even 

when large scale litigation is successful, the Prison Litigation Reform Act limits 

meaningful injunctive relief. And too many women prisoners will continue to suffer sexual 

abuse, behind bars as in the free world, unseen and unheard. Even when survivors of 

custodial sexual abuse are heard, too often they are not believed.697

Nonetheless, since the early 1970s, prisoners and civil rights advocates have had success in 

obtaining injunctions from federal courts to rectify poor, and in some cases unconstitutional, 

conditions in prisons.698 These Eighth Amendment cases require a showing that state officials

inflicted cruel and unusual punishment,699 or that the quality of conditions in the prison was so poor

that it was unconstitutional.

700 This law was further developed in 1994, in the landmark case of 

 

695 See supra notes 356-63.

696 See supra notes 357-9.

697Abbate Statement, at 11.

698 Margo Schlanger, Civil Rights Injunctions Over Time: A Case Study of Jail and Prison Court Orders, 81 N.Y.U.

L. Rev. 550, 552 (2006).

699 Holt v. Sarver, 442 F.2d 304, 308-09 (8th Cir. 1971).

700 Id. at n. 4; and see, e.g., Inmates of Suffolk County Jail v. Eisenstat, 360 F.Supp. 676, 684 (D. Mass. 1973)

(“During the past few years, due largely to the courage of young poverty-program lawyers, the soul-chilling

inhumanity of conditions in American prisons has been thrust upon the judicial conscience... Twice last year the

Supreme Court reversed lower federal court decisions dismissing state prisoner complaints because they were

thought by the lower courts to be in the area that should be left “to the sound discretion of prison administration”

and ordered that the complaints be heard on the merits. Haines v. Kerner, 1972, 404 U.S. 519, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30

L.Ed.2d 652 and Cruz v. Beto, 1972, 405 U.S. 319 at 321, 92 S.Ct. 1079, at 1081, 31 L.Ed.2d 263, (commenting per

curiam in the latter case, “Federal courts sit not to supervise prisons but to enforce the constitutional rights of all

‘persons' which include prisoners.”); aff’d, 494 F.2d 1196 (1st Cir. 1974); cert denied, Hall v. Inmates of Suffolk

County Jail, 419 U.S. 977 (1974).
116 WOMEN IN PRISON

Farmer v. Brennan brought by a transgender woman allegedly abused by other prisonersin a men’s 

prison, who argued that prison officials violated the Eighth Amendment by being deliberately 

indifferent to this risk,

701 Farmer argued that they should have known that “a transsexual who 

‘projects feminine characteristics,’ would be particularly vulnerable to sexual attack.”702 Her case 

was eventually lost on the facts, and similar cases in which transgender women have alleged 

deliberate indifference to high risks of sexual assault in male prisons have also had mixed results 

based on the factual record.703 However, Farmer v. Brennan established and has been used to show 

that prison officials who are deliberately indifferent to known risks of sexual assault may be in 

violation of the Eighth Amendment, because in that case, the Supreme Court held that placing a 

prisoner in an environment where the prisoner is exposed to a “sufficiently substantial risk of 

serious damage to [her] future health” by failing to protect her from the threat of sexual assault 

violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.704 Based on this 

precedent, in recent decades, several high-profile private cases have been won by female prisoners 

who suffered sexual abuse in women’s prisons.

In 1994, women in three prisons in Washington, D.C. filed a class action lawsuit alleging that they 

had been sexually harassed and assaulted in custody, that women in D.C. prisons had unequal 

access to educational, vocational, and religious opportunities, and that female prisoners had 

inadequate access to obstetrical and gynecological care in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

705

The federal trial court found in plaintiffs’ favor. Among other relevant findings, the federal court 

found Eighth Amendment violations as follows:

Defendants have violated the subjective standard of the Eighth Amendment by acting with

‘deliberate indifference’ to the condition of sexual harassment which women prisoners at 

the three facilities must endure. The Court finds that Defendants knew of and disregarded 

an excessive risk of sexual assaults and harassment of women prisoners. The evidence 

demonstrated that the women prisoners filed complaints with the police and they sent 

 

701 Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 831 (1994).

702 Id. at 829-30.

703 See, e.g., Richardson v. District of Columbia, 322 F.Supp.3d 175, 183-84 (D.D.C. 2018)(“[T]he record more

plausibly supports Richardson's second theory: that Warden Smith acted with deliberate indifference by failing to

prevent transgender female inmates from being housed with heterosexual male inmates, period. But the Court finds

that, even if the Eighth Amendment barred Smith from allowing Richardson to be housed with male inmates

generally, he is entitled to qualified immunity on a claim to that effect. The defense of qualified immunity “gives

government officials breathing room to make reasonable but mistaken judgments about open legal questions” by

“protect[ing] ‘all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.’”).

704 Id. at 843 (1994) (quoting Helling v. McKinney, 509 U.S. 25, 35 (1993)) (internal quotation marks omitted).

705 See Women Prisoners of the D.C. Dep’t of Corrections v. District of Columbia, 877 F. Supp. 634 (D.D.C. 1994);

see also Smith Statement, at 4.
CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE 117

[Inmate Grievance Procedure forms] IGP’s and letters of complaint to 

prison administrators. The circumstantial evidence allows at least the inference of 

deliberate indifference since the harassment was so obvious. Indeed, assaults are widely 

known by [D.C. Department of Corrections] DCDC staff, vulgar comments are made 

openly and women are fondled publicly.706

The litigation was long and arduous, as after appeal the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned 

and ruled against the women’s Equal Protection claims, which were brought about unequal access 

to programming.707 However, the defendants did not challenge, and so the court of appeals did not 

overturn, the ruling that sexual harassment, living conditions and fire hazards rose to the level of 

Eighth Amendment violations.708 Citing Farmer v. Brennan, the court reasoned that violent assault 

is unacceptable, and reviewed the lower court’s finding that the pattern of sexual assault coupled 

with invasions of the inmates’ privacy rose to the level of Eighth Amendment violations and that 

there was a pattern of deliberate indifference to it at the three facilities at issue.709 But the court of 

appeals then reviewed the remedies ordered, and only upheld those related to Inmate Grievance 

Procedures and retaliation against inmates, rejecting the lower court’s order for a Special Officer 

and monitors.710 The Supreme Court rejected plaintiffs’ petition to hear the case.711

In 2009, the state of Michigan settled a class action lawsuit for $100 million after over 800 women 

prisoners alleged that they had been sexually harassed or abused while incarcerated.712 The case, 

initially filed in 1996, alleged that between the years of 1993 and 2009 female prisoners “had been 

raped, groped and peeked at by male members of the corrections staff.”713 The litigation progressed 

in several stages over 13 years, also resulting in a court order in 2000 requiring training reforms 

and improvements in the prison system’s investigations process into complaints of sexual abuse 

 

706 Women Prisoners, 877 F. Supp. at 665-66.

707 See Women Prisoners of the D.C. Dep’t of Corrections v. District of Columbia, 93 F.3d 910, 926-27 (D.C. Cir.

1996).

708 Id. at 928.

709 Id. at 929.

710 Id. at 932.

711 Women Prisoners of the D.C. Dep’t of Corrections v. District of Columbia, 520 U.S. 1196 (1997).

712 Miller, Rina. “$100 million settlement to sexually abused prisoners won’t be delayed,” Michigan Radio, Nov. 11,

2001, https://www.michiganradio.org/post/100-million-settlement-sexually-abused-prisoners-wont-be-delayed; see

also Smith Statement, at 5.

713 “Michigan: Prisoners’ Lawsuit,” New York Times, Aug. 21, 2009,

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/us/21brfs-PRISONERSLAW_BRF.html.
118 WOMEN IN PRISON

by prison guards.714 The Sixth Circuit federal court of appeals also upheld a policy change 

prompted in part by the class action suit that prohibited male prison guards from being assigned to 

areas where they could view women prisoners while they were partially dressed or nude.715 But in 

the Ninth Circuit, plaintiffs in a Nevada women’s prison were not able to prove that the state 

correctional institution’s lax oversight by supervisors caused sexual abuse, especially as the 

institution was in the process of improving its policies.716

Cases against federal officials have also raised challenges under the doctrine of sovereign 

immunity. In Doe v. United States, a woman prisoner in Hawaii alleged that she was working when 

a floor buffer machine she was using blew up and burned her stomach; and was later raped by the 

electrician hired by BOP to repair the machine.717 She sued the electrician and they entered into a 

settlement agreement.718 She also sued the supervisor who hired the electrician and permitted him 

to require her to enter the closet with him, even after she refused. She alleged that the male 

supervisor was negligent in unlocking and opening the closet, allowing the door to automatically 

shut, knowing there was no camera, and letting the electrician sexually assault her.719 The federal 

court found that the supervisor did not act with deliberate indifference, as he did not believe that 

letting the electrician go into the closet with the prisoner placed her at any risk of harm, so he had 

not violated her rights under the Eighth Amendment.

720

As discussed in Chapter 1, the Federal Tort Claims Act grants federal courts jurisdiction over 

damages “caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government 

while acting within the scope of his employment.”721 However, under the statutory language of the 

Act, the federal government is not liable for “[a]ny claim ... based upon the exercise or performance 

or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency 

or an employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused.”722

 

714 Reutter, David M. “$100 Million Settlement in Michigan Prisoners’ Sexual Abuse Suit,” Prison Legal News,

Dec. 15, 2009, https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2009/dec/15/100-million-settlement-in-michigan-prisonerssexual-abuse-suit/.

715 Everson v. Michigan Dep’t of Corrections, 391 F. 3d. 737, 753-54 (6th Cir. 2004).

716 Breiner v. Nevada Department of Corrections, 610 F. 3d 1202, 1204-05 (9th Cir. 2010).

717 Doe v. United States, 2011 WL 251445, *1 (D. Haw. 2011).

718 Id. (based on the settlement, the parties stipulated to dismissing the claims against the electrician).

719 Id.

720 Doe, 2011 WL 251445 at *10-11.

721 See supra note 341, discussing Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946, Pub. L. 80-773, 62 Stat. 869 (codified as 28

U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1).

722 28 U.S.C. § 2674; 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a).
CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE 119

But under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, only claims for which immunity is waived by 

legislation can be considered, and the Federal Tort Claims Act clearly does not waive immunity 

in the realm of discretionary functions.723 Therefore, in the case of Ms. Doe, the federal court 

reasoned that under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, her claims that had to do with 

“discretionary” functions must be dismissed.724 “Furthermore, [federal] courts have held that 

decisions relating to the supervision of employees are discretionary.”725 Considering all these legal 

obstacles, including that Ms. Doe could not point to any statute or regulations requiring better 

protection, the court found that the supervisor’s actions or inaction was discretionary, and despite

her allegations that he locked her in a closet with a rapist, dismissed her claims against him.

726

The case of Robinson v. United States similarly demonstrates the difficulty of holding federal 

prison officials accountable in private litigation. Angela Robinson was a federal inmate housed in 

a correctional institution in Tallahassee, Florida.727 The state government hired two private 

individuals to transport her to and from the court house when she was ordered to make an 

appearance in state court.

728 Upon her return, she was accompanied by only one of the individuals, 

a man who coerced her into sex with him.729 The warden, a federal employee, did not conduct a 

background check on these transporters before releasing her to them, and Ms. Robinson sued under 

the Federal Tort Claims Act.

730 The court ruled that the doctrine of sovereign immunity prevented 

holding the federal government liable for the rape.731 The federal court also took into account 

Supreme Court precedent broadly interpreting what is considered discretionary, and found that the 

warden’s decisions about whether to release Ms. Robinson to the state transporters and about 

whether to run a background check was not obligatory but instead discretionary; therefore, the 

federal warden was immune from liability.732 The decision was also affirmed by the Eleventh 

 

723 Doe, 2011 WL 251445 at *4 (D. Haw. 2011) (“The United States, as sovereign, can only be sued to the extent it

has waived its sovereign immunity. The FTCA is such a waiver.” but also noting: “The discretionary function

exception to the FTCA “marks the boundary between Congress’ willingness to impose tort liability upon the United

States and its desire to protect certain governmental activities from exposure to suit by private

individuals.” Berkovitz v. United States, 486 U.S. 531, 536 (1988) (quoting United States v. Varig Airlines, 467 U.S.

797, 808 (1984)) (quotation marks omitted)”).

724 Doe, 2011 WL 251445 at *4-5.

725 Id., *5 (citing cases).

726 Id., *5-6.

727 Robinson v. United States, WL 9045857 at *1 (N.D. Fla. 2016).

728 Id.

729 Id.

730 Id.

731 Id.

732 Id., at *1-2 (applying United States v. Gaubert, 499 U.S. 315, 322 (1991)).
120 WOMEN IN PRISON

Circuit court of appeals, which held that “the district court correctly found that the United States 

was entitled to discretionary-function immunity.”733

To be clear, sovereign immunity may also apply to some state prison officials sued under similar 

circumstances.734 In Newsome v. Lee County, Alabama, Ms. Newsome claimed that a deputy 

“intentionally subjected her to a series of sexual assaults by male inmates,” that officers conspired 

to prevent her from reporting the rapes and retaliated against her, and that Lee County provided 

inadequate physical facilities and monitoring to prevent them.735 A federal court found that she was 

two months pregnant when taken into custody, and that three men with whom she was placed in a 

cell repeatedly raped her,736 and that Deputy Tabb’s response was to threaten her with indefinite 

incarceration if she reported the attacks.737 She was hospitalized for her injuries and reported the 

rapes to hospital officials; after being sent back to the jail, officers allegedly retaliated by not letting 

her make phone calls and not letting her three children visit her.738 The federal court held that under 

the Eleventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the officers who had acted in their official 

capacity, including Deputy Tabb, were entitled to sovereign immunity.739

State prison officials may also be sued in their individual capacities, although they are entitled to 

qualified immunity in that capacity, if they are performing a discretionary function.740 For a 

plaintiff to prevail in these types of cases, they must show that there was a constitutional violation, 

and the Supreme Court has held that “[f]or a constitutional right to be clearly established, its 

contours must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable officer would understand that what he is doing 

violates that right.”741 In Ms. Newsome’s case, the court considered that some of the conduct of 

some of the Lee County officers was clearly prohibited by the First Amendment, which prohibits

retaliation against grievances.742 The court also held that some officers were not immune from 

liability for violations of the Fourteenth Amendment, which incorporates Eighth Amendment law 

as to the states and clearly prohibited the “malicious and sadistic” conduct of Officer Tabb; the 

 

733 Robinson v. United States, 683 Fed. Appx. 914, 914-15 (11th Cir. 2017)(memorandum decision).

734 Alfaro-Garcia v. Henrico County, 2106 WL 5388946 *5 (E.D. Va. 2016); see also Brooks v. George County, 

Mississippi, 84 F.3d 157 (5th Cir. 1996).

735 Newsome v. Lee County, Alabama, 431 F. Supp. 1189, 1192 (M.D. Ala. 2006).

736 Id.

737 Id

738 Id. at 1193. 

739 Id. at 1194-95. 

740 Id. at 1195. 

741 Id. at 1196 (quoting Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739 (2002)).

742 Id.
CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN PRISON AND SEXUAL ABUSE 121

court held that it is a matter of “obvious clarity” that intentionally subjecting her to repeated sexual 

assaults is prohibited.743 However, the court held that Ms. Newsome did not produce any direct 

evidence of gender discrimination or conspiracy by other officials to deprive her of her civil 

rights.744 Moreover, her claims against the county were subject to state immunities under Alabama 

law,745 because as in several states, particularly in the south, sheriffs have independent authority 

and are not considered employees of the county for purposes of governmental liability.746

At the Commission’s briefing, Julie Abbate testified that, in addition to the above types of legal 

limitations:

More importantly, litigation and investigations occur after women have already suffered 

abuse. Prisons need to prevent abuses before they occur, by fully implementing the 

National PREA Standards and by establishing trauma-informed and gender-responsive 

practices in women’s prisons. Women prisoners are more vulnerable to sexual abuse when 

prisons fail to meet women’s unique in-custody needs and fail to address the underlying 

issues that can lead to incarceration, including untreated trauma, addiction, mental health 

issues, and involvement in unhealthy relationships. Agencies can significantly reduce the 

risk of sexual harm to women prisoners by both staff and other prisoners through traumainformed, gender-responsive practices and policies.747

PREA may also impact private litigation. Chapter 7 on the federal government’s protection of 

women in prison discusses federal audits under PREA.

748 Abbate also testified that even when 

facilities receive passing PREA audits, they may still have problems with prisoner sexual safety 

and even problems that may violate prisoners' constitutional rights.749 This may be in part because 

some courts have interpreted PREA standards strictly and inflexibly. A law review article by 

Professor Gabriel Arkles identified various such cases, with one involving sexual assault and 

potential constitutional violations due to prison officials’ failure to protect against it. In Crane v. 

Allen, a federal district court in Oregon dismissed a case brought by a woman alleging that she 

was raped by a prison guard and supervisory officials failed to protect her in custody; the basis for 

 

743 Id. at 1199.

744 Id. at 1200-05.

745 Id. at 1207-08.

746 Id. at 1207; see also Alfaro-Garcia, 2106 WL 5388946 at *5; see also Brooks, 84 F.3d at 157.

747 Abbate Statement, at 11.

748 See infra notes 1231-44.

749Abbate Testimony, p. 110.
122 WOMEN IN PRISON

the court’s dismissal was that the facility had shown compliance with PREA standards.

750 Prison 

officer Allen was convicted of sexual misconduct due to having sexual relations with an inmate,

Ms. Allen, who alleged that she was raped and that prison officials failed to protect her.

751 The 

court held that prison officials were unaware of the conduct and so under the standards of the 

Eighth Amendment, they were not deliberately indifferent to abuse.752 Ms. Crane also alleged that 

two higher officers retaliated against her for her complaints of abuse, but the court held that she 

had not properly exhausted administrative remedies in a timely manner, as required under the 

Prison Litigation Reform Act.753 And regarding her claim that the county failed to properly train 

its employees, the court found that: “The record shows MCSO policies and procedures comply 

with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (“PREA”), 42 U.S.C. § 15602, set forth the rights of inmates, 

prohibit harassment and sexual misconduct by MCSO employees, require employees and inmates 

to report all suspected sexual activity, and preclude retaliation against inmates who report 

discrimination or sexual misconduct.”754

PREA and Eighth Amendment protections have been a lynchpin for protecting rights of women in 

prison. Because this area of law is the most developed and the most regulated, it may be seen as a 

starting point to win larger reforms for women in prison. For example, the Commission heard 

testimony that PREA audits or litigation to protect women against sexual assault have led to the 

ability to win reforms such as better health services.755 On the other hand, as Professor Brenda 

Smith has noted, PREA enforcement has been over-focused on sexual abuse and has not yet 

resolved other structural disparities.756 Moreover, as evidenced by the litigation analyzed 

throughout this report, the other types of civil rights issues that women in prison may experience, 

such as disproportionate use of solitary confinement,757 or lack of equal access to rehabilitation 

programs, have not resulted in clear case law upholding the rights of women prisoners, nor are 

there clear regulations to protect them.758

 

750 Arkles, Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Perpetuation of Sexual Harm, at note 104, (citing Crane v. Allen,

2012 WL 602432 at *7 (D. Or. Feb. 22, 2012).

751 Crane v. Allen, 2012 WL 602432 at *1 (D. Or. Feb. 22, 2012).

752 Id. at *3.

753 Id. at *5.

754 Id. at *9.

755 Salisbury Testimony, pp. 98-100.

756 Brenda V. Smith Testimony, Briefing before the Review Panel on Prison Rape Hearings on Sexual Victimization

in U.S. Prisons, Jails, and Juvenile Correctional Facilities, D.C., Jan. 9, 2014, p. 2 (hereinafter Smith Testimony,

Review Panel on Prison Rape Briefing), https://ojp.gov/reviewpanel/pdfs/WrittenTestimonyofBrendaSmith.pdf.

757 See infra notes 839-40 (solitary confinement cases).

758 See infra notes 708, 1401 and 1404 (disparities and rehabilitation access cases).
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 123

CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF 

TRAINING 

Use of Discipline Measures and Women in Prison

Discipline and behavioral sanctions are essential components to upholding order, safety, and 

security in prisons.759 In many prisons, disciplinary infractions may result in the loss of privileges 

such as using the phone or receiving prison visits, accessing rehabilitative prison programs, ability 

to purchase food or supplies, which in some prisons include women’s hygiene products, or place 

some inmates in solitary confinement.760 Moreover, disciplinary infractions in prison often result 

in loss of good conduct credits that would shorten an inmate’s sentence or assist in an inmate’s 

parole eligibility and review.761 Although the Supreme Court has held that the full range of due 

process rights are not available in prison and there is a need to maintain security, prisoners still 

retain some due process rights, including protection from solitary confinement without substantial 

evidence of misconduct.762

A recent investigation by National Public Radio, Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern 

University, and The Chicago Reporter gathered discipline data from both women’s and men’s 

prisons.763 The authors requested data from 26 state correctional systems, but they only received 

data from 15 states,764 as the other 11 states either did not collect discipline data by gender or 

 

759 Benedict, Alyssa, Becki Ney, and Rachelle Ramirez. “Gender Responsive Discipline and Sanctions Policy Guide

for Women’s Facilities, Section 1: Overview: The Rationale for Revising Discipline and Sanctions for Women

Inmates,” National Resource Center for Justice Involved Women, Sep. 2015, p.1 (hereinafter Benedict et al.,

“Gender Responsive Discipline.”) https://cjinvolvedwomen.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/DisciplineGuideSection1Overview.pdf.

760 Pupovac Statement, at 5; see also Benedict et al., “Gender Responsive Discipline;” see also Ney Statement, at 4;

see also Resnik Statement, at 4.

761 Pupovac Statement, at 5 (noting that “[i]n California, between January 2016 and February 2018, 2,913 female

inmates had a total of 17.9 years added to their sentences through good-credit revocations, and a higher rate than

men (1.3 vs. 1 day per inmate throughout the state)”); see also Benedict et al., “Gender Responsive Discipline.”

762 See supra notes 252-54 (in Ch. 1, due process section, discussing Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539 (1974); see

also Sandin v. Connor 515 U.S. 472 (1995)).

763 Shapiro et al., “In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest on Women.”

764 Ibid. The authors received data from the following states: California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,

Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Only two of those states (Louisiana and Oklahoma) showed women with lower rates of low-level offenses. All of

the data is available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f8GcRHJpiTcoxwmmUTu6c86ZgMPr8seq/view.
124 WOMEN IN PRISON

claimed that these data were too onerous to assemble.765 In addition to the quantitative data the 

authors gathered, the researchers conducted qualitative interviews at five women’s prisons around 

the country, and interviewed women in prison and formerly incarcerated women along with past 

and present prison staff.766 According to Jessica Pupovac, Freelance Reporter and lead reporter of 

the investigation:

Our primary finding was that, although female inmates are less likely than their male 

counterparts to act out violently in prison, in the vast majority of states, women receive a 

disproportionate number of disciplinary tickets for lower level offenses—things like being 

disruptive, being “insolent,” disobeying orders, cursing, and altering clothing. Women also 

are more likely to receive harsher punishments for these minor infractions. 

The reason for this disparity, we were told time and again, lies in the ways that the female 

prison population is distinct from the male population, and the fact that prison rules and 

staff training are designed with the male population in mind.767

In addition, women of color in prison and those who identify as LGBT face specific discipline 

disparities768—especially related to solitary confinement, which is discussed later in this chapter.769

Many of the current discipline practices in prison are difficult for women inmates who have mental 

health challenges, as these practices can worsen mental health conditions and may even produce 

mental health challenges where they did not exist prior to incarceration.770 The Nebraska State 

Advisory to the Commission held a meeting in which Amy Miller, of the American Civil Liberties 

Union of Nebraska stated that, “According to national experts, Nebraska is the second most 

overcrowded system in the country at this point. As an under-resourced, understaffed and 

 

765 States that did not fulfill the request for disciplinary data by gender, stating that it either did not exist or would be

overly burdensome to compile include: Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Oregon, Texas, Arizona, Michigan, New

York, Maine, North Carolina, and Maryland.

766 Shapiro et al., “In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest on Women.”

767 Pupovac Statement, at 5 (emphasis in original).

768 Benedict Testimony, pp. 334-35; see also U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Use of

Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011-2012, by Allen Beck, Oct. 2015, p. 4,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/urhuspj1112.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Use of Restrictive Housing); see also U.S.

Department of Justice, Report and Recommendations Concerning the Use of Restrictive Housing, Jan. 2019,

https://www.justice.gov/archives/dag/file/815551/download.

769 Judith Resnik, Anna VanCleave, Kristen Bell, Alexandra Harrington, and Gregory Conyers, “Reforming

Restrictive Housing: The 2018 ASCA-Liman Nationwide Survey of Time-in-Cell,” The Association of State

Correctional Administrators (ASCA) and the Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law School, (Oct. 2018),

p. 17 (hereinafter Resnik et al., “Reforming Restrictive Housing”)

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3264350; see also Resnik Statement, at 8.

770 Benedict Testimony, p. 335.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 125

overcrowded system, then, for mental health care, we’re seeing either delays in care or a lack of 

care, and then the conditions, especially for solitary confinement, impact people's mental health 

quite badly.”771 Researchers Jennifer M, Reingle Gonzalez and Nadine M Connell published a 

study finding that:

The limited treatment options in many prison settings are directly reflected in the greater 

number of disciplinary problems, rule violations, and physical assaults among those who 

have mental health disorders, often compounded by the resulting solitary confinement as 

punishment for these behaviors. Although all prisons are required to provide some level of 

health care, we know very little about whether mental health treatment is actually available 

to inmates on a case-by-case basis.772

The researchers also found that, “crowded living quarters, lack of privacy, increased risk of 

victimization, and solitary confinement within the institution have been identified as strong 

correlates for self-harm and adaptation challenges for those with mental health conditions in prison 

settings.”773

As mentioned in Chapter 1, women’s pathways to prison are often distinct from men’s and the vast 

majority of women report experiencing more trauma than men prior to their incarceration.774

According to some experts, the routine practices of prisons (e.g. strip searches, or solitary 

confinement) and the physical environment and design of prisons (e.g. limited light, loud noises, 

clanking metal doors, and often extreme temperatures) can create or recreate the damaging 

experiences of trauma for women in prison.775 Moreover, operating procedures often operate as 

triggers and make it very difficult for traumatized women to manage in the environment.776 And, 

according Ms. Pupovac, some women cope with these triggers by talking back to prison staff or 

exhibiting other behaviors that often lead to low-level disciplinary infractions.777 Ms. Pupovac 

testified that prisons, when effectively run, can accomplish their punitive and rehabilitative goals 

 

771 Amy Miller Testimony, Briefing before Nebraska State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil

rights, Civil Rights, Prisons, and Mental Health Services in Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, June 13, 2019, p.10.

772 Reingle, Jennifer M, Gonzalez, Nadine M Connell. “Mental health of prisoners: identifying barriers to mental

health treatment and medication continuity.” American Journal of Public Health 104, no.12 (2014): 2328-33, at

2328 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4232131/.

773 Ibid., 2329.

774 See supra notes 83-87.

775 Owen et al., In Search of Safety, pp. 64-65; see also Moss Statement, at 4; see also Pupovac Statement, at 2.

776 Moss Statement, at 4.

777 Pupovac Statement, at 2.
126 WOMEN IN PRISON

without encouraging such predictable, and maladaptive, behavioral responses from women 

inmates by instead using trauma informed responses.

778 She offered the following data: 

According to the most recent federal data, in state prison, 58% of women reported past 

physical or sexual abuse, compared to 16% of men. In some state studies, the incidence of 

past trauma among the female population was as high as 98 percent. Incarcerated women 

also have a higher incidence of PTSD than any other studied demographic, including 

combat veterans.779

Pupovac also reported that several women in state correctional leadership positions have driven 

positive changes observed in correctional systems, based on recognizing distinct needs of women 

in prison and developing gender-responsive, trauma-informed training.

780 She added that these 

types of trainings remain the exception, not the standard.781

According to Alyssa Benedict, Executive Director of Core Associates and a consultant on the 

discipline report conducted by National Public Radio and Northwestern University, many of the 

disciplinary procedures in women’s prisons are incongruent with fundamental psychological 

principles.782 Trauma-informed environments can maintain security but also “facilitate 

psychological and physiological regulation; inmates who feel safe in their environment are less 

likely to be triggered into self-protective responses that complicate facility operations.”783 With 

this in mind, in 2015, Ms. Benedict along with Ms. Becki Ney and Ms. Rachelle Ramirez worked 

with the National Resource Center for Justice Involved Women to publish a comprehensive 

discipline and sanctions guide for women’s prisons, which was designed to assist corrections staff 

in revising their approach to discipline and sanctions to become more trauma-informed and create 

safer and more secure facilities.784 While this report has contributed signficantly to National Public 

Radio’s and Northwestern University’s 15-state study on disparate discipline practices that women 

in prison face,

785 it is unclear how much it this guide is being used by corrections officials.786

 

778 Ibid.

779 Ibid.

780 Ibid.

781 Ibid., 7.

782 Benedict Testimony, pp. 332-33.

783 Benedict, “Using Trauma-Informed Practices to Enhance Safety and Security in Women’s Correctional

Facilities,” p. 4.

784 Benedict, Rey, and Ramirez, “Gender Responsive Discipline;” see also Pupovac Statement, at 7-8.

785 Benedict Testimony, p. 334.

786 Pupovac Statement, at 7.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 127

Discipline Policy in State Prisons

This section highlights state department of corrections that have made recent changes in their 

discipline practices and policies for women in their custody. 

Alabama Department of Corrections

In its 2014 findings letter, the Department of Justice reported that the Tutwiler Prison for Women’s 

disciplinary practices included unconstitutionally arbitrary and discriminatory actions taken 

against women prisoners based on their gender identity, sexual orientation, and national origin.787

Additionally, DOJ found that there was an “inconsistent application of facility rules and 

disciplinary sanctions [that] cause[d] many prisoners to believe that acceding to staff sexual abuse 

will engender improved treatment.”788 The Department’s findings letter stated that:

According to our expert consultant, Tutwiler’s extremely restrictive and punitive 

environment forces women to submit to sexual demands as a means of navigating 

institutional landmines. Prisoner reports support this conclusion. As one woman explained: 

‘if you exchange[] sexual favors you are treated better. If you don’t you are treated like 

crap.’ We received thirty-seven reports from prisoners concerning the inconsistent 

application of prison rules at Tutwiler. According to the reports we received, rules often 

differ by shift, staff, and supervisor, and staff often threaten prisoners with disciplinary 

action and segregation. In order to find a safe balance, prisoners justify submission to 

sexual advances with staff in order to become one of ‘the favorites.” According to one 

prisoner, “if you are not one of the favorites, you can be written up for petty offenses and 

may be given a maximum sentence.’789

DOJ also found that inmates at Tutwiler often did not report sexual abuse out of fear of retaliation 

and punishment by guards, which came in the form of segregation, forced administration of 

polygraph tests, threatened write-ups, and verbal abuse.790 The consent decree between the United 

States and Alabama mandated that officials inform inmates of their right to be free from sexual 

 

787 Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels, letter to Governor of Alabama Robert Bentley, Jan. 17,

2014, Re: Investigation of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and Notice of Expanded Investigation, at n. 22,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/01/23/tutwiler_findings_1-17-14.pdf. (For instance, DOJ

“received reports of officers compelling Latina prisoners to solely speak English and threatening to discipline them

if they spoke Spanish. According to one prisoner, when a Spanish-speaking prisoner asked her to fill out a sick call

slip, Officer H would not allow it, stating that the prisoner needed to ask in English herself.”).

788 Id. at 3.

789 Id. at 14.

790 Id. at 14.
128 WOMEN IN PRISON

harm (including their right to report harm without retaliation),791 and create policies that ensure 

that inmates can report their abuse without retaliation.792

While under the consent decree, in January 2018, Alabama Department of Corrections, along with 

consultants and National Resource Center for Justice Involved Women representatives, issued a 

new discipline policy for women in Alabama Department of Corrections that is gender-responsive 

and trauma-informed.793 Under this policy, staff follow a strengths-based model to deter behavior 

requiring discipline, and limited the use of restrictive housing to incidents involving violence.794

Prior to implementation of the new policy, Tutwiler initiated well over 600 major disciplinary 

actions or tickets a year with an average population of only 850 women.795 After implementing the 

new discipline policy, Tutwiler initiated only 316 major disciplinary actions—which is a 47 

percent decrease in infractions from the previous year.796 The new discipline policy at Tutwiler 

also led to a reduction in the use of restrictive housing, and less inmate-on-inmate and inmate-onstaff violence was observed.797

Iowa Correctional Institution for Women

The National Public Radio and Northwestern study documented that at the Iowa Correctional 

Institution for Women, Warden Sheryl Dahm, who is from the small town, Mitchellville, Iowa,798

where the prison is located and previously served as a prison counselor, recently began training 

her prison staff in gender-responsive and trauma-informed approaches, and instructed her staff to 

not dole out disciplinary tickets for minor infractions (e.g. rolled up sleeves).799 Now, when prison 

staff issue disciplinary tickets, Warden Dahm speaks with her staff about the tickets, and discusses

whether there may have been a better way to resolve problems through a gender-responsive, 

 

791 Consent Decree, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-368 (M.D. Ala., June 18, 2015), at 49.

792 Id. at 66.

793 Williams Testimony, p. 217.

794 Ibid.

795 Ibid.

796 Ibid.

797 Ibid.

798 American Fact Finder, U.S. Census, Community Facts, Mitchellville City, Iowa, Census 2010 Total Population,

https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml?src=bkmk (accessed Oct. 3, 2019).

799 Joseph Shapiro, “In Iowa, A Commitment to Make Prison Work Better for Women,” National Public Radio, Oct.

17, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/10/17/656972806/in-iowa-a-commitment-to-make-prison-work-better-forwomen (hereinafter Shapiro, “In Iowa, A Commitment to Make Prison Work Better for Women”); see also Pupovac

Statement, at 8.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 129

trauma-informed lens.800 According to Warden Dahm’s interview, the objective is to make prison 

a place where women feel safe and supported, and where they can be equipped to return to their 

communities rehabilitated.801 Some of Warden Dahm’s staff welcome the change to genderresponsive corrections, while other staff members say they have more important issues to deal with 

such as staff capacity.802 One prison staff member opposed to the new discipline policy changes 

stated that this new approach made her feel like “the inmates are running the prison.”803 According 

to National Public Radio’s interview with Warden Dahm, she has heard this criticism from staff 

members before, and she says that, “Well, they do. There’s one of you to 96 women. Sox let’s talk 

about how that looks. And how do we get the 96 to not cause problems. And what does that look 

like.”804

Kansas: Topeka Correctional Facility

Like the Alabama example, Kansas’s Topeka Correctional Facility shows a correlation between 

women prisoners reporting sexual abuse and receiving threats of disciplinary actions. In 2012, 

DOJ found that unfair disciplining of women Topeka Correctional Facility inmates occurred as a 

means of coercing prisoners into relinquishing their allegations of abuse against correctional staff; 

inmates stated that “certain officers [would] threaten to file disciplinary reports in retaliation for 

submitted grievances unless the prisoner agree[d] to destroy/retract the grievance.”805 The 

resulting out-of-court settlement agreement between the United States and Kansas required Topeka 

Correctional Facility to provide inmates access to information regarding the facility’s disciplinary 

process and their right to be free from retaliation when reporting sexual abuse,806 to implement a 

system for staff to report retaliation,807 and to employ protective practices for inmates who fear 

retaliation after reporting abuse.808

 

800 Pupovac Statement, at 8.

801 Shapiro, “In Iowa, A Commitment to Make Prison Work Better for Women;” see also Pupovac Statement, at 8.

802 Shapiro, “In Iowa, A Commitment to Make Prison Work Better for Women.”

803 Ibid.

804 Ibid.

805 Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, letter to Governor of Kansas Samuel D. Brownback, Sept. 6, 2012,

Re: Investigation of the Topeka Correctional Facility, at p. 15,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/09/10/topeka_findings_9-6-12.pdf.

806 Settlement Agreement, United States v. Kansas (Dec. 22, 2014) at ¶¶ 18, 19,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2015/03/19/topeka_agreement_12-22-14.pdf.

807 Id. at ¶ 22.

808 Id. at ¶ 24.
130 WOMEN IN PRISON

Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility 

In 2010, DOJ found that there were a number of unfair disciplinary tactics used against female 

juvenile inmates at the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility.809 In particular, the DOJ 

described one incident at length stating that:

Officer A reported that an [Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility] IJCF youth had 

made allegations of sexual misconduct to Officer A against Officer B. Officer A, however, 

did not refer the matter for investigation, nor did the officer complete a Report of Alleged 

Child Abuse or Neglect (the facility’s official form for reporting abuse and neglect 

allegations). Instead, Officer A and Officer B together confronted the youth about her 

allegations. The youth then recanted, and Officer B wrote a conduct report charging her 

with “false accusations,” which resulted in disciplinary action against the girl. Under these 

circumstances, there is no way of knowing whether the youth’s allegations were false or 

whether, when confronted by the very staff member who reportedly assaulted her, she was 

too afraid to press the matter. In any case, the handling of her complaint was grossly 

inappropriate and well outside the bounds of what is generally accepted in the field.810

DOJ also condemned the use of segregation at the Indiana women’s facility, reasoning that this 

practice should only be used “in the most extreme circumstances, and only when less restrictive 

interventions have failed or are not practicable,” and “according to accepted juvenile practices” be 

limited to a maximum of five days of isolation.811 However, Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional 

Facility had used this tactic against dozens of individuals, for periods up to more than ten times 

the maximum length of five days (in 2008, three inmates each spent 53 consecutive days in 

isolation, two spent 48 days).812 According to DOJ, “[t]hese long lengths of stay serve no 

rehabilitative or therapeutic purpose and are a short-sighted way to attempt to control behavior. In 

the long run, placing a youth in isolation for an excessive period is likely only to exacerbate the 

existing problem and to create additional adjustment problems when the youth finally is released 

from segregation.”813 DOJ also found that Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility’s use of a 

restraint chair on a juvenile inmate led to “increasing both the risk of injury to the youth and the 

 

809 Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, letter to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (Jan. 29, 2010),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/Indianapolis_findlet_01-29-10.pdf.

810 Id. at 11.

811 Id. at 21-22.

812 Id. at 22.

813 Id.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 131

risk that the youth was subjected to an abusive disciplinary technique.”814 Moreover, DOJ found 

that correctional staff’s use of a restraint chair defied state policy: 

Contrary to [Indiana Department of Corrections] IDOC policy, the incident was not preserved on 

video...[T]he staff members involved in the incident submitted confusing and inconsistent written 

reports...Moreover, it is not clear how long the youth was in the restraint chair before she was 

evaluated by a medical professional, or when the youth was released. When we inquired as to how 

long the restraint actually lasted, a staff member told us that it had been one hour. Some of the 

written reports, however, suggest that the youth was not released for several hours. Thus, the 

facility failed to follow its own policy regarding the restraint chair, and neither we nor 

[Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility] IJCF administrators have any way of knowing 

whether or to what extent the chair may have been misused.815

Additionally, DOJ found that staff deployment of Oleoresin Capsicum (OC or “pepper”) spray—

a chemical agent that burns and causes shortness of breath—was in violation of standards.816

According to DOJ, pepper spray should only be used when “absolutely necessary for the safety 

and security of the facility, residents, and staff, and only when less drastic measures have been 

attempted and failed.”817 However, in one incident, staff used the weapon against two girls for 

merely refusing orders, though neither girl presented a threat to herself or others.818 DOJ 

documented its concerns about this incident, even though facility policy would not have condoned 

the use of pepper spray in this particular scenario.819

Similarly, in 2009, DOJ found that New York’s Office of Children and Family Services facilities 

for girls consistently used inappropriate force to control juvenile inmate behavior.820 In particular, 

the DOJ described one instance as essentially a disciplinary procedure: 

[A] youth was restrained eight times between April 24 and June 25, 2008. This youth was 

assigned to a mental health unit and has a history of engaging in self-mutilation and suicidal 

gestures. In nearly every one of the eight incidents, the youth was engaging in behaviors 

 

814 Id. at 20.

815 Id. at 21.

816 Id. at 19.

817 Id.

818 Id. at 20.

819 Id.

820 Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King, letter to Governor of New York David A. Paterson, Aug. 14,

2009, Re: Investigation of the Lansing Residential Center, Louis Gossett, Jr. Residential Center, Tryon Residential

Center, and Tryon Girls Center, at p. 6,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/NY_juvenile_facilities_findlet_08-14-2009.pdf.
132 WOMEN IN PRISON

such as head banging, putting paper clips in her mouth, tying a string around her neck, etc.; 

behaviors that, due to her mental illness, were beyond her control. Each of those incidents 

resulted in a full prone restraint, which is essentially punishment for exhibiting symptoms 

of her illness. Our experts (both in protection from harm and mental health) agreed that 

behavioral interventions821 would be more appropriate in these types of situations.822

The settlement agreement between New York and the United States included provisions that 

required the creation of policies that would limit the use of excessive force against inmates,823 as 

well as the implementation of procedures that would reduce retaliation against inmate girls who 

reported incidents of abuse.824

Promising New Practices

Massachusetts Correctional Institution for Women at Framingham

According to a 2014 report, the Massachusetts Correctional Institution for Women at Framingham, 

a medium security reception and diagnostic center housing females serving criminal sentences, 

awaiting trial, or who are civilly committed, adopted the National Resource Center for Justice 

Involved Women’s trauma-informed correctional practice.825 This change in policy resulted in 

significant decreases in prison violence, as measured by a 62 percent decrease in staff assaults, a 

54 percent decrease in inmate-on-inmate assaults, and 46 percent reduction in inmate fights.826 The 

change in policy at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution for Women at Framingham also 

resulted in 23 percent less segregation placements, 6 percent disciplinary reports, 60 percent less 

suicide attempts, and 13 percent less self-injury incidents.827

 

821 The DOJ also found that there was a “failure to provide adequate behavioral management,” and that:

Generally accepted professional standards require that juvenile justice facilities establish individualized

behavior management programs to address the problematic behavior of youths with mental illness.

Behavior management programs should include plans and strategies to address mental health crises and

reduce their potential for recurrence. Staff employed at juvenile justice facilities should be trained in crisis

intervention and de-escalation techniques, and should utilize the least restrictive measures necessary when

a youth with mental illness acts out. Physical restraints should be used as an infrequent last resort. Id. at 15.

822 Id. at 9.

823 Settlement Agreement, United States v. New York, No. 1:10-CV-0858. (N.D.N.Y. July 14, 2010) at 7.

824 Id. at 9.

825 Benedict, Ney, and Ramirez, “Gender Responsive Discipline;” see also “MCI-Framingham, Overview,”

https://www.mass.gov/locations/mci-framingham (accessed June 12, 2019).

826 Ibid., 3.

827 Ibid., 6.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 133

New Practices Developing in North Dakota

At February 2019 briefing, the Commission heard testimony from Ms. Leann Bertsch, Director of 

the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Dr. Wendy Williams of 

Alabama Department of Corrections regarding how they can tell whether or not the discipline 

infractions they are handing out are fair to women.828 Since 2010, the North Dakota Department of 

Corrections and Rehabilitation includes in its review positive write-ups in addition to the negative 

write-ups, as the positive write-ups give inmates’ positive reinforcement and reduce bad behavior 

among inmates.829 According to Ms. Bertsch, the positive behavior reportstry to catch people doing 

the right thing, and their system tries to give out four positives write-ups to every negative writeup, as a strategic management path to encourage appropriate prison behavior.

830 According to Dr. 

Williams, when Alabama Department of Corrections began implementing their new discipline 

policy they consulted via focus groups with and received feedback from women serving time in 

their system as well as their correctional staff on the new policy.831

Restrictive Housing 

As mentioned earlier, disciplinary infractions can cause some inmates to serve time in restrictive 

housing (or solitary confinement). At the Commission’s briefing, Yale Law Professor Judith 

Resnik testified that solitary confinement or restrictive housing is defined as “a practice 

encompassing what some systems term segregation, isolation, room confinement, special housing 

units (SHU), control units or special management units.”832 The Association of State Correctional 

Administrators and the Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law that Professor Resnik heads,

conducted a national survey defining restrictive housing as “separating prisoners from the general 

population and holding them in their cells for an average of 22 or more hours per day for 15 or 

more continuous days.”833 The internationally accepted Mandela Rules consider this to be 

“prolonged confinement” that should be prohibited as a form of “torture or cruel, inhuman or 

degrading treatment or punishment.”834 Professor Resnik reports that 43 out of 50 states responded, 

and using that definition, found that 1.2 percent of women in prison and 4.6 percent of men in 

 

828 Commissioner Kladney, WIP Briefing, p. 226.

829 Bertsch Testimony, pp. 226-27.

830 Bertsch Testimony, p. 226.

831 Williams Testimony, p. 227.

832 Resnik Statement, at 5.

833 Ibid.

834 Sharon Shalev, “United Nations Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules),”

Solitaryconfinement.org, http://solitaryconfinement.org/mandela-rules (accessed Oct.18, 2019) (prohibiting

indefinite solitary confinement, and prolonged solitary confinement (no longer than 15 days)).
134 WOMEN IN PRISON

prison were in restrictive housing for more than 15 days.835 She added that solitary confinement 

isolates both men and women in prison, which can undermine their physical and mental health.836

The isolation of restrictive housing can be especially difficult for men and women in prison who 

have already been victims of sexual abuse.837 Though the outcome depends on the particular facts, 

in several cases from the 1890s onward, the Supreme Court has held that the overuse of solitary 

confinement may be unconstitutional.838 For example, it has upheld a 30-day judge-imposed limit 

on solitary confinement.839

Using another measure, based on surveying inmates about any time they had spent in restrictive 

housing in the past 12 months or since coming to the facility, a 2015 Bureau of Justice Statistics

report found that in 2011 - 2012, nearly 20 percent of state and federal inmates, including both 

men and women, were held in administrative segregation or solitary confinement during the

previous 12 months.840 Of the 20 percent of inmates who were held in restrictive housing, half of 

them stayed for 30 days or longer.841 A higher proportion of women in prison than men reported 

being held in restrictive housing, but these differences were not statistically significant.842 Among 

both men and women, black inmates in prisons (21 percent) were somewhat more likely than white 

inmates (16 percent) to have spent time in restrictive housing, and these differences were 

statistically significant.843 Native American, Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, other Pacific 

Islander, and multiracial inmates (20 percent) were also more likely than white inmates (16 

percent) to have spent time in restrictive housing and these differences were statistically 

significant.844 Latino inmates were just as likely as white inmates in prison to report having spent 

time in restrictive housing.845 Inmates who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (28 percent) were 

 

835 Ibid., 6.

836 Resnik Statement, at 4.

837 Ibid.

838 See, e.g., In re Medley, 134 U.S. 160 (1890); Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349 (1910); Brooks v. Florida,

389 U.S. 413 (1967).

839 Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678 (1978) (upholding 30-day judge-imposed limit on solitary confinement and

recognizing it as a type of punishment subject to Eighth Amendment standards).

840 DOJ, Use of Restrictive Housing, p. 1.

841 Ibid., 3.

842 Ibid., 4.

843 Ibid.

844 Ibid.

845 Ibid.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 135

more likely than heterosexual inmates (18 percent) to have spent some time in restrictive 

housing.846

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report, on every measure of past mental health 

challenges, women and men in prison who reported a mental health challenge were also more 

likely than other inmates to report that they had spent time in restrictive housing in the past 12 

months, and each of these differences was statistically significant.847 In particular, approximately 

14 percent of prison inmates who reported no history of mental health problems spent some time 

in restrictive housing, but 26 percent of prison inmates who reported a history of mental health 

problems spent some time in restrictive housing.848 As discussed above, female inmates are more 

likely to have mental health challenges than their male counterparts,849 yet they may also have less 

access to mental health programs while in prison.850

Previous research studies on restrictive housing have primarily centered on incarcerated men, as 

there are more incarcerated males in restrictive housing than their female counterparts.851 A 2017 

survey fielded by the Association of State Correctional Administrators and Arthur Liman Public 

Interest Program at Yale Law School found that in the 32 jurisdictions that reported data, over 4 

percent of men were held in restrictive housing compared to only 1.2 percent of incarcerated 

women.852

The figure below demonstrates the overall results regarding women, showing how the percentage 

of female prisoners in restrictive housing varies across state and federal prisons. 

 

846 Ibid.

847 Ibid.

848 Ibid., 6.

849 See supra notes 83-87 and 602-4.

850 See supra notes 609-13.

851 Jessi LaChance, “Women in Segregation, June 2018 Fact Sheet,” Vera Institute of Justice, June 2018,

(hereinafter LaChance, “Women in Segregation”) https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-webassets/downloads/Publications/women-in-segregation/legacy_downloads/women-in-segregation-fact-sheet.pdf.

852 Resnik et al., “Reforming Restrictive Housing,” p. 17.
136 WOMEN IN PRISON

Figure 10: 2017–2018 Number and Percentage of Women in Restrictive Housing853

According to the data in the figure above, of the 32 reporting jurisdictions, Nevada had the highest 

percent of women in restrictive housing at 4.6 percent and Colorado, Delaware, North Dakota, and 

Rhode Island reported no women in restrictive housing. Similarly, a 2018 Vera Institute of Justice 

report examined the patterns of women in solitary confinement across on six states—Louisiana, 

Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, and Utah.854 The percent of women in restrictive 

housing in this study ranged from 3 to 12 percent: Louisiana (12.1 percent), Nebraska (4.8 percent), 

Nevada (5.7 percent), North Carolina (5 percent), Oregon (3.4 percent), and Utah (4 percent).855

According to Figures 12 and 13, black women and men inmates were disproportionately placed in 

restrictive housing. 

 

853 Ibid., 20 (note that these data includes information from 31 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons—19 states

(Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia , and West Virginia) did not report data on

women in restrictive housing); see also Resnik Statement, at 6.

854 LaChance, “Women in Segregation.”

855 Ibid.

0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

3.0%

3.5%

4.0%

4.5%

5.0%

Nevada

Massachusetts

New Jersey

Wisconsin

Maryland

New Mexico

Mississippi

Oregon

Illinois

Kentucky

Indiana

Nebraska

Wyoming

New York

South Carolina

Iowa

North Carolina

Utah

Federal Prisons

Texas

OklahomaTennessee

Connecticut

Alabama

Pennsylvania

Ohio

South Dakota

Washington

Colorado

Delaware

North Dakota

Rhode Island
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 137

Figure 11: 2017–2018 Racial and Ethnic Composition of Female Prisoners in Total Custodial 

Population and in Restrictive Housing Population856

Figure 12: 2017–2018 Racial and Ethnic Composition of Male Prisoners in Total Custodial 

Population and in Restrictive Housing Population857

 

856 Resnik et al., “Reforming Restrictive Housing,” p. 20.

857 Ibid., at 23

31.9%

46.1%

18.7%

2.1%

0.5% 0.1% 0.7%

37.8%

42.5%

17.2%

1.4% 0.6% 0.1% 0.5%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%

White Black Latino Native

American or

Alaskan Native

Asian American Native

Hawaiian or

Pacific Islander

Other

Men in Restrictive Housing Percentage of Total Custodial Population
138 WOMEN IN PRISON

For instance, black women made up almost 40 percent of the restrictive housing population but 

were only about 23 percent of the total female prison population (See Figure 12). By comparison, 

white women were almost 45 percent of the restrictive housing population among women, but 

almost 59 percent of the population (See Figure 12). Commission staff also calculated the odds of 

black women in prison serving time in restrictive housing compared to white women, and found 

that black women were over 2 times more likely than white women to serve time in restrictive 

housing.858 For Latina women, Native American women, Alaska Native women, Asian women, 

Native Hawaiian women, other Pacific Islander women, and multiracial women their respective 

populations in restrictive housing were less than or equal to their general custodial population (see 

Figure 12).

Black men made up over 46 percent of the male restrictive housing population, as compared to 

42.5 percent of the total male prison population. By comparison, white men were almost 32 percent 

of the restrictive housing population among men, but nearly 38 percent of the population (See 

Figure 13). In calculating the odds of black men in prison serving time in restrictive housing 

compared to white men, the odds ratio was a little over 1, which means black men were slightly 

more likely than white men to serve time in restrictive housing.859 In comparison, the odds ratio 

for black women was 2. The percent of Latino men, Native American men, Alaska Native men, 

and multiracial men their respective populations in restrictive housing was slightly more than their 

general custodial population (see Figure 13). However, for Asian, Native Hawaiian, and other 

Pacific Islander men, their respective populations in restrictive housing were less than or equal to 

their general custodial population (see Figure 13).

Restrictive Housing and Women in Federal Prison 

According to BOP’s responses to the Commission’s interrogatories and document requests, in 

2018, there were 2,297 female federal inmates in segregation at some point.860 The average length 

of stay in segregated housing for women in federal custody was 22 days, and the median length of 

stay was 12 days.861 Since the mean of length of stay in segregated housing (22 days) is larger than 

the median (12 days), the distribution of length of stay in segregated housing for women is skewed 

to the right, which suggests that a small number of women in prison serve more than 22 days in 

restrictive housing.

 

858 Ibid., at 22-4 (figure was made by Commission staff).

859 Ibid.

860 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 50.

861 Ibid.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 139

BOP notes that these data used do not allow the ability to differentiate the reason why the inmate 

went to segregated housing (e.g. administrative, disciplinary, or protective custody).862 Hence, 

these data also do not allow an identification of the disciplinary incident that may have led to a 

stay in segregated housing.863 Equal protection violations could arise if there is no legitimate 

governmental justification for unfairly disciplining women prisoners, as compared to similarly 

situated men.864

Restrictive Housing and Women in State Prisons

The 2018 discipline policy change at Tutwiler Prison for Women in Alabama referenced above 

reduced the use of restrictive housing for women in prison to those behaviors where inmates 

exhibit violence against other inmates or staff, or as a last resort when all other forms of behavior 

intervention have failed.865 This change in policy reduced the average stay for an inmate who was 

sanctioned for restrictive housing to nine days, and on several occasions, there were no women in 

restrictive housing.866 According to Dr. Williams, prior to the new discipline policy, the average 

stay in restrictive housing was much higher than nine days.867 She now expects a continued 

decrease in major disciplinary actions and the use of restrictive housing as their new discipline 

policy ripens.868

In her statement to the Commission, Ms. Wendy Still, Chief Probation Officer in Alameda County, 

California discussed how prisons can create an environment where staff understand how to 

effectively manage disciplinary issues within a balanced system of support and accountability.869

Moreover, Ms. Still further explained at the briefing that:

So, you’re just not correcting behavior with incentives, and the incentives can be very 

small, but they are very meaningful. That helps to change the culture. And then, also, in 

terms of the way that disciplinaries are looked at. What’s driving the disciplinary? Does 

the woman have a mental health condition? Is there a trauma trigger that’s been triggered 

 

862 Ibid.

863 Ibid.

864 See supra notes 237-42 (equal protection) and 253-55 (substantive due process).

865 Williams Testimony, p. 217; see also Williams Statement, at 6.

866 Williams Testimony, p. 217.

867Williams Statement, at 6.

868 Williams Testimony, p. 218.

869 Still Statement, at 6.
140 WOMEN IN PRISON

by whatever created the rule violation? Those are all things, if you’re creating a strengthbased system to address disciplinaries, that you look at.

And then, also, the officers, the reviewing officer, rules violation, we call them hearing 

lieutenants in California; that they’re highly trained to look and to add value and weight to 

all of those factors. And instead of in a punishing way sending somebody off to solitary or 

taking their visits away or doing other things, that there is perhaps a resolution to it. Maybe 

the woman participates in additional training or mental health programming or a Beyond 

Violence type of program that's going to actually correct whatever the issue is versus just 

punishing and taking things away.

870

Some women in prison are moved into restrictive housing because of behavioral issues related to 

mental health challenges.871

Staffing and Staff Training

Multiple research studies suggest that men and women in prison have some different needs,872 but 

few studies have examined the staffing and training related to these distinct needs. A 2004 survey 

fielded by DOJ’s National Institute of Corrections (NIC) questioned state departments of 

corrections on their staffing needs, policies, procedures, and best practices for their female 

population.873 The NIC received responses from 36 state departments of corrections and their 

responses revealed that, for the most part, their approaches to staffing for their female population 

did not differ much from how they staffed their male prisoners.874 In particular, over 94 percent of 

survey respondents reported that there is no person assigned with directing staffing processes 

specifically for women’s prisons; over 83 percent of respondents reported that they do not have 

gender-specific methods to govern the number of staff required to support women’s facilities; over 

88 percent of respondents denoted that they do not regularly conduct a specific review of the 

security post plans for women’s facilities separately from the reviews they already conduct for 

their men’s facilities; and 80 percent of respondents said that they do not use any gender-specific 

 

870 Still Testimony, p. 316-17.

871 See supra notes 42-45.

872 See supra notes 66-131.

873 U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, Prison Staffing Analysis: A Training Manual with

Staffing Considerations for Special Populations, by P.L. Hardyman (2008), pp. 201-206,

https://info.nicic.gov/nicrp/system/files/022667.pdf.

874 Ibid., 109.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 141

guidance for analyzing staff capacity or making adjustments to the number of staff members at a 

certain post.875

In analyzing the survey responses from the 36 jurisdictions, the authors found that respondents 

highlighted three important staffing needs for women’s facilities: 1) medical and mental health 

needs, 2) program services and transportation for pregnant women in prison, and 3) family and 

friend visitations.876 Prison staff perspectives on the medical and mental health needs of women in 

state prisons were as follows: over 83 percent of survey respondents stated that mental health staff 

capacity for female inmates were significantly affected by needs associated with trauma and abuse; 

almost 67 percent agreed that medical staffing levels were impacted by their needs for greater staff 

time and attention; and 58 percent agreed women in prison overall required more trips to special 

medical clinics.877 All survey respondents agreed that pregnant women should receive prenatal 

care, but only 39 percent of respondents thought that pregnant women should have special housing 

during their last trimester.878 Lastly, over 97 percent of survey respondents believed that women in 

prison have greater needs for family and social services than their male counterparts, and over 80 

percent of survey respondents thought that women need to visit with their children more often than 

their male counterparts or for longer periods of time.879 As the data in Chapter 1 shows, this may 

be because of women’s greater childcare and family responsibilities, as compared to men.880

Another study, analyzing an earlier version of these survey responses, posits that because of the 

disparate mental health needs of female prisoners, prisons would benefit from hiring staff with 

qualifications or interests in serving the mental health and medical needs of women in prison.881

Federal Prisons and Staff Training for Women’s Facilities 

BOP reported to the Commission that 11 out of its 16 current executive staff have worked in a 

federal prison and six have worked in a woman’s prison.882 Moreover, as “the result of an OIG 

audit, Executive Staff in the Bureau will be required to complete basic training on female offenders 

 

875 Ibid., 110.

876 Ibid.

877 Ibid., 111-12.

878 Ibid., 114.

879 Ibid., 115.

880 See supra notes 464-73 and Table 6.

881 U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, Staffing Analysis for Women’s Prisons and Special

Prison Populations, by Camille Graham Camp, Patricia L. Harding, Robert May, George M. Camp, (Dec. 2008),

https://info.nicic.gov/nicrp/system/files/022667.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Staffing Analysis for Women’s Prisons and

Special Prison Populations).

882 Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Apr. 1, 2019 (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).
142 WOMEN IN PRISON

provided to staff that [sic] work at female facilities.”883 In its report, OIG stated, “We are concerned 

that, without such training, members of the National Executive Staff who are in a position to make 

decisions that affect the female inmate population may not be fully aware of female inmates’ 

unique needs.” 884In addition, according to BOP, all staff are required to take an annual training 

that addresses symptoms of mental illness, and appropriate responses to mental illness and suicide 

risk.885 Staff at female facilities receive the Trauma-informed Correctional Care Module training, 

which is reportedly aimed at informing and educating all BOP staff about trauma and how to 

prevent re-traumatization, including an overview of what trauma-informed care means, what staff 

can do to abide by the principles of trauma-informed care, and the benefits and outcomes of using 

this approach.886 All staff at institutions housing female offenders are required to complete 

Managing Female Offenders within 60 days of their start date, as well as annual training on 

requirements of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, including training on assessments for potential 

victimization.887

Staff Composition

BOP also provided the number of male and female staff who are employed at its women’s 

facilities, which is depicted in the figure below.888

 

883 Ibid.

884 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prison’s Management of Its Female Inmate Population, p.

18.

885 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 36.

886 Ibid.

887 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 36.

888 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 3 (percentages and chart calculated and created by Commission

staff).
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 143

Figure 13: Gender Breakdown of Prison Staff at Women’s Federal Prisons

Source: BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 3

As of February 23, 2019, 32 percent of all BOP prison staff at women’s facilities were women, 

and 68 percent of BOP staff at women’s facilities were men, which means that at women’s prisons, 

BOP male staff outnumbered female employees by a ratio of 2.15 to 1.889 The percentages of female 

staff at female BOP institutions ranges from 20 percent at the Metropolitan Correctional Center 

San Diego in San Diego, California to 61 percent at the Federal Prison Camp Alderson in Alderson, 

West Virginia.890 See the table and Appendix F for more details of the gender BOP staff breakdown 

of female facilities. 

Gender-Based Staffing in Women’s Prisons

It is generally in contravention to civil rights protections under Title VII to restrict hiring for 

positions based on protected characteristics such as sex. However, courts have recognized a 

tangible defense to such charges, known as making a justification based on a bona fide 

occupational qualification. This section discusses BOP’s position regarding gender-based staffing 

in women’s prisons through Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQs), data about the 

 

889 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 3, Attachment 2 (percentages and chart calculated and created by

Commission staff).

890 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 3, attachment 2 (percentages and chart calculated and created by

Commission staff).

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

SDC

VVM

TCNHAF

OKL

PHX

COM

DAN

PEK

HON

SET

CCC

NYM

GUA

MIM

PHL

GRE

LEX

LOS

HOU

All PRISONS

BRO

WAS

DUB

ALI

TAL

CRW

BRYALD

Percent of Female Staff Percent of Male Staff
144 WOMEN IN PRISON

number of women guards in women’s prisons, and relevant federal law as to whether some 

positions or functions should be assigned to women. 

BOP’s Position

BOP reported to the Commission that it “does not use BFOQs [Bona Fide Occupational 

Qualifications] for hiring or retaining employees.”891 BOP explained that Title VII of the Civil 

Rights Act of 1964 permits hiring and employing “on the basis of sex where sex is a BFOQ 

reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise.”892 But BOP 

went on to explain that “[h]owever, employment decisions that have only a de minimus effect on 

the employment opportunities... do not require a BFOQ analysis.”893

BOP explained that:

The BOP has several reasons for not establishing a BFOQ. Traditionally, the legal 

standards to establish a BFOQ have been very high, requiring a showing that is necessary 

to the essence or central function of the facility. The BOP can address considerations of 

privacy and other aspects of cross gender supervision through assignments of specific 

duties to a staff member based on gender, rather than have blanket prohibition of serving 

on a particular post or at particular institution. This approach - to manage cross gender 

supervision through specific work assignment rules - is consistent with the Department of 

Justice’s regulations under the Prison Rape Elimination Act. See 28 C.F.R. § 115.15.

Other factors considered by the BOP include the ability to appropriately staff facilities, 

and the possibility of converse litigation concerning female staff working in male facilities.

In summary, the BOP's approach balances gender responsive correctional needs, in a 

manner that has a de minimis impact on employment opportunities under Title VII.894

Applicable PREA Regulations

The 2012 federal PREA regulations limit cross-gender body searches and other contact.

895 These 

regulations are the result of the studies of the PREA Commission, which was required “to carry 

out a comprehensive legal and factual study of the penological, physical, mental, medical, social, 

and economic impacts of prison rape in the United States, and to recommend national standards to 

 

891 BOP Response to the Commission’s Interrogatories, Question 5.

892 Ibid., citing 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(e)(1).

893 Ibid. (no citation provided).

894 BOP Response to the Commission’s Interrogatories, Question 6.

895 See 28 C.F.R. § 115.5 (General Definitions).
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 145

the Attorney General and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.”896 The PREA 

Commission’s resulting report was reviewed by a PREA Working Group in the Department of 

Justice, after which the Attorney General recommended legal limits to cross-gender viewing or 

searching.897 The PREA Commission’s 2009 findings report had cautioned against persons of the 

opposite sex performing bodily searches or viewing of incarcerated persons in circumstances 

involving nudity,

898 stating that “cross-gender supervision is an area in which the Commission has 

set clear standards.”899 The Commission’s reasoning was based on the following facts and legal 

framework:

Some of the widespread abuse that occurred in women’s prisons across Michigan in the 

1990s was facilitated by rules that required officers, including men, to meet a daily quota 

of pat-down searches for weapons, drugs, or other contraband. Physical searches are 

necessary security procedures. The potential for abuse is heightened, however, when staff 

of the opposite gender conduct them. In the Commission’s view, the risks are present 

whether the officers are female or male. Historically, few women worked in corrections, 

but this is rapidly changing. The Commission understands that cross-gender supervision 

can have benefits for incarcerated persons and staff. The Commission’s standard on this 

issue is not intended to discourage the practice generally or to reduce employment 

opportunities for men or women. However, strict limits on cross-gender searches and the 

viewing of prisoners of the opposite gender who are nude or performing bodily functions 

are necessary because of the inherently personal nature of such encounters. Court 

decisions have recognized that both male and female prisoners retain some rights to 

privacy, especially in searches of their bodies and in being observed in states of undress by 

staff of the opposite gender.900

The PREA Commission also discussed that in “1997, the U.S. Department of Justice sue[d] the 

State of Arizona and intervene[d] in women prisoner cases in Michigan to challenge pervasive 

sexual abuse of women prisoners during cross-gender pat downs. Consent judgments the following 

year create moratoriums on cross-gender pat downs of women in both States.”901

The resulting federal regulations require that:

 

896 See, e.g., Dep’t of Justice, Proposed Rule, National Standards to Prison Rape, 76 FR 6248-01, 2011 WL 318532,

§ II (F.R.) (Feb. 3, 2011).

897 Id.

898 National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, 2009 Report, p. 6-7, https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/226680.pdf.

(hereinafter NPREC 2009 Report).

899 Ibid.

900 Ibid.

901 Ibid., 25.
146 WOMEN IN PRISON

(a) The facility shall not conduct cross-gender strip searches or cross-gender visual body 

cavity searches (meaning a search of the anal or genital opening) except in exigent 

circumstances or when performed by medical practitioners.

(b) As of August 20, 2015, or August 21, 2017 for a facility whose rated capacity does not 

exceed 50 inmates, the facility shall not permit cross-gender pat-down searches of 

female inmates, absent exigent circumstances. Facilities shall not restrict female 

inmates' access to regularly available programming or other out-of-cell opportunities 

in order to comply with this provision.

(c) The facility shall document all cross-gender strip searches and cross-gender visual body 

cavity searches, and shall document all cross-gender pat-down searches of female 

inmates.

(d) The facility shall implement policies and procedures that enable inmates to shower, 

perform bodily functions, and change clothing without nonmedical staff of the opposite 

gender viewing their breasts, buttocks, or genitalia, except in exigent circumstances or 

when such viewing is incidental to routine cell checks. Such policies and procedures 

shall require staff of the opposite gender to announce their presence when entering an 

inmate housing unit.

(e) The facility shall not search or physically examine a transgender or intersex inmate for 

the sole purpose of determining the inmate's genital status. If the inmate's genital status 

is unknown, it may be determined during conversations with the inmate, by reviewing 

medical records, or, if necessary, by learning that information as part of a broader 

medical examination conducted in private by a medical practitioner.

(f) The agency shall train security staff in how to conduct cross-gender pat-down searches, 

and searches of transgender and intersex inmates, in a professional and respectful 

manner, and in the least intrusive manner possible, consistent with security needs.902

Based on the PREA regulations discussed above, depending on the facts of the case, federal courts 

could uphold BFOQs for the positions involved in cross-gender pat downs or visual body cavity 

searches, and for positions involving the viewing of women prisoners dressing or showering or 

using the bathroom.903 In some cases, there may not be enough women staff to effectively perform 

 

902 28 C.F.R. § 115.15.

903 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 (a), (b) and (d); and see infra notes 916-36 (discussing Everson v. Michigan) and 951-62 

(discussing Teamster’s Local Union No. 117 v. Washington Dep’t of Corrections).
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 147

the functions that are required by the above PREA regulations to be limited to women (except in 

exigent circumstances).904

PREA regulations leave room for men to enter women prisoners’ housing units if they announce 

themselves, and for training security staff on how to conduct cross-gender pat-down searches and 

searches of transgender and intersex inmates in a professional and respectful way, using the least 

intrusive means possible.905 But in federal prisons with a relatively low percentage of female staff, 

female staff numbers may be insufficient to comply with PREA’s general prohibition on crossgender body cavity searches without compromising security, as was the case in Washington State 

where women guards had to be “shuttled” from duty to duty in order to comply.906 However, 

because the case law regarding sex as a BFOQ in women’s prisons is highly fact-intensive, these 

rules might not apply in cases that do not include heightened needs for privacy and security with 

regard to the positions at issue.

907

One of the former PREA Commissioners, Professor Brenda V. Smith, testified at the U.S. 

Commission on Civil Rights briefing about her experience on the PREA Commission, and 

discussed that she believes that the regulations were belatedly issued and that there is still much 

work to be done in the field.

908 She has also stated that “PREA is about much more than abuse.”909

Professor Smith has also documented that while an increasing number of women have been able 

to enter into the field of corrections, which was traditionally dominated by men, “women's progress 

in correctional institutions has increased female inmates' exposure to supervision by male staff, 

which places them at greater risk for sexual victimization. Second, it has diminished privacy of 

both male and female inmates in custodial settings.”910 She and her research fellow also found that 

some women corrections officers have been abusive of male inmates.

911

Based on this data, Professor Smith has argued in favor of enforcing PREA’s protections against 

female correctional officers performing cross-gender searches and viewing of male and 

Transgender youth in a state of undress.912 She also argues that other preventive measures required 

 

904 See 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 (a), (b) and (d).

905 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 (d) and (f).

906 See infra note 961.

907 See supra notes 937-50 (discussing the Breiner and Henry cases).

908 Smith Testimony, p. 144.

909 Smith Testimony, Review Panel on Prison Rape Briefing, p. 2.

910 Smith, Brenda V and Melissa C. Loomis, After Dothard: Correctional Workers and the Challenge to

Employment Law, 8 FIU L. REV. 469, 472 (2013).

911 Id.

912 Smith Testimony, Review Panel on Prison Rape Briefing, p. 5.
148 WOMEN IN PRISON

by the PREA, including background checks, sanctions and training for staff, and services for 

victims, are essential; prohibiting cross-gender interactions in a state of undress is not the only tool 

needed to prevent sexual assault.913

Federal Court Decisions

Some federal courts have held that sex may be considered a BFOQ in women’s prisons, under 

certain conditions. These decisions have been based upon the need to prevent sexual assault, and 

to protect privacy and overall security. These cases show that courts have found that BFOQs 

limiting certain positions to women may be necessary and therefore legal in women’s prisons in 

some situations, but not in others.

To date, the known decisions upholding BFOQs in women’s prison settings have focused on 

prevention of sexual assault and the privacy rights of inmates (limited to rights not to be subjected 

to body searches or to being seen while dressing, using the bathroom, or showering).914 Federal 

courts have mentioned other concerns, but mainly based their decisions on safety and privacy.

For example, in the case of Everson v. Michigan Department of Corrections, the Sixth Circuit 

court of appeals upheld the state’s use of sex as a BFOQ and reasoned that in reaching that 

conclusion, “we are aided by a series of cases that directly address the issue of gender as a BFOQ 

for corrections officers in female correctional facilities.”915 In overturning the district court’s 

decision, the court of appeals held that the reasoned decisions of prison officials are entitled to 

deference and that the goals of security, safety, privacy, and rehabilitation can justify sex-based 

assignments in female correctional facilities.916 But, it also relied on a fact pattern showing high 

incidents of sexual assault of women prisoners by male guards, including during body searches 

and when the women inmates were showering, in addition to the settlements by the DOJ and the 

private litigation in which Michigan Department of Corrections agreed to increase the amount of 

female staff.917 For example, the terms of Michigan Department of Corrections’s agreement with 

DOJ to resolve these claims included implementing a study to explore the feasibility of increasing 

 

913 Ibid., 4-5.

914 Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School, Follow-up Statement for the Women in Prison:

Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Apr. 2, 2019, at 2 (hereinafter

Resnik Follow-up Statement).

915 Everson v. Michigan, 391 F. 3d 737, 749-50 (6th Cir. 2004) (citing Reed, 184 F.3d at 600;); Robino v. Iranon,

145 F.3d 1109 1110-11 (9th Cir. 1998); Tharp v. Iowa Dep't of Corr., 68 F.3d 223, 226 (8th Cir. 1995); Torres v.

Wisconsin Dep’t of Health and Human Svc., 859 F.2d 1523, 1532 (7th Cir. 1988).

916 Everson, 391 F. 3d at 749-50.

917 Id. at 751-52.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 149

the presence of female officers in the women’s housing units.918 The Michigan Department of 

Corrections Director implemented these requirements, which in turn led to the hiring of a 

consultant to study “whether certain custody positions at [Michigan Department of Corrections] 

MDOC women’s facilities should be filled only by female custody staff or if there is a less intrusive 

means to ensure the safety and reasonable privacy needs of female inmates.”919 The consultant 

issued a report based on findings concluding that to reduce risk of sexual assault, women officers 

should fill certain positions in the women’s housing units, segregation units, and intake units.

920

The Sixth Circuit also reasoned that the Michigan Department of Corrections decision-makers had 

consulted with staff, discussed alternatives with prison officials from other states, and assembled 

an array of materials in support of its application for selective certification, making the plan “the 

product of a reasoned decision-making process.”921 Further, while the Sixth Circuit considered that 

a BFOQ can only survive constitutional scrutiny if it relates to the “essence” of business, it

concluded that:

Unquestionably, the security of the prisons relates to the essence of the [Michigan 

Department of Corrections] MDOC’s business, and the [Michigan Department of 

Corrections] MDOC maintains that the presence of male... officersin female housing units 

imperils security in a number of ways. First, the presence of males in the housing units 

necessitates the use of “artificial barriers to security” such as covers for cell windows, doors 

on the toilet stalls, shower curtains, the moratorium on pat-down searches by male officers, 

and the “knock and announce” policy. Second, allegations of sexual abuse, whether true or 

not, create a “poisoned atmosphere” that breeds misconduct on the part of inmates and 

guards. Third, many male officers, afraid of false accusations of sexual abuse, become 

“gun-shy” and fail to monitor and discipline inmates in a proactive fashion.922

The Michigan case is characterized by studies and federal civil rights litigation that had already 

shown widespread sexual assault of women prisoners by male guards.

923 Michigan Department of 

Corrections was subject to a private lawsuit alleging rampant sexual misconduct, sexual 

harassment, and privacy violations that resulted in a $4 million settlement and an agreement to 

restrict pat-down searches of female inmates by male staff, and to provide areas where female 

 

918 Id. at 743.

919 Id. at 745.

920 Id. at 745.

921 Id. at 750, citing Torres, 859 F.2d at 1532.

922 Everson, 391 F. 3d at 753-54.

923 Id. at 741-42 (summarizing reports by Human Rights Watch and the United Nations about women’s prisons in

Michigan).
150 WOMEN IN PRISON

inmates could dress, shower and use the bathroom without being seen by male staff.924 The DOJ 

also issued a finding that “sexual abuse of women inmates by guards, including rapes, the lack of 

adequate medical care, including mental health services, grossly deficient sanitation, crowding, 

and other threats to the physical safety and well-being of the inmates violates their constitutional 

rights.”925 Threats to constitutional rights included improper surveillance of women inmates by 

male guards, including the practice of watching them shower, undress, and use the toilet.926

Regarding privacy rights, the Sixth Circuit quoted the Supreme Court’s holding that “[p]rison 

walls do not form a barrier separating prison inmates from the Constitution.”927 The Sixth Circuit 

explained that in Dothard v. Rawlinson, the Supreme Court “held that male gender was a BFOQ 

in Alabama’s maximum security men’s prisons[,]” because the Court found “a basis in fact for 

expecting that sex offenders who have criminally assaulted women in the past would be moved to 

do so again if access to women were established within the prison,” and “a real risk that other 

inmates, deprived of a normal heterosexual environment, would assault women guards because 

they were women.”928 Based on this holding, the Sixth Circuit reasoned that in Michigan women’s 

prisons, because privacy screens “preclude proper surveillance of inmates,” at least in the realm of 

privacy rights, “the very manhood” of male corrections officers in Michigan women’s prisons 

“undermines their ability to provide security.”929

The Sixth Circuit also reasoned that other circuit courts had generally agreed that prisoners should 

not be subject to having their private body parts viewed by the opposite sex. In 1981, the Fourth 

Circuit “explained, most people ‘have a special sense of privacy in their genitals, and involuntary 

exposure of them in the presence of people of the other sex may be especially demeaning and 

humiliating. When not reasonably necessary, that sort of degradation is not to be visited upon those 

confined in our prisons.”930 In 1987, the Sixth Circuit stated that “there is some vestige of the right 

to privacy retained by state prisoners and that this right protects them from being forced 

unnecessarily to expose their bodies to guards of the opposite sex.”931 In 1995, the federal district 

court of Nevada stated that a BFOQ could be justified on privacy interests alone, based on “simple 

decency in order to afford female inmates as much privacy as possible.”932 Through the 2012 PREA 

 

924 Id. at 741-42.

925 Id. at 743 (quoting DOJ findings letter of Mar. 27, 1995).

926 Id.

927 Id. at 757 (citing Turmer, 482 U.S. 78, 84 (1987)).

928 Id. at 754 (citing Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 334 and 335 (1977)).

929 Id. at 756.

930 Id. at 757 (quoting Lee v. Downs, 641 F.2d 1117, 1119 (4th Cir. 1981)).

931 Id. at 757 (quoting Kent v. Johnson, 821 F.2d 1220, 1227 (6th Cir. 1987)).

932 Id. at 758 (quoting Carl v. Angelone, 883 F. Supp. 1433, 1442 n. 3 (D. Nev. 1995)).
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 151

regulations, the law also now requires these protections should extend to protect against crossgender identity searching and viewing.933

The Sixth Circuit’s opinion ended by emphasizing that its holding was limited to the conditions in 

Michigan and the 250 positions at issue, stating that “we simply conclude that given the endemic 

problem of sexual abuse in Michigan’s female facilities, given the constellation of issues addressed 

by the [Michigan Department of Corrections’s] MDOC’s plan (security, safety, and privacy), and 

given the deference accorded to [Michigan Department of Corrections’s] MDOC’s judgment, the 

[Michigan Department of Corrections’s] MDOC’s plan is reasonably necessary to the normal 

operation of its female prisons.”934 This decision was appealed, but the Supreme Court declined to 

take up the case.935

In contrast, in 2010, in the case of Breiner v. Nevada Department of Corrections, the Ninth Circuit 

considered that limiting the positions at issue to women was not a necessary BFOQ to prevent 

sexual assault.

936 In Breiner, the Ninth Circuit reviewed the factual record indicating that a male 

guard had impregnated a female prisoner, and she alleged that this was because she had not 

received the medication she was prescribed to treat her schizophrenia.937 Her complaint regarding 

substandard medical treatment resulted in the state Inspector General interviewing approximately 

200 inmates who reported receiving substandard medical treatment.938 The Inspector General also 

discovered that the facility had become “an uninhibited sexual environment,” and that prisoners 

traded sex for narcotics and alcohol as well as other items and inmate privileges.939 The Inspector 

General reasoned that this environment resulted from lax supervision, and not only was the prison 

contract with the private Corrections Corporation of America terminated, but also, the new state 

director “decided to hire only women in [Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Facility] 

SNWCF’s three correctional lieutenant positions.”940 The court of appeals concluded that this 

decision constituted illegal discrimination because hiring only women for these positions was not 

necessary to avoid undermining the “essence” of the Nevada prison’s business.941 The Ninth Circuit 

 

933 See Brenda V. Smith, Testimony for the Review Panel on Prison Rape Hearings on Sexual Victimization in U.S.

Prisons, Jails, and Juvenile Correctional Facilities, at 5.

934 Everson, 391 F. 3d at 761.

935 Everson v. Michigan Dept. of Corrections, 546 U.S. 825 (2005) (denying certiorari).

936 Breiner v. Nevada Department of Corrections, 610 F. 3d 1202, 1205 (2010).

937 Id.

938 Id.

939 Id. at 1204-5.

940 Breiner, 610 F. 3d at 1204-5 (quote is at page 5).

941 Id. at 1210-11.
152 WOMEN IN PRISON

reasoned that there was not sufficient proof that “all or nearly all” men in the three lieutenant 

positions would tolerate sexual abuse by male guards, and that there was “no ‘basis in fact’ for 

believing that individuals in the correctional lieutenant role are particularly likely to sexually abuse 

inmates.942

Similarly, in 2008, in the case of Henry v. Milwaukee County, the Seventh Circuit ruled that a 

juvenile detention center’s policy requiring that “each unit of the facility be staffed at all times by 

at least one officer of the same sex as the detainees housed on that unit,”943 which resulted in 

providing more overtime opportunities to male officers as there were many more male units than 

female units, was unlawful.

944 This case rejected the argument that correctional officers of the same 

sex would better understand and provide better role models for the juveniles who were 

incarcerated.945

The Seventh Circuit rejected the juvenile detention center’s justifications for BFOQs because 

although they were designed to promote the essential functions of rehabilitation, security, and 

privacy, the sex classifications were not reasonably necessary based on the record at the facility in 

question.946 The court of appeals noted that the policy of having staff of the same gender present 

might be helpful, and even though cross-gender “assaults and misconduct are statistically more 

likely,” there was no evidence of any such assault having occurred.947 Moreover, the facility’s 

“other safety precautions, such as door alarms and the presence of supervisors, runners and video 

cameras, currently are working to prevent actual and alleged security breaches.948 Nor was the court 

convinced that same-sex mentoring was necessary.949

In contrast, in 2015, in the case of Teamster’s Local Union No. 117 v. Washington Dept. of 

Corrections, the Ninth Circuit reviewed a different fact pattern and upheld Washington State’s 

Department of Corrections requirement that 110 particular staff positions could only be held by 

women.950 This conclusion was based in part on the need to comply with the new PREA federal 

civil rights protections for women in prison. Moreover, in 1993, the Ninth Circuit had affirmed a 

 

942 Id. at 1211 (internal citations omitted).

943 Henry v. Milwaukee County, 539 F. 3d 573, 575 (2008).

944 Henry, 539 F. 3d at 575.

945 Id. at 583.

946 Id. at 581.

947 Id. at 581.

948 Id. at 581.

949 Id. at 584 - 85.

950 Teamster’s Local Union No. 117 v. Washington Dep’t of Corrections, 789 F.3d 979, 982 (2015).
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 153

ruling that “cross-gender body searches inflict unnecessary and wanton pain on female inmates, 

many of whom have suffered a history of sexual abuse before incarceration, and therefore, violate 

the Eighth Amendment.”951 The court of appeals also took into account “a documented history of 

sexual misconduct” in Washington State prisons that was “distinguishable from Breiner,”952 noting 

that:

There [in the Breiner case], Nevada prison officials designated as female-only three uppermanagement positions based on the assumption that men were “incapable of adequately 

supervising front line staff in female prisons.” 610 F.3d at 1213. The record disclosed no 

evidence that anyone in upper-management had ever abused an inmate. Id. at 1214. Here, 

by contrast, the sex-based job assignments are all “front line” positions that require direct, 

day-to-day interaction with female inmates. Washington has substantiated dozens of 

instances of sexual abuse implicating every job category at issue in this lawsuit.953

After receiving PREA funding to investigate, Washington State’s Department of Corrections had 

“fielded widespread allegations of sexual abuse in women’s prisons.”954 A lawsuit was filed by 

women inmates alleging sexual abuse and misconduct, and the WDOC hired a consultant who 

documented 72 alleged women victims of male staff’s sexual advances and harassment, 

impregnating two.955 Two further consultants documented the nexus with cross-gender supervision 

as follows:

Cross-sex supervision is currently one of the most significant issues facing the 

administration of women’s prisons. Today in many states, over 50 percent of the custody 

force in prisons for women are men. The fact that so many women in prison have 

experienced sexual abuse by men makes them different from male prisoners who do not 

share that history and therefore do not experience the same level of anxiety or violation as 

do women, when under the custody or supervision of an officer of the opposite sex.956

Washington State’s Department of Corrections therefore requested 110 guard post assignments at 

two prisons be limited to women, submitting a tailored request for each position, and emphasizing 

that making the positions women-only would reduce the risk of sexual misconduct, reduce 

allegations, protect male staff exposed to vulnerable situations, and “emphasized the privacy 

 

951 Id. (citing Jordan v. Gardner, 986 F. 2d 1521, 1531 (9th Cir. 1993) (en banc)).

952 Teamster’s, 789 F.3d at 982 (note 5).

953 Id.

954 Id. at 983.

955 Id. at 983.

956 Id. at 983.
154 WOMEN IN PRISON

requirements of female inmates and the operational need to have female officers on hand to 

perform necessary searches and other tasks.”957 The Ninth Circuit reviewed the district court’s 

evaluation of these processes and concluded that in this case, “sex is an objective, verifiable job 

qualification for the posts designated as female-only by the Department and that the Department 

appropriately considered reasonable alternatives.”958 In analyzing whether the BFOQ was 

applicable to the housing unit positions (in which prison officers would view women undressing 

and showering), the court of appeals took into account that in Washington State’s Department of 

Corrections at the time, “there [wa]s no reasonable substitute for having female guards inside 

housings units, according to the Department. Notably, temporarily removing a female guard from 

another part of the prison to cover in a housing unit ‘creates a gap for dealing with privacy issues 

at the post vacated.’”959

Moreover, the staff composition at Washington State’s Department of Corrections resulted in 

“shuttling” women staff from location to location to perform “essential security procedures, 

leaving other areas without appropriate staffing,” and “[w]ith female guards stretched thin, inmates 

went unsupervised showering, using the restroom, or dressing—raising security and safety 

risks.”960 The Supreme Court has held that there are reasonable privacy expectations against crossgender body searches and viewing in states of undress.961 In this case, therefore, privacy concerns 

resulted in security concerns.

Other federal court decisions upholding BFOQs have also been based on privacy requirements. 

Professor Judith Resnik and others at the Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law 

School summarized those decisions as follows:

Some rulings have determined that searches of female prisoners by male officers are illegal.

For example, in 1993, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Jordan v. Gardner held 

that the “cross-gender clothed body search policy at the women’s prison constituted cruel 

and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”962 The court enjoined 

prison officials from having male officers conduct non-emergent searches of female 

prisoners when those searches involve touching of the breast or genital areas.963 In a 2010 

 

957 Id. at 984 (reasoning that the state also explained that this would increase security).

958 Id. at 991.

959 Id. at 992.

960 Id. at 993.

961 Id.

962 Resnik Follow-up Statement, at 2 (citing Jordan v. Gardner, 986 F. 2d 1521, 1531 (9th Cir. 1993)).

963 Id.
CHAPTER 5: USE OF DISCIPLINE AND STAFF TRAINING 155

case, a federal district court in the District of Connecticut held in Forde v. Baird that nonemergent pat-down searches by male officers of a female Sunni Muslim prisoner violated 

her rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.964

The Liman Center attorneys also noted that:

The 1977 decision of Dothard v. Rawlinson involved questions of whether height and 

weight restrictions imposed by Alabama as a prerequisite to being a prison guard were 

permissible. While holding that they were not, the Court did conclude that the state could 

rely on the BFOQ defense in determining that it could require men, rather than women, to 

hold jobs involving close contact at maximum security prisons for men. Security was one 

rationale, and the Court accepted the view that female staff could be more at risk than male 

staff to sexual attack.965

However, the Dothard case addresses a distinct fact pattern, and issues regarding BFOQs in 

women’s prisons have not been directly addressed by the Supreme Court. Moreover, whether

reasons other than sexual assault prevention and essential privacy concerns would be sufficient to 

justify BFOQs is not yet clear in case law. 

 

964 Resnik Follow-up Statement, at 2 (citing Forde v. Baird, 720 F. Supp. 2d 170, 172 (D. Conn. 2010)).

965 Id. at 2 (citing Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 333 (1977) (citing Diaz v. Pan American World Airways,

442 F.2d 385, 388 (5th Cir. 1971)).
156 WOMEN IN PRISON

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CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 157

CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND 

VOCATIONAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR 

WOMEN IN PRISON & LIFE AFTER PRISON

This chapter will examine whether the availability and types of prison programs vary by gender. 

As mentioned earlier, while the vast majority of the prison population is male, the number of 

women in prison is growing at a faster rate.966 Therefore, it is vital to assess whether women have 

adequate access to rehabilitative programs in prison that assist them with transitioning back into 

their community. In addition, this chapter discusses recidivism rates for women in prison and 

collateral consequences of incarceration that disproportionately impact women exiting prison.

Background on Prison Programs and Women in Prison

Common prison programs for both men and women include counseling (e.g. parenting, or drug 

and alcohol abuse dependency classes), education (e.g. GED, or literacy classes), and work 

programs (e.g. prison work, which helps prisons offset operation costs, or prison industry jobs).967

Bureau of Justice Statistics data show that 85 percent of prisons have educational programs, 92 

percent have some form of counseling programs, and almost 90 percent of prisons offer work 

programs.968 According to 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics data, 8.2 percent of prisoners in the 

United States are incarcerated in privately run prisons under the jurisdiction of 27 states or the 

BOP.

969 In comparison to private prisons,970 a higher percentage of public prisons offer education 

programs (60 percent vs. 90 percent), counseling programs (74 percent vs. 97 percent), and work 

programs (56 percent vs. 97 percent).971 Work release programs, which allow inmates to work in 

their community unsupervised, were more common in private prisons in comparison to public 

 

966 See supra notes 18-21 and Figure 2.

967 Ney Statement, at 2.

968 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005, by

James Stephan, Oct. 2008, p. 5 https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csfcf05.pdf; (hereinafter DOJ, Census of State

and Federal Correctional Facilities 2005); see also Ney Statement, at 2

969 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2017, by Jennifer Bronson, Apr. 2019, p. 16, 27,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p17.pdf.

970 See Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019,” Prison Policy Initiative (Mar.

19, 2019), https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html (noting that public prisons are owned and operated by

local, state, federal governments while private prison is a facility is owned by a third party and is contracted by

local, state, federal governments; see Alexander Volokh, “Prison Accountability and Performance Measures” Emory

Law Journal, 63 (2013), p. 339-416, at 347, https://ssrn.com/abstract=2336155 (noting that there is little empirical

data on whether public prisons or private prisons are more cost-effective or provide better quality stay).

971 DOJ, Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities 2005, pp. 5-6.
158 WOMEN IN PRISON

prisons (52 percent vs. 20 percent).972 A range of other programs for women and men in prison 

such as religious or Bible classes, life skills classes, support groups, and recreation and fitness 

classes, are also offered in some federal prisons.973

A handful of studies have examined the availability and participation of prison programs for men 

and women. In 1980, a Government Accountability Office974 report found that “[w]omen in 

correctional institutions were not provided comparable services, educational programs, or facilities 

as men prisoners. Inequities are most prevalent in [s]tate institutions, but they also exist in the 

[f]ederal and local correctional systems.”975 Almost two decades later, Government Accountability 

Office published another report on women in prison, which found that while there had been 

significant improvements since the 1980s the BOP, California Department of Corrections, and 

Texas Department of Criminal Justice still faced challenges in meeting the programmatic needs of 

women.976

A 1994 study by Merry Morash, Robin Haar, and Lila Rucker used data from the Survey of Inmates 

in State and Federal Prisons977 and the Census of State Adult Correctional Facilities978 to examine 

numerous aspects of prisons and inmates and found that prison programming varied between 

incarcerated men and women.979 Morash and her colleagues found that women were 20 percent 

more likely to take part in educational programming compared to men during their incarceration.980

 

972 Ibid., 5, 25.

973 Ney Statement, at 2.

974 Please note that at the time the U.S. Government Accountability Office was called the “U.S. General Accounting

Office.” The Government Accountability Office changed its legal name in 2004. See “Government Accountability

Office: What’s in a Name?” U.S. Government Accountability Office, Watch Blog, Apr. 4, 2014,

https://blog.gao.gov/2014/04/04/government-accountability-office-whats-in-a-name/.

975 U.S. General Accounting Office, Women in Prison: Inequitable Treatment Requires Action, Dec. 10, 1980, at

cover page, https://www.gao.gov/assets/140/131280.pdf.

976 U.S. General Accounting Office, Women in Prison: Issues and Challenges Confronting U.S. Correctional

Systems, Dec. 1999, https://www.gao.gov/new.items/gg00022.pdf (note that this report focused on these three

correctional systems: the BOP, California Department of Corrections, and Texas Department of Criminal Justice

because they had the largest numbers of women in prison at the time).

977 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Survey of Inmates of State Correctional Facilities,

1986,” (last updated Nov. 4, 2005), Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

[Distributor], https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08711.v2.

978 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Census of State Adult Correctional Facilities, 1984,” by

James Stephen, 1987, https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=3604.

979 Merry Morash, Robin Haar, and Lila Rucker, “A Comparison of Programming for Women and Men in U.S.

Prisons in the 1980s,” Crime & Delinquency, vol. 40, no. 2 (1994), p. 197-221, at 201-2 (hereinafter Morash et al.,

“A Comparison of Programming for Women and Men in U.S. Prisons in the 1980s”).

980 Ibid., 20.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 159

Notably, the authors also discovered that individuals with less education and those who were 

unemployed prior to incarceration were 10 percent more likely to participate in education-related 

programs than their counterparts.981 Participation in programming also varied by region, as the

chances of an inmate being in an academic program was 30 percent higher if the inmate was 

incarcerated in the Northeast region of the U.S., and 20 percent lower if the inmate was 

incarcerated in the South when compared with inmates from the West.982 The authors also found 

that custodial classification impacted program participation, as inmates in large, maximum security 

facilities were more likely to participate in educational programming than those in smaller, lower 

security facilities.983

In regards to participation in work and vocational programs, Morash and her colleagues found that 

women in prison, regardless of their custodial classification, were more likely to have work 

assignments than their male counterparts, but the researchers contend that women’s work 

assignments often reflected gender stereotypes.

984 A 2013 dissertation study by Courtney 

Crittenden replicated Morash and her colleagues’ research with more recent data and found similar 

results.985 Crittenden also found that women in prison have more programs available to them than 

men, but most of the programs for women tended to be gendered—that is mostly programs 

associated with stereotypically feminine skills like cooking, cosmetology, and sewing.986 These 

gendered work assignments can suggest to women in prison that they are to be rehabilitated 

through domestic work while men are allotted more non-domestic prison work assignments.987

 

981 Ibid.

982 Ibid.

983 Ibid.

984 Ibid., 204-05.

985 Courtney Crittenden, “Gender and Programming: A Comparison of Program Availability and Participation in

U.S. Prisons for Men and Women,” Doctoral Dissertation (University of South Carolina) (hereinafter Crittenden,

“Gender and Programming: A Comparison of Program Availability and Participation in U.S. Prisons for Men and

Women”); see also Ney Statement, at 2.

986 Crittenden, “Gender and Programming: A Comparison of Program Availability and Participation in U.S. Prisons

for Men and Women”; see also Ney Statement, at 2; see also Adam Harris, “Women in Prison Take Home

Economics, While Men Take Carpentry,” The Atlantic, April 30, 2018,

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/04/the-continuing-disparity-in-womens-prisoneducation/559274/ (noting that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Louisiana Department of Corrections, and

Mississippi Department of Corrections all have significantly more prison programs available for men in comparison

to women and women were mostly offered culinary arts and office administration work programs).

987 Courtney Crittenden, Barbara Koons-Witt, and Robert Kaminski, “Being Assigned Work in Prison: Do Gender

and Race Matter?” Feminist Criminology, vol.13, no. 4 (2018), p. 359-381(hereinafter Crittenden et al., “Being

Assigned Work in Prison: Do Gender and Race Matter?”) https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085116668990.
160 WOMEN IN PRISON

A more recent study in 2016 by Courtney Crittenden, Barbara Koons-Witt, and Robert Kaminski 

expands the literature on gender and prison work assignments to include how the race or ethnicity 

of the inmatesimpacts their work assignments.

988 Using recent BJS data from the Survey of Inmates 

in State and Federal Prisons989 and the Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities990

the authors examine whether or not men and women in prison participate in particular kinds of 

work assignments based on gender roles and racial stereotypes.

991 While the authors’ initial 

bivariate analysis did not show a statistically significant result for racial differences in work 

assignments amongst women in prison, it demonstrated racial differences amongst men in prison—

as black men were more likely to report working in facility services than non-black men, but less 

likely to work in prison industry assignments than non-black men.992 Other advance analyses 

conducted by the researchers established a statistically significant relationship between being paid 

for work and race among women in prison, as white women and women of other races and 

ethnicities were paid more for work than black women in prison.993

At the Commission’s briefing, several experts discussed the consequences of lack of programs for 

women in prisons as well as in the community and on reservations, prior to incarceration. Ms. 

Leann Bertsch, Director of North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, testified 

that Native American women in North Dakota are often incarcerated as a result of having 

inadequate access to social services.994 Consequently North Dakota Department of Corrections and 

Rehabilitation acts as a pseudo social services department for Native American women.995

According to a justice reinvestment study in North Dakota, 70 percent of district court judges 

indicated that they sentenced non-violent, low risk individuals to ND DOCR just to get them access 

to rehabilitative services that they would not have access to otherwise.996 Ms. Susan Burton, 

Founder and Executive Director of A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project, and a formerly 

 

988 Ibid.

989 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Survey of Inmates of State

Correctional Facilities, (Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [Distributor],

2004), https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04572.v5.

990 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005, by

James Stephen, 2008, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csfcf05.pdf.

991 Crittenden et al., “Being Assigned Work in Prison: Do Gender and Race Matter?” p. 364.

992 Ibid., 369, Table 2.

993 Ibid., 369-70, Table 2.

994 Bertsch Testimony, p. 225.

995 Ibid.

996 Ibid.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 161

incarcerated woman, shared her experiences in the criminal justice system for nearly two decades 

after personal tragedy that led to substance abuse.997

According to Ms. Burton, 

When I was in prison, I begged for programs. Before I went to prison, I begged the courts 

for something other than prison, but I was always sent to prison and there was never enough 

programs there for me.

The lack of the ability for these correctional systems to see the humanity of people, to 

understand the potential of people, it’s just not existent. They shuffle and they push, and 

they push people around, and they don’t really meet the needs and don’t even see where an 

investment could be made, or there would be a payoff on an investment.998

Ms. Burton also discusses how A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project is providing resources what

her clients did not receive in prison, such as employment specialists, legal specialists, money 

management training and leadership development.

999

In 2011, the New Hampshire Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on the Civil Rights 

issued the results of a two-year investigation on the civil rights of women in prison in New 

Hampshire.1000 The Advisory Committee’s investigation found that the state’s prison for women 

had almost no space available for basic vocational training, which contrasted starkly with the 

substantial vocational training opportunities available to their male counterparts.1001 In addition, 

unlike the men’s prison, New Hampshire women’s prison was in a small, old building that offered

almost no space for family visitation and outdoor programming.1002 Consequently, the New 

Hampshire Advisory Committee concluded that:

The failure of the state to provide comparable programs and services in these respects 

seriously affects the ability of women offenders to maintain appropriate family 

relationships, impairs their mental and physical health, and inhibits their ability to prepare 

for productive and self-supporting work upon their eventual release from prison. New 

Hampshire’s recidivism rate for female offenders is exceptionally high—it is one of only 

 

997 Burton Testimony, p. 284.

998 Ibid., 286-7.

999 Ibid., 313.

1000 New Hampshire Advisory Committee to USCCR, Unequal Treatment: Women Incarcerated in New

Hampshire’s State Prison System, p. 1.

1001 Ibid., 1.

1002 Ibid., 9.
162 WOMEN IN PRISON

a few states with a higher recidivism rate for women than for men—and is a testament to 

the high cost paid by the state for its failure to address the unequal conditions of 

confinement faced by female offenders. 1003

Subsequently, New Hampshire broke ground on a new facility for women,1004 which opened in 

2018. 1005 The new space provides for additional programming opportunities and on site medical 

care, which the former facility lacked. 1006

The Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on the Civil Rights recently held a 

briefing on mass incarceration at which a woman stressed the importance of drug treatment 

programs.1007 She stated that:

I’m a single mom of four. Prior to being incarcerated I was a soccer mom, worked two jobs 

and did everything I could to take care of my family. In 2012 addiction turned my life 

upside down. By the end of 2013 I was sentenced to prison and released in 2015. By 

December of 2016 I was back in prison and finally released at the end of February 2018.

I knew upon my release that I had to do something different and voluntarily went through 

a two- year program for women post-incarceration in (Mayville). This program provided 

two years of free housing, mental - physical and mental health [care] and worked with 

women to meet their needs and rebuild their lives.

This program has shown me the importance of treatment in breaking the cycle of drugs and 

repeated incarceration. Lots of people get locked up and no one gets to the root of the 

problem to really understand why this person’s in prison or keeps coming back into the 

system.

My experience has shown me that the majority of inmates are repeat offenders - in on drug 

charges. This is due to the fact that there are limited treatment options in prison and state 

programs for – to enter once they are released. I know that a longtime treatment can save 

 

1003 Ibid., 1.

1004 “Groundbreaking Planned for Women’s Prison in Concord,” WMUR9,

https://www.wmur.com/article/groundbreaking-planned-for-new-women-s-prison-in-concord/5192231.

1005 “New Hampshire Correctional Facility for Women Now Open,” Correctional News, Mar. 30, 2018,

http://correctionalnews.com/2018/03/30/new-hampshire-correctional-facility-for-women/.

1006 Alyssa Dandrea, “New Concord Prison Seeks ‘Hope’ and ‘Dignity’ for Incarcerated Women” Concord Monitor,

Mar. 26, 2018, https://www.concordmonitor.com/New-Concord-womens-prison-completed-16452870.

1007 Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Mass Incarceration and Civil Rights in

Arkansas, Public Comment Period, Apr. 23, 2019.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 163

lives and it has certainly saved mine. I’ve been clean for over two years, have a full-time 

job and have been reunited with my family.1008

Program Participation by Parents in Prison 

The gender differences observed in prison programming can also be bad for men in prison.1009

While both men and women in prison are likely to be parents to dependent children prior to 

incarceration,1010 parental programs were predominantly found in women’s prisons, which 

underscore female inmates’ roles as mothers.1011 The need for such a curriculum was believed to 

be so imperative that the United States Department of Justice and Kansas included a mandatory 

provision in their 2012 settlement agreement that required Topeka Correctional Facility to provide 

programming about parenting and childcare to all inmate mothers.1012 Yet men in prison would 

also benefit from parenting classes, but they rarely have access to them.1013 These disparities in 

access are also evident in data showing that while mothers and fathers in prison were equally likely 

to report participating in employment and educational programming, mothers were over 2.5 times 

more likely than fathers to attend parenting classes.1014

According to a 2010 BJS report, 65 percent of mothers and 57 percent of fathers in state prisons 

reported attending self-help or improvement classes.1015 Compared to parents in state prisons, 

parents in federal prisons reported higher levels of participating in work assignments and self-help 

programs and of having a high school diploma or GED.1016 Over 90 percent of parents in federal 

prisons reported participating in a work assignment.1017 Since admission, more than 70 percent of 

 

1008 Heather Carbosa Testimony, Mass Incarceration and Civil Rights in Arkansas Briefing Before the Arkansas

Advisory Committee, Apr. 23, 2019, p. 26.

1009 Adam Harris, “Women in Prison Take Home Economics, While Men Take Carpentry,” The Atlantic, Apr. 30,

2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/04/the-continuing-disparity-in-womens-prisoneducation/559274/ (hereinafter Harris, “Women in Prison Take Home Economics.”)

1010 DOJ, Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children, p. 1.

1011 Morash et al., “A Comparison of Programming for Women and Men in U.S. Prisons in the 1980s,” p. 215.

1012 Settlement Agreement, United States v. Kansas (Dec. 22, 2014) at 14.

1013 Harris, “Women in Prison Take Home Economics,” (the author is referencing an interview he had with

Professor Brenda V. Smith of American University).

1014 Ibid; see also Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights

Analyst, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019, (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights) (noting

that all BOP prisons offer at least one parenting program. However, comparative data are not currently available as

the BOP has not historically used standardized codes to track programs. In Spetember 2019, the BOP introduced

new standardized codes, which will provide data in regard to offerings in the near future).

1015 DOJ, Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children, p. 9.

1016 Ibid.

1017 Ibid.
164 WOMEN IN PRISON

parents attended self-help or improvement classes.1018 At the state level, comparable percentages 

of participation in self-help or improvement classes were found between mothers and fathers in 

prison who lived with their children prior to incarceration and those who had not.1019 Mothers who 

lived with their children prior to incarceration were more likely than mothers who had not lived 

with their children to participate in work assignments.1020 The table below summarizes parents’ 

participation in self-help or improvement classes in state prisons by gender.

Table 8: Work Assignments, Program Participation, and Education Program Participation, by 

Living Arrangement and Gender, 20041021

All 

Parents 

in State 

Prisons

Lived with 

Minor Child

Did Not 

Live with 

Minor Children

Men Women Men Women

Work Assignments 66.8% 67.9% 72.2% 65.7% 66.6%

Self-help or Improvement Classes 57.2% 57.4% 65.4% 55.8% 63.4%

Parenting or Childbearing Classes 11.9% 12.1% 29.7% 9.3% 22.5%

Employment Programs 30.4% 30.6% 33.2% 30.1% 26.9%

Vocational or Job-Training Program 26.5% 26.2% 27.0% 26.8% 22.2%

Employment Counseling 9.4% 9.6% 12.4% 8.8% 11.3%

Education Programs 30.3% 29.4% 33.2% 30.8% 31.5%

Other Pre-release Programs 31.2% 32.0% 39.3% 29.3% 39.4%

Had GED or High School Diploma Upon 

Admission 62.4% 63.0% 65.5% 62.2% 56.4%

Estimated Number of Parents in State Prisons 636,300 272,200 32,800 313,000 18,300

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

The BOP reported that they have an Interagency Government Agreement with the Washington 

Department of Corrections (WADOC), which allows them to place eligible and interested pregnant 

inmates in the Residential Parenting Program at the Washington Correctional Center for Women 

in Gig Harbor, Washington.1022 The goal of this program is to give new mothers in WADOC the 

 

1018 Ibid.

1019 Ibid.

1020 Ibid.

1021 Ibid.

1022 DOJ, “Female Offenders;” see also Dep’t of Corrections, Washington State, “Fact Sheet May 2017 Residential

Parenting Program Teaching Parenting, Infant-child bonding to Incarcerated Mothers,” revised Oct. 2017,

https://www.doc.wa.gov/docs/publications/fact-sheets/400-FS003.pdf (hereinafter Dep’t of Corrections, Washington

State, Fact Sheet May 2017); see also BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 42.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 165

chance to bond with their children and learn parenting skills to enhance their children’s 

development and assist in the mothers’ reentry into the community.1023 During this time, the 

mothers also receive a variety of services such as mental health, medical care, vocational training, 

and childcare.1024 As of May 2019, the program served three participants and another inmate’s 

request to participate in this program was denied due to a state detainer.1025

BOP also reported their enrollment numbers for the Mothers and Infants Together (MINT) 

program, which is a community residential program that aims to assist inmates during the last two 

months of their pregnancy.1026 The MINT program transfers eligible women in federal prison to a 

Residential Reentry Center and participants remain there for up to three months after giving birth 

to bond with their child before returning to their respective institution to complete their 

sentence.1027 The MINT program is available at five locations: Phoenix, AZ; Tallahassee, FL;

Springfield, IL; Fort Worth, TX; and Greenbrier, WV. The level of MINT program participation 

by location is summarized in a table below.1028

Table 9: Participation in MINT Program, by Location

BOP Location Number of Participants

Number of Inmates 

Denied / Delayed

Phoenix, AZ 11 0

Tallahassee, FL 15 0

Springfield, IL 3 0

Fort Worth, TX 19 0

Greenbrier, WV 39 11029

Source: BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 42.

 

1023 Dep’t of Corrections, Washington State, Fact Sheet May 2017.

1024 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, “Female Offenders.”

1025 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 42. See also, The Detainer: A Problem in Interstate Criminal

Justice Administration, 48 COL. L. REV. 1190, 1191 (1948) (a state detainer is a request from another jurisdiction to

detain a person wanted in said jurisdiction for commission of a crime. The detainer request is directed to the

jurisdiction where the wanted person is currently being detained or incarcerated); see also Interstate Agreement on

Detainers, 18 U.S.C. App. 2 § 2 Pub. L. 91–538, 84 Stat. 1397 (1970) (as amended by Pub. L. 100–690, 102 Stat.

4403 (1988)).

1026 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, “Female Offenders.”

1027 Ibid.

1028 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 42.

1029 According to the BOP, one woman was denied entry into the MINT program because of a public safety factor as 

the result of a prior sex offense. See BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 42.
166 WOMEN IN PRISON

Specific Programs for Women in Federal Custody

In addition to addressing the needs of mothers in federal custody, the BOP has a number of 

programs to address the needs of women’s substance abuse and mental health needs. BOP is 

piloting a new program called the Female Integrated Treatment program at FCI Danbury in 

Danbury, Connecticut, which is a low security facility.1030 The Female Integrated Treatment 

program is designed as a therapeutic community that offers women inmates a variety of programs 

and services and also attempts to meet their individual programmatic needs.

1031 Once it is fully 

functioning, it can provide treatment for up to 200 inmates and it will be staffed with three 

psychologists, a social worker, four treatment specialists, and a unit team.1032

BOP also offers both non-residential drug treatment and a gender-responsive version of the 

Residential Drug Abuse Treatment Program (RDAP), an intensive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 

that focuses on reducing the likelihood of a participant abusing drugs or alcohol.1033 This program 

also focuses on challenging antisocial behavior and criminality.1034 RDAP consists of a minimum 

of 500 hours of treatment programming, and most program participants have between 22 and 42 

months remaining on their sentences.1035 Participants who successfully complete the program may 

be eligible for up to a 12-month sentence reduction.1036 Women in prison who participated in RDAP 

were 18 percent less likely to recidivate than similarly situated women who did not participate in 

RDAP.1037 In addition, female program participants had higher frequencies of success than male 

program participants in maintaining employment, obtaining educational degrees, and caring for 

their children.1038

 

1030 “New Female Integrated Treatment (FIT) Program,” U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Feb. 8,

2017, https://www.bop.gov/resources/news/20170208_fit.jsp

1031 Ibid.

1032 Ibid.

1033 “Substance Abuse Treatment,” U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons,

https://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/substance_abuse_treatment.jsp; see also Dignam Statement, at 12.

1034 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Directory of National Programs Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2017, p.

14, https://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/docs/20170518_BOPNationalProgramCatalog.pdf (hereinafter

DOJ, Directory of National Programs Federal Bureau of Prisons).

1035 Ibid.; see also Dignam Statement, at 12.

1036 DOJ, Directory of National Programs Federal Bureau of Prisons, p. 14; Dignam Statement, at 12; see also U.S.

Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Early Release Procedures Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e), Program

Statement 5331.02 CN-11U, https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5331_002.pdf.

1037 DOJ, Directory of National Programs Federal Bureau of Prisons, p. 14; Dignam Statement, at 12.

1038 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FY 2020 Performance Budget Congressional Submission,

2019, p. 33, https://www.justice.gov/jmd/page/file/1144626/download.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 167

As of September 1, 2019, 13 RDAP programs were available at 10 women’s facilities and in each 

BOP region.1039 By contrast, 72 RDAP programs were provided for men at 63 different locations; 

every region had at least one institution that ran two programs for men.1040 There were three RDAP 

programs offered in Spanish—two for men at FCI Miami and one for women at FMC Carswell (in 

Fort Worth, Texas).1041 A 2018 Office of Inspector General report documents that 118 people 

participate in RDAP at each institution at a time.1042 Data from BOP demonstrates that as of October 

5, 2019, in comparison to men, a higher proportion of women in federal custody are currently 

participating in RDAP programs (4 percent vs 7 percent).1043 Also, of the men and women currently 

in federal custody, a higher rate of women than men completed RDAP (8 percent vs 18 percent).1044

As mentioned in Chapter 1, in comparison to men, a higher proportion of women in federal prison 

are serving sentences for drug offenses (47 percent vs 56 percent).

1045 However, in comparison to 

their male counterparts, a higher proportion of women in federal prison are qualified for RDAP 

and are currently waiting to participate in RDAP (3 percent vs 5 percent).1046 These figures are 

cause for concern about whether current RDAP capacity meets the drug treatment needs of women 

incarcerated in federal prison.1047

A 2003 study examined the effectiveness of BOP’s prison-based residential drug and alcohol 

treatment programs and found gender differences and similarities in the effectiveness of treatment 

and in predictors of post-release outcomes examined.1048 The results indicated that subjects who 

would have entered and completed in-prison residential treatment were less likely to be arrested 

 

1039 Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019, (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).

1040 Ibid.

1041 Ibid.

1042 DOJ, Review of Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management of Its Female Inmate Population, p. 24, Table 4.

1043 Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019, (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).

1044 Ibid.

1045 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2016, at Table 14.

1046 Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019, (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).

1047 Dignam Statement, at 12.

1048 Bernadette Pelissier, Scott Camp, Gerald Gaes, William Rhodes, and William Saylor, “Gender Differences in

Outcomes from Prison-based Residential Treatment,” Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, vol. 24, iss. 2, (2003),

p. 149-160 (noting that the authors used event history procedures modified to accommodate a test of selection bias

since participants in the drug rehabilitation program were not be randomly assigned to treatment group. According

to the authors, there were 1,193 treatment and 1,122 comparison subjects and the gender split was 1,842 men and

473 women).
168 WOMEN IN PRISON

and use drugs 3 years after their release than comparison subjects.1049 The authors found that 

women had lower three-year recidivism rates and rates of post-release drug use than did men.1050

According to BOP’s responses to the Commission’s interrogatories and document requests, the 

BOP offers a number of trauma-related programs to women in federal custody.1051 BOP offers a 

“Trauma in Life” Workshop at all female institutions—with the exception of Federal Transfer 

Centers.1052 The purpose of this workshop is to provide women in federal prison with information 

on trauma and its potential impact in their lives.1053 This program is voluntary, but women in prison 

who have experienced traumatic events such as child abuse or domestic violence are encouraged 

to attend.1054 There is no prerequisite for this program, but potential program participants must 

report a history of a traumatic life event as documented in the screening instrument (e.g., the 

Stressful Life Experiences Screening), or present with a disorder that is related to a traumatic life 

event.1055 Women inmates with disciplinary infractions may still be allowed to attend this 

workshop.1056

The Trauma in Life workshop also helps to identify and motivate inmates who need treatment to 

participate in the Resolve Program’s non-residential protocol during their incarceration.1057 BOP’s 

Resolve Treatment Program is a residential treatment program for trauma-related disorders.

1058

Resolve uses a compilation of evidenced-based, cognitive behavior therapy protocols tailored to 

the individual needs of program participants.1059 The Resolve Treatment Program is available at all 

federal female institutions with a full-time program coordinator who is a trained psychologist with 

an advanced degree.1060 As of March 25, 2019, Resolve was offered at 13 female facilities—

Alderson, Aliceville, Bryan, Carswell, Coleman, Dublin, Greenville, Hazelton, Lexington, 

 

1049 Ibid.,155.

1050 Ibid.,156.

1051 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 37.

1052 Ibid.

1053 Ibid.

1054 Ibid.; see also Attachment 6.

1055 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 37.

1056 Ibid.

1057 Ibid.

1058 Ibid.

1059 Ibid.

1060 Ibid.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 169

Marianna,1061 Tallahassee, Victorville, and Waseca—as well as a number of RRCs. The Resolve 

Program maintains a continuous enrollment of 24 participants at each facility.1062

According to BOP’s responses to the Commission’s Interrogatories, during FY 2018, 2,155 female 

inmates participated in the Trauma in Life Workshop and 756 female inmates participated in 

Resolve Treatment Program.1063 However, these programs had significant waitlists, as there were 

2,935 inmates placed on the waiting list for the Trauma in Life Workshop, and 616 inmates placed 

on the waiting list for the Resolve Treatment Program.1064

The duration of the Resolve Treatment Program depends on several factors including the 

individual needs of the inmate, the number of inmates requesting treatment, and specific issues of 

the facility.1065 If an inmate participates in all phases of treatment, the program will run 9 to 12 

months in length.1066 Seeking Safety consists of a minimum of 12 group sessions meeting weekly 

for at least 1 hour per session.1067 Cognitive Processing Therapy is a type of cognitive behavior 

therapy that has a 12-session protocol meeting for 60 to 90 minutes weekly.

1068 Cognitive 

Processing Therapy focuses on teaching participant a set of skills that will help challenge and 

modify their beliefs related to trauma.1069 According to BOP, the goal of Cognitive Processing

Therapy is to help participants create a new understanding of traumatic experiences and reduce the 

negative effects of trauma.

1070 Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is also a type of cognitive behavior 

therapy that has a 12-session protocol meeting for 60 to 90 minutes weekly.

1071 According to BOP, 

 

1061 See U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, “Acting Director Visits Institutions Affect by

Hurricane,” (Oct. 27, 2018), https://www.bop.gov/resources/news/20181027_hurricane_michael_aftermath.jsp; see

also Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019, (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights) (noting that Marianna is

a BOP facility that houses women, but the facility was damaged significantly by Hurricane Michael. Currently, no

women are being housed there, as repairs are still ongoing. The women at Marianna were re-designated to other

BOP instiutions).

1062 Ibid.

1063 Ibid.; see also BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 37 and Attachment 6, p. 6-7.

1064 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 37; see also attachment 6.

1065 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 37; see also attachment 6.

1066 Ibid.

1067 Ibid.

1068 Ibid.; see also Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights

Analyst, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019, (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).

1069 Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S. 

Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019, (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).

1070 Ibid.

1071 Ibid.; see also BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 37.
170 WOMEN IN PRISON

the goal of Dialectical Behavior Therapy program is teach participants how to cope with stress in 

healthy ways, regulate emotions, and improve participants’ interpersonal skills.1072 Although 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy was initially developed to work with persons with suicidal behaviors 

and those diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, it has been found to benefit people 

diagnosed with a variety of mental health challenges.

1073 The Trauma in Life Workshop is typically 

a four-session weekly workshop that meets for two hours.1074

BOP also provides job training to its inmates. Established by federal statute in 1934, BOP states 

that the Federal Prison Industries Program (known by its trade name UNICOR) provides skilled 

jobs and training to inmates in factory settings.1075 It is somewhat controversial, because under the 

statute, all physically able inmates who are not a security risk are required to work, and some forms 

of prison labor have been criticized as abusive and a form of indentured servitude.1076 According 

to a study of state policies, for their labor, prisoners receive from 23 cents an hour to $1.15 an 

hour.1077

Since 2011, UNICOR has been permitted to sell products and services to private companies, and 

DOJ states that UNICOR prison labor can be helpful to private companies’ bottom line; for 

example they offer call centers “staffed by ‘1,700 experienced inmate agents and support staff.’”1078

UNICOR’s 2017 Annual Report stated that:

UNICOR plays a critical role in preparing federal inmates to be productive law abiding 

citizens following release from prison. UNICOR workers receive job training in factories, 

warehouses, call centers and offices that closely resemble community work environments, 

so that the skills learned are easily transferrable to the outside world. We know from 

 

1072 Email conversation between Alix McLearen, Ph.D., and LaShonda Brenson, Ph.D., Civil Rights Analyst, U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights, Oct. 16, 2019, (on file with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).

1073 Ibid.

1074 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 37.

1075 18 U.S.C. § 4121; see also “Federal Prison Industries,” U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons,

https://www.bop.gov/about/agency/org_fpi.jsp (accessed Oct. 20, 2019).

1076 See, e.g., Christopher Zoukis, “Prison Work Programs: ‘Cost-Effective Labor Pool’ or ‘Slave Labor of

Yesterday,’” Prison Legal News, Jan. 8, 2019, https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2019/jan/8/prison-workprograms-cost-effective-labor-pool-or-slave-labor-yesterday/.

1077 Wendy Sawyer, “How Much Do Incarcerated People Earn in Each State,” Prison Policy Initiative, Apr. 10,

2017, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/.

1078 Alexia Fernández Campbell, “The Federal Government Markets Prison Labor to Businesses as the ‘Best-Kept

Secret,’” Vox, Aug. 24, 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/8/24/17768438/national-prison-strike-factory-labor.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 171

research and experience that an individual’s ability to secure employment with a living 

wage often prevents them [sic] from returning to a life of crime.1079

As noted in UNICOR’s 2018 report, the positive impact of UNICOR job training is supported by 

data from a comprehensive study by BOP.1080 BOP’s Post-Release Employment Project compared 

inmates who volunteered to work in UNICOR to similarly situated inmates who did not work in 

prison industries and found that people who participated in this program were 24 percent less likely 

to recidivate (for up to 12 years following their sentence) and 14 percent more likely to be 

employed a year following their release.1081 According to BOP data, UNICOR programs especially 

help young racial and ethnic minorities, who are at a greater risk of recidivism.1082

However, UNICOR programs are available to fewer women than men.1083 In 2016, UNICOR was 

offered to men at 49 institutions and but only to women at 4 institutions, none of which were in 

the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast Regions.1084 Despite federal women’s prisons location in every 

region of the country,

1085 women are only able to participate in that program and develop skills 

required to obtain employment upon release at one minimum security facility (FPC Bryan) in the 

South Central Region, and three low security facilities (FCI Wasceca, FCI Tallahassee and FCI 

Dublin) in the North Central, Southeast and Western Regions.1086

Specific Programs for Women in State Prisons

Prison programs at the state level are not as robust as the programs offered in the federal system.1087

The availability of rehabilitative prison programs not only eases reentry for women and men in 

prison, but can also assist inmates seeking release on parole, as they need to show evidence of 

 

1079 Federal Prisons Industries, The Business of Reducing Crime, UNICOR Annual Report, 2017, p. 3,

https://www.unicor.gov/publications/reports/FY2017_AnnualMgmtReport.pdf.

1080 Ibid., 6.

1081 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FPI and Vocational Training Works: Post-Release

Employment Project, https://www.bop.gov/resources/pdfs/prep_summary_05012012.pdf; see also Dignam

Statement, at 12.

1082 Ibid.

1083 Dignam Statement, at 12.

1084 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, The BOP Occupational Directory Inmate Occupational

Training Directory, 2017,

http://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/docs/inmate_occupational_training_directory.pdf (hereinafter DOJ

The BOP Occupational Directory Inmate Occupational Training Directory, 2017).

1085 See, e.g., supra Figure 9: Map of BOP Institution Female Inmates, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Female Offenders,

Facilities Housing Female Offenders.

1086 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, The BOP Occupational Directory Inmate Occupational Training Directory, 2017.

1087 Dignam Statement, at 13.
172 WOMEN IN PRISON

rehabilitation.1088 As outlined above and according to experts, participation in rehabilitative and

educational programs can assist women seeking employment after prison and reduce their rate of 

recidivism, which would ultimately decrease the amount of money spent on incarceration.1089

A few state Departments of Corrections have recently introduced innovative rehabilitation 

programs for women in prison.1090 For instance, Michigan Department of Corrections recently 

opened a “vocational village” for women, which trains up to 180 inmates in computer coding, 

carpentry, cosmetology, 3D printing, and graphic design.1091 Participants are required to meet 

measurable goals and earn nationally recognized certifications in their trade upon successful 

completion of their courses.1092 Over 70 percent of prisoners who complete training at the 

vocational village obtain and retain employment.1093 According to former Michigan Governor Rick 

Snyder, this program “will help us prepare more of our returning citizens for high-demand careers 

and a better life in the community, while reducing the risk of returning to prison.”1094 Some other 

states also recently introduced programs for women in prison to staff telephones for the 

Department of Motor Vehicles or hotel reservations during the last 6 months of their sentence.1095

Recent surveys fielded by the National Resource Center for Justice Involved Women found that 

half of women exiting prison felt that their prison programs did not prepare them for success.1096

Only 37 percent of the over 4,000 women surveyed felt that staff provided them with information 

about resources and services in the community.1097

 

1088 Ibid.

1089 See supra notes 1035-49 (discussing the RDAP program, which is less accessible to women); see also Dignam

Statement, at 13.

1090 Ney Statement, at 2.

1091 Michigan State Government, “Michigan Department of Corrections Breaks Ground on First Vocational Village

Site for Women,” Press Release, https://www.michigan.gov/som/0,4669,7-192-47796-483426--,00.html (accessed

Oct. 19, 2019); see also Ney Statement, at 2.

1092 Michigan State Government, Michigan Department of Corrections Breaks Ground on First Vocational Village

Site for Women, Press Release.

1093 Ibid.

1094 Ibid.

1095 Ney Statement, at 2-3.

1096 Ibid., at 5.

1097 Ibid.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 173

Recidivism Rates, and Women’s Plight to Reintegrate Back Into Society

The goal of many of the aforementioned programs and services is to reduce recidivism. However, 

according to Bureau of Justice Statistics data, from 2005 to 2014, the vast majority of men (84 

percent) and women (77 percent) in prison were re-arrested.1098 After the first year following their 

release, men and women are re-arrested at analogous rates of recidivism.1099 The figure below 

summarizes the recidivism rates for 30 states from 2005 to 2014, by gender. 

Figure 14: Recidivism Rates of Prisoners Related from Prison in 30 States, 2005-20141100

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics

Since 2005, among all released prisoners, the average number of arrests in the 5-year period was 

2.9 for men in prison and 2.5 for women in prison.1101 About 50 percent of released women and 

about 41 percent of released men were arrested no more than once in the 5-year period, while 64 

 

1098 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018 Update On Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year

Follow-Up Period (2005-2014), by Matthew Durose, Alexia Cooper, and Howard Snyder (2018), p. 6,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/18upr9yfup0514.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, 2018 Update On Prisoner Recidivism).

1099 Ibid.

1100 Ibid.

1101 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005:

Patterns from 2005 to 2010, by Matthew Durose, Alexia Cooper, and Howard Snyder, 2014, p. 11, Table 13,

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4986.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Percent of Released Prisoners

Years of First Arrest

Male Female
174 WOMEN IN PRISON

percent of women and 57 percent of men had 2 or fewer arrests over the same period.1102 The 

recidivism rates (as measured by arrests) for males were higher than those for females, regardless 

of the incarceration offense or the recidivism period.1103 At the end of the 5-year follow-up period, 

the post-release arrest rate for both males and females was highest among those incarcerated for a 

property offense.1104

Recidivism rates by gender and offense type are summarized in a table below.

Table 10: Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005, by Sex and Offense Type1105

Sex of Releasee and Most 

Serious Commitment 

Offense

Cumulative Percent of Released Prisoners Arrested Within

6 

months 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years

All Released 

Prisoners 28.2% 43.4% 59.5% 67.8% 73.0% 76.6%

Male 28.9% 44.5% 60.7% 69% 74.1% 77.6%

Violent 25.2 38.9 54.4 62.3 67.9 72

Property 35.1 52.3 68.6 76.4 80.9 83.6

Drug 27.6 43.6 60.7 69.4 74.8 78.4

Public Order 26.1 40.8 56.3 65.4 70.5 74.2

Female 22.1% 34.4% 49.8% 58.5% 63.9% 68.1%

Violent 19.8 30.6 44.2 51.9 56.9 60.8

Property 23.8 37.6 54.3 62.6 68 72.1

Drug 21.9 33.3 48.1 57.6 62.9 67.3

Public Order 19.2 31 47.6 56.1 62.2 66.5

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

According to some experts, a significant percentage of the re-arrests are related to technical 

violations of their release rather than commissions of new crimes.1106 For instance, Becki Ney, 

Principal of the Center for Effective Public Policy and Director of the National Resource Center 

on Justice Involved Women stated that:

 

1102 DOJ, 2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism, p. 11.

1103 Ibid.

1104 Ibid.

1105 Ibid.

1106 Ney Statement, at 6.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 175

[t]hese technical violations often stem from unmet ‘survival needs’ such as difficulties 

meeting financial obligations, lower employment skills, or the inability to secure safe 

housing.

And given that the number of women reincarcerated for technical violations of supervision 

is increasing – this suggests that we can’t just focus on women who are incarcerated—if 

we can improve supervision practices and increase resources in the community, we may 

have a better chance of improving outcomes and reducing the prison revolving door for 

women.1107

While this may be true for some women recently released from prison, data from BJS also found 

that the vast majority (over 82 percent) of all prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested 

within 9 years for an offense other than a probation or parole violation.1108

There are very few empirical studies on recidivism among women in prison. One of the few studies 

in this area was published in 2004 by Bryan Stuart and Janet Brice-Baker, which examined over 

20 explanatory variables related to women’s recidivism rates.1109 This study found 5 variables that 

correlated with women’s recidivism rates: current age of inmate, re-arrests while under some form 

of community supervision, offense type, age of inmate at first arrest, and positive attitudes toward 

release.1110

Collateral Consequences of Incarceration and Women in Prison 

As the Commission discussed in a 2019 report entitled, “Collateral Consequences: The Cross 

Roads of Punishment, Redemption, and the Effect on the Communities” a number of federal 

statutes impose collateral consequences upon conviction for federal or state offenses that can 

impact an individual’s civic engagement, housing, and employment prospects.1111 This report 

 

1107 Ney Statement, at 6, 8.

1108 DOJ, 2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism, p. 17.

1109 Bryan Stuart, and Janet Brice-Baker, “Correlates of Higher Rates of Recidivism in Female Prisoners: An

Exploratory Study,” Journal of Psychiatry & Law, vol. 32, iss. 1 (2004), p. 29-70.

1110 Ibid., (the authors also note that they found that the quality of health care in prison approached statistical

significance).

1111 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Collateral Consequences: The Cross Roads of Punishment, Redemption, and

the Effect on the Communities, 2019, pp. 22-28, https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2019/06-13-CollateralConsequences.pdf (hereinafter U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Collateral Consequences); see also U.S. Dep’t of

Justice, Federal Statutes Imposing Collateral Consequences Upon Conviction, 2000, p.80-84,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/pardon/legacy/2006/11/13/collateral_consequences.pdf.
176 WOMEN IN PRISON

focuses on the specific collateral consequences that disproportionately impact women recently 

released from prison. 

Mothers in Prison, Parental Rights, and the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 

As mentioned earlier, women in prison disproportionately shoulder the childcare responsibilities 

of their children prior to incarceration and in comparison to men in prison, have a greater number 

of children going into the foster care system (10.9 percent vs 2.2 percent).1112 As discussed in 

Chapter 2, the Adoption and Safe Families Act permits parental rights to be terminated with or 

without the parent’s permission if a child is in foster care for 15 of the last 22 months.1113 Hence, 

in addition to other reentry challenges, many mothers recently released from prison who wish to 

reunite with their children face obstacles in regaining custody of their children and reuniting with 

their families and friends. Federal law does provide exceptions to the rule that parental rights would 

be terminated if the parent is in foster care for 15 out of the last 22 months, if the child is in the 

care of a relative; if the agency has documented a compelling reason why filing a termination 

petition would not be in the best interests of the child; or if the agency has not provided the parents 

or child with necessary reunification services.1114 In recent years, New York and Washington State 

have passed laws expressly permitting state authorities to make exceptions to the general federal 

rule for children whose parents are incarcerated, if it is in the best interests of the child.

1115 Oregon 

has also passed a Bill of Rights of Children of Incarcerated Parents that includes the rights to be 

included in decisions about the parent, to speak with and see them, and “to have a lifelong 

relationship with the incarcerated parent.”1116 Nebraska, New Mexico and Oklahoma expressly 

 

1112 See 42 U.S.C. § 675(5)(E) (Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 authorizes termination of parental rights when 

a child has been in foster care for 15 of the past 22 months); see also supra notes 474-88 (discussing gender disparaties 

in termination of parental rights due to incarceration).

1113 42 U.S.C. § 675(5)(E).

1114 Id. at § 675(5)(E)(i) – (iii).

1115 N.Y. SOC. SERV. LAW § 384-b(3)(l)(i) https://citylimits.org/2010/02/25/a-fight-to-extend-parents-rights/

(exception to foster care after 15 out of 22 months is subject to three requirements: 1) the parent is currently

incarcerated, or the parent’s previous incarceration is a “significant factor” in the child's having remained in foster

care beyond the 15 month limit; 2) the agency has not documented a reason that it would otherwise be appropriate to

file for termination (e.g., that it would be in the child's best interests to do so); and 3) the parent maintains a

“meaningful role” in the child's life.); Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 13.34.180(5) (2017) (it is within state courts’

discretion to delay the termination of parental rights if the parent’s incarceration or prior incarceration is a

significant factor for the child’s continued stay in the foster care system).

1116 10 O.R.S. 423.160 (2017), https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/423.160.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 177

prohibit terminating parental rights solely for parental incarceration if termination is not in the best 

interests of the child.

1117

The Disproportionate Impact of Lifetime Drug Bans for Public Benefits 

As discussed above, the majority of women in federal custody and a quarter of women in state 

prisons are serving sentences for drug-related offenses.1118 Moreover, women recently released 

from prison often face difficulties attaining autonomy to provide for themselves and their 

families.1119

Federal law includes lifetime bans that prevent people with certain categories of drug convictions 

from receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) (financial assistance) and 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (food assistance) benefits, which often 

disproportionately impact women, children, and people of color.1120 The number of women in 

prison from 1980 to 2010 rose by 646 percent, compared to a 419 percent increase for men,1121 and 

the number of female prisoners has continued to climb since then.1122 Moreover, in 2016, the 

incarceration rate for black women was almost double that for white women,1123 and the 

incarceration rate for Latina women was 1.2 times the rate for white women in 2014.1124 The 

American Civil Liberties Union reports that women of color are arrested and imprisoned for drug 

crimes at far higher rates than white women.1125 An estimated 180,000 women were affected by 

the TANF ban from 1996-2011 due to felony drug convictions or other convictions that would 

 

1117 NEB. REV. STAT. ANN. § 43-292.02 (2) (2017); N.M. STAT. ANN. § 32A-4-29 (G) (9) (2009); OKLA. STAT. TIT.

10A, § 1-4-904(B)(12) (2017).

1118 See supra notes 68-70; see also DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 13.

1119 Hirsch, Amy E. ‘“Some Days Are Harder than Hard’: Welfare Reform and Women with Drug Convictions in

Pennsylvania,” Center for Law and Social Policy, Dec.1999, pp. 35- 41,

https://static.prisonpolicy.org/scans/some_days_are_harder_than_hard.pdf.

1120 Mauer and McCalmont, “A Lifetime of Punishment,” p. 4; Amy E. Hirsch, Written Statement for the Collateral

Consequences: The Crossroads of Punishment, Redemption, and the Effects on Communities Briefing before the

U.S Commission on Civil Rights, May 19, 2017, at 5 (hereinafter Hirsch Statement).

1121 Mauer and McCalmont, “A Lifetime of Punishment,” p. 4.

1122 DOJ, Prisoners in 2016, p. 1, 3.

1123 Ibid.,13.

1124 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2014, by E. Ann Carson, (Sept. 2015), p. 15,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf; see also “Fact Sheet: Incarcerated Women and Girls,” The Sentencing

Project, at 2.

1125 “Words From Prison: Drug Policy, Race and Women’s Incarceration,” American Civil Liberties Union,

https://www.aclu.org/other/words-prison-drug-policy-race-and-womens-incarceration (accessed Oct. 19, 2019).
178 WOMEN IN PRISON

trigger the ban.1126 Approximately 85 percent of adult TANF recipients are women, and most 

TANF recipients are people of color (27.6 percent white, 29.1 percent black, and 36.9 percent 

Latino).1127 Twice as many women (23 percent) as men (12 percent) have received SNAP benefits 

at any time in their life, and women of color are much likelier to have received SNAP benefits (for 

example, 39 percent of black women and 31 percent of Latina women versus 19 percent of white 

women).1128 In 2015, over half of SNAP’s non-elderly adult recipients were women (62 percent), 

and just under half of SNAP participants were children (44 percent).1129 By extension, the bans on 

public benefits impact children being cared for by a parent who is subject to the ban.1130 Under the 

law, parents with felony drug convictions can collect SNAP benefits only on behalf of their 

children, and thus receive far less assistance than parents who were never convicted.1131

Critics of these lifetime bans argue that they are counterproductive to safe reentry.1132 Commission

research indicatesthat welfare benefits allow a person to meet basic survival needs while searching 

for employment or housing; without public benefits, individuals with criminal records may be 

more likely to turn to criminal activity to provide for themselves and their families.1133 One study 

examined the effects of denying SNAP benefits to individuals with drug convictions and found the 

denial increased recidivism among those individuals.1134 Another study reported an elevated risk 

 

1126 Mauer and McCalmont, “A Lifetime of Punishment,” p. 3.

1127 U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Services, Office of Family Assistance, Characteristics and Financial

Circumstances of TANF Recipients: Fiscal Year 2016, at Table 17, 18

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ofa/fy16_characteristics.pdf (showing TANF recipients by race and

ethnicity and showing that among 2016 adults TANF recipients, 94,967 were men and 542,506 were women) and

Table 10 (showing TANF recipients by race and ethnicity).

1128 Rich Morin, “The Politics and Demographics of Food Stamp Recipients,” The Pew Research Center, July 12,

2013, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/12/the-politics-and-demographics-of-food-stamp-recipients/;

see also Hirsch Statement, at 5.

1129 U.S. Dep’t of Agriculture, Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Households: Fiscal Year 2015,

by Kelsey Farson Gray, Sarah Fisher, and Sarah Lauffer, (Nov. 2016), p. 21, https://fnsprod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/ops/Characteristics2015.pdf.

1130 Mauer and McCalmont, “A Lifetime of Punishment,” pp. 4-5.

1131 21 U.S.C. § 862a(a)--(b) (2014); see also Marina Golan-Vilella, “Why SNAP Matters for Formerly Incarcerated

People,” Friends Committee on National Legislation, June 26, 2018, https://www.fcnl.org/updates/why-snapmatters-for-formerly-incarcerated-people-1526.

1132 Jeremy Haile, “How the Felony Drug Ban Keeps Thousands of Americans Hungry,” Talk Poverty, Mar. 21,

2017, https://talkpoverty.org/2016/03/21/felony-drug-ban-keeps-thousands-hungry/.

1133 Ibid.; CLASP, Written Statement for the Collateral Consequences: The Crossroads of Punishment, Redemption,

and the Effects on Communities Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, June 13, 2017 at 3.

(hereinafter CLASP Statement).

1134 Cody Tuttle, “Snapping Back: Food Stamps Bans and Criminal Recidivism,” SSRN, 2018, p. 26 (hereinafter

Turtle, “Snapping Back: Food Stamps Bans and Criminal Recidivism”)

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2845435 .
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 179

of food insecurity and other troubling public health implications.1135 In fact, the level of food 

insecurity reported in this study among individuals upon reentry “mirror[ed] the magnitude of food 

insecurity in developing countries.”1136 In addition, the bans can prevent individuals from obtaining 

mental health or substance abuse treatment, including residential treatment programs that rely on 

funds from public assistance to cover room and board costs.1137

A 2018 University of Maryland researcher’s study examined the effects of the SNAP ban on people 

with felony drug convictions, and found that these individuals were likelier to recidivate for 

offenses based on “a monetary motive,” like theft or drug distribution, instead of violent crimes.1138

The study illustrated that the desperation driving individuals who are denied public assistance 

based on their criminal records may explain recidivism; without resources, many individuals resort 

to criminal activity as a stopgap.1139 As women in prison have less earning power than men and are 

also more likely to be primary caretakers of children,1140 these barriers to public benefits may 

impact them more.

Barriers to Financial Aid for Higher Education

Federal law prohibits a person who was convicted of certain drug offenses “during a period of 

enrollment for which” the person was receiving federal aid from obtaining federal student grants, 

loans, or work assistance for higher education.1141 The duration of ineligibility for financial aid 

varies depending on whether the person has committed a first, second, or third offense.1142 For 

 

1135 Emily A. Wang, Gefei A. Zhu, Linda Evans, Amy Carroll-Scott, Rani Desai, and Lynn E. Fiellin, “A Pilot Study

Examining Food Insecurity and HIV Risk Behaviors Among Individuals Recently Released from Prison,” AIDS

Educ. and Prevention, vol. 25, no. 2, (2013), pg. 112-23, at 115 (hereinafter Wang, et. al. “A Pilot Study Examining

Food Insecurity.”; see also Jeremy Haile, “How the Felony Drug Ban Keeps Thousands of Americans Hungry,”

Talk Poverty, Mar. 21, 2017, https://talkpoverty.org/2016/03/21/felony-drug-ban-keeps-thousands-hungry/; see also

Jeremy Haile, “Thousands of Americans Are Hungry Because of This One Law,” The Nation, Mar. 23, 2016,

https://www.thenation.com/article/thousands-of-americans-are-hungry-because-of-this-one-law/.

1136 Wang, et. al. “A Pilot Study Examining Food Insecurity,” p. 5.

1137 Mauer and McCalmont, “A Lifetime of Punishment,” p. 8.

1138 Tuttle, “Snapping Back: Food Stamps Bans and Criminal Recidivism,” p. 3, 20, 26 (the author studied “the

effect of the SNAP ban on probability of financially motivated recidivism and probability of non-financially

motivated recidivism” and found that “the effect is completely driven by recidivism for financially motivated

crimes.” Ibid. at 20. The author defined “financially motivated recidivism” as “a return to prison” for property

crimes and drug distribution offenses among formerly incarcerated people. Ibid. at 2-3).

1139 Ibid.

1140 See supra notes 74-82 (earning power disparities) and 464-73 (women more likely to be primary caretakers of

children).

1141 20 U.S.C. § 1091(r)(1).

1142 Id.
180 WOMEN IN PRISON

people with drug-related criminal convictions, the obstacles to obtaining a share of the alreadyscarce supply of financial aid for postsecondary education are significant. As a higher percent of 

women in prison are there for drug convictions, these data show they may be disparately 

impacted.1143

Moreover, the federal restrictions on financial aid for people with drug-related convictions 

disproportionately impact people of color.1144 Students of color are not only more likely to be 

arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated than white students, they are also more likely to need 

federal financial aid to attend college.1145 Combined with income inequality, legal barriers to 

financial aid can frustrate the ability of people of color to attend college—even as research has 

repeatedly proven that postsecondary education boosts employment and earnings.1146 Although

women in prison generally have more education than men, because they are more likely to have a 

high school education, these barriers to higher education may impact them more.

1147

How a Criminal Record Can Affect Housing Opportunities

Individuals with criminal convictions face barriers to housing. Federal laws prohibit individuals 

with certain types of criminal records from living in public or subsidized housing and/or living in 

certain geographical areas, and private housing providers may implement policies that restrict 

individuals with arrests or criminal convictions.1148 Many formerly incarcerated people often return 

 

1143 See supra notes 68-70.

1144 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Collateral Consequences at n. 96-130.

1145 Darren Wheelock and Christopher Uggen, “Race, Poverty and Punishment: The Impact Of Criminal Sanctions

On Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Inequality,” National Poverty Center, 2006, p. 21,

http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/workingpaper06/paper15/working_paper06-15.pdf.

1146 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Collateral Consequences at n. 96-130; see also Trends in College Pricing

2018, The College Board, 2018, p. 3, https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/2018-trends-in-collegepricing.pdf (finding that, after adjusting for inflation, in “the public two-year and private nonprofit four-year sectors,

published [college tuition] prices are more than twice as high in 2018-19 as they were in 1988-89,” and the “average

in-state tuition and fee price in the public four-year sector is about three times as high in inflation-adjusted dollars as

it was in 1988-89.”); see also U.S. Dep’t of Education, Beyond the Box: Increasing Access to Higher Education for

Justice-Involved Individuals, 2016, p.1, https://www2.ed.gov/documents/beyond-the-box/guidance.pdf.

1147 See Michele S. Phelps, “Educational Programs for Women Prisoners in 2014,” The Gender Policy Report, Univ.

Minnesota, Mar. 21, 2017, https://genderpolicyreport.umn.edu/rehabilitation-in-prison/.

1148 42 U.S.C. § 1437n(f) (permanently prohibiting from public housing people convicted of manufacturing

methamphetamine on the premises); 42 U.S.C. § 13663 (prohibiting from public housing certain individuals

registered as state sex offenders); 42 U.S.C. § 13661(a) (prohibiting from public housing a tenant evicted for “drugrelated criminal activity” for three years post-eviction unless the evicted tenant completes a rehabilitation program

or obtains a waiver); 42 U.S.C. § 13661(b) (requiring public housing agencies and owners to set standards

prohibiting from admission any household with a member determined to be “illegally using a controlled substance”);

42 U.S.C. § 13661(c) (allowing public housing agencies and owners to deny admission to an individual or any

member of the individual’s household suspected of engaging “in any drug-related or violent criminal activity or

other criminal activity” under certain circumstances). See generally Marie Claire Tran-Leung, When Discretion
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 181

to low-income communities, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that only 

35 affordable rental units exist for every 100 “extremely low-income” households.1149 Coupled 

with the collateral consequences that formerly incarcerated individuals face when trying to earn a 

living, formerly incarcerated individuals face a high risk of housing insecurity and 

homelessness.F1150 While landlords have a reasonable interest in safety,1151 barring formerly 

incarcerated persons—regardless of the basis for conviction—from tenancy does not categorically 

serve that interest. In addition, high barriers to housing have severe implications. This section 

reviews overarching civil rights issues related to housing barriers for persons with felony 

convictions, and the subsequent sections discuss particular barriers for public and private housing.

These housing challenges persist beyond the immediate reentry period because initial housing 

arrangements are often temporary, and securing permanent housing is a more difficult feat.1152

Some individuals are able to stay with family members or friends temporarily or for a lengthy 

period.1153 Some individuals may qualify for supportive housing programs (transitional or 

permanent, and depending on various eligibility requirements based on sex or any federal 

 

Means Denial: A National Perspective on Criminal Records Barriers to Federally Subsidized Housing, Sargent

Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Feb. 2015, p. 7-8 http://www.povertylaw.org/files/docs/WDMD-final.pdf;

see also Kate Walz and Marie Claire Tran-Leung, The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Written

Statement for the Collateral Consequences: The Crossroads of Punishment, Redemption, and the Effects on

Communities Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, May 19, 2017, at 7 (discussing barriers in the

private rental market) (hereinafter Walz and Tran-Leung Statement).

1149 Elayne Weiss, Housing Access for People with Criminal Records, National Low Income Housing Coalition,

2017, at 1, http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/AG-2017/2017AG_Ch06-S06_Housing-Access-Criminal-Records.pdf;

National Low Income Housing Coalition, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, 2017, p. 2,

https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Gap-Report_2017.pdf (The National Low Income Housing Coalition defines

“extremely low-income” as having an income at or below the federal poverty guideline or 30 percent of the area

median income, whichever is higher).

1150 Stephen Metraux, Caterina G. Roman, and Richard S. Cho., Incarceration and Homelessness, National

Symposium on Homelessness Research, 2007, https://www.huduser.gov/publications/pdf/p9.pdf (hereinafter

Metraux et al., Incarceration and Homelessness); see also U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Services, Homelessness

and Housing Insecurity among Former Prisoners, by Claire W. Herbert, Jeffrey D. Morenoff, David J. Harding,

Nov. 2015, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4762459/pdf/nihms-729845.pdf (hereinafter HHS,

Homelessness and Housing Insecurity among Former Prisoners).

1151 See, e.g., Kline v. 1500 Massachusetts Avenue Apt. Corp., 439 F.2d 477, 479-81 (D.D.C. 1970) (recognizing that

“[t]he landlord is no insurer of his tenants safety, but he certainly is no bystander” and imposing “upon the landlord

a duty to take those steps which are within his power to minimize the predictable risk to his tenants” when the

landlord has notice of foreseeable acts of harm by third parties “in the portion of the premises exclusively within his

control.”).

1152 Jocelyn Fontaine and Jennifer Biess, Housing as a Platform for Formerly Incarcerated Persons, Urban Institute,

Apr. 2012, p. 3, https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/25321/412552-Housing-as-a-Platform-forFormerly-Incarcerated-Persons.PDF (hereinafter Fontaine & Biess, Housing as a Platform for Formerly

Incarcerated Persons).

1153 Ibid., 3.
182 WOMEN IN PRISON

restrictions on eligibility), often serving individuals with mental health needs (and as noted before, 

over half of the incarcerated population in the U.S. reportedly has a mental health condition1154) or 

physical disabilities (also as noted previously, the incarcerated population is twice as likely to have 

a mobility disorder, three to four times likelier to be blind or have a vision impairment, and two to 

three times likelier to be deaf or hard of hearing than the general U.S. population1155), substance 

abuse disorders, chronic homelessness, or residential instability1156 Other individuals must rely on 

other subsidized housing programs (for low-income individuals) or private housing.1157

Research confirms a clear connection between incarceration and homelessness: prior incarceration 

has been identified as a risk factor for homelessness, and individuals experiencing homelessness 

are vulnerable to incarceration.1158 Many scholars argue that securing housing upon reentry is the 

most “pressing and immediate short-term need” for formerly incarcerated individuals.1159 Formerly 

incarcerated individuals are especially likely to experience homelessness within the first 30 days 

 

1154 Joint Statement of Disability Advocates (including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amplifying Voices of

Inmates with Disabilities (AVID) Prison Project of Disability Rights Washington, Center for Public Representation,

DC Jail & Prison Advocacy Project, University Legal Services, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Inc.,

Equal Rights Center, Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf communities, Judge David L. Bazelon Center

for Mental Health Law, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Association of the Deaf, National Disability

Rights Network, National Federation of the Blind, Prison Law Office, Rooted in Rights, Rosen Bien Galvan &

Grunfeld LLP, The Arc, Who Speaks for Me?) to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, D.C., May 19,

2017, at 2 (hereinafter Joint Statement, Disability Advocates); see also DOJ, Mental Health Problems of Prison and

Jail Inmates, p. 1.

1155 Joint Statement, Disability Advocates at 3-4; Ann Davis, Leigh, People with Intellectual Disability in the

Criminal Justice System: Victims & Suspects, The Arc, http://www.thearc.org/page.aspx?pid=2458 (accessed Oct.

23, 2019); see also U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Disabilities Among Prison and Jail Inmates,

2011-2012, by Jennifer Bronson and Marcus Berzofsky, (Dec. 2015), p. 3,

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dpji1112.pdf

1156 Fontaine and Biess, Housing as a Platform for Formerly Incarcerated Persons, p. 5.

1157 Ibid., 5.

1158 HHS, Homelessness and Housing Insecurity among Former Prisoners, p. 2; Metraux et al., Incarceration and

Homelessness, pp. 9-11, 9-23 to 9-24. This report suggests multiple reasons why individuals experiencing

homelessness are vulnerable to incarceration, including “the public nature of a homeless existence” and the

criminalization of their attempts to survive (manifested by bans on begging and sleeping in public). Ibid., 9-11. See

also National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, No Safe Place: The Criminalization of Homelessness in

U.S. Cities, p. 7-8, https://www.nlchp.org/documents/No_Safe_Place.

1159 HHS, Homelessness and Housing Insecurity Among Former Prisoners, p. 2; Faith E.Lutze, Jeffrey W. Rosky,

and Zachary K. Hamilton, “Homelessness and Reentry: A Multisite Outcome Evaluation of Washington State’s

Reentry Housing Program for High Risk Offenders,” Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 41, no. 4 (2014), pg. 471-

491 at 472, https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/436/2014/11/Criminal-Justice-and-Behavior-2014-Lutze-471-91.pdf

(hereinafter Lutze et al., “Homelessness and Reentry: A Multisite Outcome Evaluation of Washington State’s

Reentry Housing Program for High Risk Offenders”); see also Stephen Metraux and Dennis P. Culhane, “Homeless

Shelter Use and Reincarceration Following Prison Release,” Criminology and Public Policy, vol. 3, iss. 2 (2004),

pg. 139-160 at 139, 141, https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1118&context=spp_papers.
CHAPTER 6: REHABILITATION, EDUCATIONAL, AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING 183

after leaving prison.1160 Furthermore, more than half of homeless individuals have reported being 

incarcerated at some point in their lives,1161 and individuals who lack housing are more frequently 

arrested and rearrested than individuals with stable housing.1162 Some research has shown that 

homeless people of color are more likely to have an incarceration history than white homeless 

individuals,1163 which can be explained in part by the disproportionately high rates of incarceration 

among people of color, particularly black men.1164 Incarcerated persons with mental health 

diagnoses are also at a higher than average risk of becoming homeless upon reentry into society.1165

A 2018 study by the Prison Policy Initiative found differences among formerly incarcerated people 

by race, gender, and homelessness.

1166 Overall, formerly incarcerated women are more likely to be 

homeless than formerly incarcerated men.1167 But among homeless formerly incarcerated people, 

men are less likely to be sheltered1168 than women, whether for reasons of availability or personal 

choice.

 

1160 Stephen Metraux and Dennis P. Culhane, “Recent Incarceration History among a Sheltered Homeless

Population,” Crime and Delinquency, vol. 52, iss. 3, (2006), p. 10,

https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1063&context=spp_papers.

1161 “Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve: Findings of the National Survey of Homeless Assistance

Providers and Clients,” Urban Institute, Dec. 1999, p. 50,

https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/66286/310291-Homelessness-Programs-and-the-People-TheyServe-Findings-of-the-National-Survey-of-Homeless-Assistance-Providers-and-Clients.PDF.

1162 HCH Clinicians’ Network, “Keeping Homeless People Out of the Justice System: The HCH Role,” Healing

HandsI, vol. 8, no. 6 (2004), p. 1-2, https://nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Dec2004HealingHands.pdf.

1163 Marian Moser Jones, “Does Race Matter in Addressing Homelessness? A Review of the Literature,” World Med

Health PolicyI, vol. 8, no. 2 (2016), pg. 139-56,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5863922/pdf/nihms924492.pdf.

1164 See U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Collateral Consequences at supra notes 96-130.

1165 Patricia McKernan, “Homelessness and Prisoner Reentry: Examining Barriers to Housing Stability and

Evidence-Based Strategies That Promote Improved Outcomes,” Journal of Community Corrections, 2017, p. 7,

https://www.voa.org/pdf_files/homelessness-and-prisoner-reentry-examining-barriers-to-housing-stability-andevidence-based-strategies-that-promote-improved-outcomes.

1166 Lucius Couloute, “Nowhere to Go: Homelessness Among Formerly Incarcernated People,” Prison Policy

Initiative, (Aug. 2018), https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/housing.html.

1167 Ibid.

1168 Ibid. This study defines sheltered homelessness as persons who are living a homeless shelter and unsheltered

homelessness as persons who are experiencing homelessness without a fixed residence.
184 WOMEN IN PRISON

Figure 15: Homelessness Rate Among Formerly Incarcerated People (per 10,000)1169

Source: Prison Policy Initiative

This study also found that black women experienced the highest rate of sheltered homelessness -

nearly four times the rate of white men, and twice as high as the rate of Black men. The high rates 

of homelessness among black women are especially striking in light of another Prison Policy 

Initiative study that found that unemployment rates among formerly incarcerated black women 

were higher than any other demographic group.1170 These data demonstrate unemployment rate 

formerly incarcerated among black women is 43.6 percent as compared to their black male 

counterparts at 35.2 percent.1171 Also, the unemployment rate formerly incarcerated among white 

woman was 23.2 percent, as compared to their white male counterparts at 18.4 percent.1172

 

1169 Ibid. (This graph compares the rate of homelessness of formerly incarcernated people to the general public in

2008, which is the most recent data available.)

1170 Luicus Couloute and Daniel Kopf, “Out of Prison & Out of Work: Unemployment Among Formerly

Incarcernated People,” Prison Policy Initiative, (July 2018), https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/outofwork.html.

1171 Ibid.

1172 Ibid.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 185

CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING THE DEPARTMENT OF 

JUSTICE’S AND BUREAU OF PRISONS’

ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS IN PROTECTING THE 

RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN PRISON 

This chapter reviews the efforts of the federal government in protecting the rights of women in 

prison. Although states have significant police powers and run their own state and local prisons, 

the federal government not only runs federal prisons, but it is also the ultimate guarantor of 

constitutional rights of women institutionalized in the United States. Moreover, the federal 

government conditions grant monies and programs on compliance with basic civil rights laws such 

as Title VI,1173 and may condition it on compliance with other regulations. The activities of the 

federal government to protect women in prison include enforcing the constitutional rights 

discussed in Chapter 1, enforcing the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, the Prison Rape 

Elimination Act (PREA) and other relevant federal statutes and regulations, and enforcing PREA 

regulations, as discussed in further detail below. The Commission notes that much of DOJ’s 

enforcement activities and litigation have focused on the problem of sexual abuse.1174 This focus

may be because the law regarding the duty to protect prisoners from sexual assault, while still 

imperfect, is better developed than the law regarding other issues that also impact women in 

prison.1175 For example, PREA regulations have been interpreted to be non-binding, but they also 

require regular audits and collection of data by the federal government that is not paralleled in 

other areas of women’s rights in prisons.1176

This chapter first evaluates the work of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the work of the Department 

of Justice in enforcing the PREA, and the Department’s litigation efforts to enforce the rights of 

women in prison.

 

1173 Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 252 (codified as 42 U.S.C. § 2000(d) et seq., prohibiting

discrimination based on race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial

assistance).

1174 See infra notes 1394-1404.

1175 See supra notes 193-257 (subjective standards to prove constitutional and Title IX violations) and 333-62

(barriers to enforcement such as immunities and requirements of Prison Litigation Reform Act).

1176 See supra notes 270-322 (PREA regulations) and infra notes 1331-51 (regarding PREA audits); Cf. DOJ Bureau

of Justice Assistance Grant Programs, 28 CFR § 33.52 (nondiscrimination under Title VI, Title IX, Section 504 of

the Rehabilitation Act, and the Age Discrimination Act); see also Department of Justice Nondiscrimination in

Federally Assisted Programs, 28 C.F.R. § 42.101 the related nondiscrimination compliance provisions include

compliance reviews and complaint-based investigations but do not specifically include an audit.
186 WOMEN IN PRISON

Federal Bureau of Prisons

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) operates under a set of constitutional and statutory duties, 

and it issues regulations and funds activities relevant to women in prison. The main statutory duties 

of the BOP are to manage and regulate all federal correctional institutions (except military 

institutions), and with regard to prisoners, federal law requires that BOP shall:

Provide suitable quarters and provide for the safekeeping, care, and subsistence of all 

persons charged with or convicted of offenses against the United States, or held as 

witnesses or otherwise;

Provide for the protection, instruction, and discipline of all persons charged with or 

convicted of offenses against the United States;

Provide technical assistance to State, tribal, and local governments in the improvement of 

their correctional systems;

Establish prerelease planning procedures that help prisoners apply for benefits, obtain 

identification, and “secure such identification and benefits prior to release from a sentence 

to a term of imprisonment[.]”1177

Additionally, BOP is charged with providing reentry planning procedures that include information 

about health, employment, literacy and education, personal finance, community resources, 

personal growth and development, and release requirements and procedures.1178

The BOP is also required to follow the constitutional mandates discussed in Chapter 1 of this 

report, regarding the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, to protect prisoners from cruel and 

unusual punishment or abuse, and to provide basic due process in disciplinary proceedings and 

equal access to rehabilitation programs, all while taking into account the need to maintain security 

and safety.1179 Thus far, none of DOJ Civil Rights Division’s cases brought against prisons for 

violations of women’s constitutional rights have been brought against federal prisons.1180

As discussed in Chapter 2, BOP’s policy guidance regarding classification includes some 

provisions that take into account different security risk scoring systems needed for women, but the 

 

1177 Bureau of Prisons Act, Pub. L. 90-371, 82 Stat. 280 (codified as 18 U.S.C. § 4042 (a)(2) (4), and (6).

1178 18 U.S.C. § 4042 (a)(7).

1179 See supra notes 193-257.

1180 See infra notes 1289-1381.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 187

policy lacks clear consideration of data showing that women prisoners are more often primary 

caretakers of children, or other data showing the higher levels of trauma that women have faced.1181

At the Commission’s briefing, Alix McLearen, BOP’s National Administrator of Women and 

Special Population Branch, testified that “the Bureau has a number of gender-responsive practices 

that should be considered for replication.”1182 She went on to clarify her basis for this view, as 

follows:

We’re all human and, therefore, we share commonalities but women are different. And 

while the differences apply outside of prison, they may be magnified in correctional 

settings where facilities are divided by gender. Contrasting male versus female is not to put 

women in a box. There’s incredible variation between individuals and women aren’t all 

alike, but again, men and women are different. Decades of study have helped us hone in 

not just on what those differences are but why they’re important. 

Women have higher rates of victimization and co-occurring psychiatric disorders but lesser 

criminal histories. These differences matter because to provide the best rehabilitative 

services to women in prison, we have to understand how they got there.1183

McLearen states that BOP’s programs include “a holistic approach that includes training, 

management and programmatic practices specific to women’s needs,” and that her “headquartersbased office that oversees women’s issues and provides guidance to staff” is “an excellent 

model.”1184 Having a high-level office overseeing civil rights is a model in line with former 

Commission recommendations.1185 The components of gender-specific approaches McLearen 

described include training specific to women’s needs, programs for inmates including “an evergrowing menu of interventions that were made just for women,” and maintaining mother-child 

bonds “nurtured via regular contact, in-person visits but also phone and video, parenting 

programs,” and programs that allow women to live with their babies.1186 She added: “We cannot 

address only the mothers who fit what our conception of what a mother should be. We have to 

address them all;” but clarified “I always have beds available in my programs for pregnant women 

 

1181 See supra notes 426-430.

1182 McLearen Testimony, p. 18-19.

1183 McLearen Testimony, p. 19-20.

1184 Ibid., 21.

1185 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Ten-year Check-up: Have Federal Agencies Responded to Civil Rights

Recommendations? Volume I: A Blueprint for Civil Rights Enforcement,” (2002), p. 19, 47,

https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/archives/10yr02/vol1/vol1.pdf.

1186 McLearen Testimony, p. 21-22.
188 WOMEN IN PRISON

so at least in the federal system, access or capacity is not a problem.”1187 Other “indicators of 

progress” she discussed are restrictions on the use of restraints on pregnant women and enhanced 

access to free feminine hygiene products.1188These developments are promising, yet there are also 

reports of ongoing issues of sexual assault of women in federal prisons,1189 as well as lack of full 

access to the programming needed by women in prison. For example, BOP has issued policy 

guidance regarding the treatment of women prisoners who are pregnant,1190 which is implemented 

through the MINT program discussed in Chapter 6, providing for two months of prenatal care and 

allowing women to live with their newborn babies for several months.1191 Yet the program is only 

available in Phoenix, AZ; Tallahassee, FL; Springfield, IL; Fort Worth, TX; and Greenbrier, WV, 

so women would have to agree to be transferred in order to receive these services.

1192 Also, as 

discussed below, there are waiting lists for other programs.1193

This is in part because of the lower number of women’s prisons. While BOP’s Female Offender 

Manual requires taking into account gender-specific factors because there are fewer women’s 

prisons, the ability to actually place women where they could be closer to their children or receive 

trauma-informed care is limited.1194

According to a 2018 DOJ Office of Inspector General (OIG) report, Review of the Federal Bureau 

of Prisons’ Management of Its Female Inmate Population, while BOP offers trauma-informed 

treatment to eligible female inmates, because of its limited staff resources allocated to these 

programs, many participants are not able to get them until late in their incarceration, or not all.1195

For instance, BOP’s “Trauma in Life” seminar has a waitlist that is over 6 months long.

1196

Moreover, the report notes that “[t]he lack of sufficient staff is most noticeable at larger female 

institutions, where inmates face delays in completing each of the program’s two prerequisites, as 

well as the program’s treatment phases.”1197 Similarly, from FY2012 to FY 2016, only 37 percent 

 

1187 Ibid., 22-23.

1188 Ibid., 23-24.

1189 See supra notes 664-85.

1190 See supra notes 1024-28.

1191 See supra note 1028-29.

1192 See supra note 1030.

1193 See infra notes 1198-1199 (discussing U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Review of the Federal

Bureau of Prison’s Management of Its Female Inmate Population).

1194 See supra notes 435-57.

1195 DOJ, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prison’s Management of Its Female Inmate Population, p. 23-4.

1196 Ibid., 25.

1197 Ibid., i.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 189

of sentenced pregnant inmates participated in BOP’s pregnancy programs, but OIG’s investigation 

revealed that these programs had additional participant slots to accommodate more pregnant 

inmates during this period.1198 OIG asserts that participation was low in pregnancy programs 

because inmates and staff lack awareness of these programs and BOP staff in participating facilities 

may apply more restrictive eligibility criteria than intended by BOP executive staff.1199 Lastly, the 

OIG report found that the manner in which BOP’s female facilities distributed feminine hygiene 

products and the type of products distributed varied by institution and did not always result in 

inmates having adequate access.1200

Another role of BOP is to provide supervision and assistance to state and local prisons. The 

Commission received written testimony on this matter from Dr. Emily Salisbury, who described 

the waning influence of the federal government in the field as follows:

[F]ederal support to address policy and practice in women’s facilities from the early 

[19]90s until the last few years has made a substantial difference in guiding correctional 

practice. Federal support has allowed for technical assistance and programming that has 

included curriculum development, hosting of a national summit on the urgency of working 

with justice-involved women, focus on gender-specific classification, a gender-responsive 

case management model, research and strategy development in addressing sexual safety, 

and the development of leadership structures for effective management practices specific 

to well-run women’s facilities. This federal assistance has been instrumental in improving 

practice in the field, particularly with the development of the [National Institute of 

Corrections] NIC Gender Responsive Principles publication and related technical 

assistance. More recently, the [National Resource Center of Justice Involved Women] 

NRCJIW received several years of funding from the Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of 

Justice Assistance, and products and outcomes from that work continue to contribute to the 

body of research-based work. The [National Resource Center of Justice Involved Women] 

NRCJW and [National Institute of Corrections] NIC have enjoyed a strong collaboration. 

Distribution and implementation capability through federal assistance is currently quite 

limited.

1201

 

1198 Ibid., 26.

1199 Ibid., 7.

1200 Ibid., 29.

1201 Emily Salisbury, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Follow-up

Statement for the Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil

Rights, Feb. 22, 2019, at 1 (hereinafter Salisbury Follow-up Statement).
190 WOMEN IN PRISON

Dr. Salisbury added that, because of federal budget cuts, “[t]he [Women’s Risk Needs Assessment]

WRNA is now housed by me at my university and agencies must sign a license 

agreement/conditions of use document before adoption... The tool is a non-proprietary instrument, 

but there is some up-front associated costs with its training and implementation. Bottom line, this 

instrument was designed to be publicly accessible to agencies who wish to use it, but its promotion 

is severely hindered by [National Institute of Corrections] NIC continuing to be defunded.”1202

Anadora Moss, who has worked for over three decades as a correctional practitioner and consultant 

for women’s prisons, also testified that: 

Federal assistance contributed to the development of research tools and many training 

opportunities for correctional staff that supports a gendered approach... the current federal 

assistance and focus on women has become very limited, resulting in stalled efforts and 

creating safety and dignity for the women and the staff who serve them. Because of these 

limited resources, we are losing momentum and the implementation of sorely needed 

strategies that support justice-involved women and their successes. It is impossible to 

exaggerate the importance of federal assistance.

1203

Further, Moss emphasized that years of work of the National Institute of Corrections on developing 

strategies to address staff sexual misconduct had an important impact, and “[t]his was because of 

the PREA.”1204 However, more work is needed in other areas, including the development and 

implementation of gender-responsive principles.1205

Professor Emily Salisbury emphasized the loss of funding for Women’s Risk Needs Assessment 

implementation, which she states is driven by technical assistance and training by National 

Institute of Corrections staff. She added that: 

I fear [Women’s Risk Needs Assessment] WRNA will be adversely affected by the funding 

cuts occurring every year at [National Institute of Corrections] NIC. [National Institute of 

Corrections] NIC continues to be attacked by the Bureau of Prisons for what appears to be 

very disingenuous reasons. Their funding was cut by two-thirds last year as I understand 

it, and the President’s FY2020 budget request removes [National Institute of Corrections]

NIC from the Bureau of Prisons altogether, consolidating it to the Office of Justice 

 

1202 Ibid.

1203 Moss Testimony, p. 118-19 (emphasis added).

1204 Ibid., 119.

1205 Ibid.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 191

Programs. This organizational shift represents yet another weakening of [National Institute 

of Corrections] NIC.1206

In addition to the duties described above, under federal civil rights law, BOP is also responsible 

for ensuring that facilities it funds comply with basic civil rights protections.1207 BOP stated that 

it currently does not contract private entities to run any federal women’s prisons.1208 But because 

BOP is part of the Department of Justice, the state and local institutions that BOP funds are subject 

to DOJ’s review of their recipients of federal funding and in particular, as discussed below, DOJ 

reviews compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act. 

Department of Justice Enforcement of PREA

DOJ has a number of specific duties under the PREA. The PREA operates mainly through 

requiring compliance with the 2012 National Standards, enforced through DOJ auditing and 

certification rules to ensure compliance.1209 As a condition precedent, the 2003 PREA required the 

creation of a nine-member National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, with bipartisan 

members appointed by Congress and the President.1210 The PREA Commission was charged with 

further research, including annual statistical research by the BOP to identify the “characteristics 

of” both victims and perpetrators of prison rape, an assessment of the relationship of facilities 

design, staff training, supervision, discipline and reporting systems, and programs are needed to 

reduce its prevalence.1211 Findings and recommended national standards were to be issued within 

five years of the date of the initial meeting of the Commission,1212 and the Attorney General was 

to issue a final rule one year after that.1213

After the PREA Commission issued its findings and national standards were issued in 2009,1214 in 

January 2012, Congress found that “[t]he total number of inmates who have been sexually 

 

1206 Ibid.

1207 28 CFR § 33.52 (nondiscrimination under Title VI, Title IX, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Age

Discrimination Act); see also 28 C.F.R. 42.101 (the related nondiscrimination compliance provisions include

compliance reviews and complaint-based investigations but do not specifically include an audit.)

1208 BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 7.

1209 See infra notes 1232-50.

1210 Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, Pub. L. 108-179, 117 Stat. 980 (codified as 34 U.S.C. § 30301-30309).

1211 34 U.S.C. § 30306(b)(2).

1212 34 U.S.C. § 30306(d)(3).

1213 34 U.S.C. § 30307(a)(1).

1214 See NPREC 2009 Report, https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/226680.pdf.
192 WOMEN IN PRISON

assaulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000.”1215 The PREA Commission and Congress 

also found that prisoners who are young, first-time offenders as well as inmates with mental illness 

are at increased risk of sexual assault,1216 and that “[t]he frequently interracial character of prison 

sexual assaults significantly exacerbates interracial tensions[.]”1217 There was not a specific 

finding on women in prison, but Congress’ 2012 PREA Findings also acknowledged that there 

was insufficient research.1218 Among other statutory language about the negative impacts of sexual 

assault in prison, Congress found that: 

The high incidence of sexual assault within prisons involves actual and potential violations 

of the United States Constitution. In Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) , the 

Supreme Court ruled that deliberate indifference to the substantial risk of sexual assault 

violates prisoners' rights under the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth 

Amendment. The Eighth Amendment rights of State and local prisoners are protected 

through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pursuant to the power of 

Congress under Section Five of the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress may take action to 

enforce those rights in States where officials have demonstrated such indifference. States 

that do not take basic steps to abate prison rape by adopting standards that do not generate 

significant additional expenditures demonstrate such indifference. Therefore, such States 

are not entitled to the same level of Federal benefits as other States.1219

Based on these findings and constitutional obligations, Congress then mandated a number of duties 

for federal funding recipients as well as the Department of Justice.

1220 In addition, upon adoption, 

the federal regulations became immediately applicable to the Federal of Bureau of Prisons.

1221

As discussed in Chapter 3, Prison Rape Elimination regulations limit cross-gender body searches 

and other activities that were found to be related to higher risks of sexual assault.1222 PREA

regulations also require: prevention planning including facilities upgrades; making reporting 

accessible to inmates; including sexual assault prevention in hiring and promotion decisions;1223

 

1215 34 U.S.C. § 30301(2).

1216 34 U.S.C. § 30301(3)-(4)

1217 34 U.S.C. § 30301(9).

1218 Id.

1219 34 U.S.C. § 30301(13).

1220 34 U.S.C. § 30307I.

1221 34 U.S.C. § 30307(b). Soon thereafter, PREA standards also became applicable to the Department of Health and

Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security. 34 U.S.C. § 30307(c)-(d).

1222 See supra notes 896-903 (including text of the applicable PREA regulations).

1223 Department of Justice Prison Rape Elimination Act National Standards, 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.211-18.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 193

responsive planning, including referral of all allegations for investigations;1224 training and 

education; screening for risk of sexual assault and victimization;1225 appropriate official responses 

following reports of sexual assault;1226 investigations and appropriate discipline of violators;1227

medical and mental care, including ongoing care for sexual abuse victims and abusers.1228

Monitoring and Audits

PREA regulations also include extensive data collection requirements for recipients of federal 

funding. These include requirements that prisons collect data including sexual assault incident 

reviews,1229 implement policies and procedures to investigate sexual assault of inmates,1230 provide 

staff and inmate training and education,1231 and submit to audits and corrective action.1232 Under 

the audit provisions, “the agency shall ensure that each facility operated by the agency, or by a 

private organization on behalf of the agency, is audited at least once [every three years].”1233

Moreover:

The Department of Justice may send a recommendation to an agency for an expedited audit 

if the Department has reason to believe that a particular facility may be experiencing 

problems relating to sexual abuse. The recommendation may also include referrals to 

resources that may assist the agency with [Prison Rape Elimination Act] PREA-related 

issues.1234

Second, DOJ is charged with developing an audit instrument, which it has, and “[t]he agency shall 

bear the burden of demonstrating compliance with the standards.”1235 The auditor must review all 

agency-wide policies, procedures, reports and other audits; have access to the facilities; “interview 

a representative sample of inmates, residents, and detainees, and of staff, supervisors, and 

 

1224 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.221-22.

1225 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.241-54.

1226 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.261-67.

1227 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.271-78.

1228 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.281-283.

1229 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.286-89.

1230 28 C.F.R. § 115.22.

1231 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.31-35.

1232 28 C.F.R. §§ 115.401-405.

1233 28 C.F.R. § 115.401(a).

1234 28 C.F.R. § 115.401(c).

1235 28 C.F.R. § 115.401(e).
194 WOMEN IN PRISON

administrators;” and inmates may speak confidentially to the auditor, who may also speak to 

community-based or victim advocates about sexual assault at the facility.1236 The facility will be 

measured against PREA Standards, and if one or more such standards are not met, a 180-day 

corrective action period is triggered, during which time the auditor shall take “necessary and 

appropriate steps to verify implementation of the corrective action plan.”1237 After that, the auditor 

must issue a final determination, although the agency may request (at its discretion and cost) an 

additional audit after it believes it has achieved compliance.1238

Facilities subject to PREA standards must submit to an audit by a certified PREA auditor at least 

once every three years.1239 However, Ms. Abbate told the Commission that PREA audits remain 

inadequate because they do not provide a comprehensive picture of the degree to which PREA 

standards have been implemented, and of their efficacy when fully implemented.1240 DOJ is 

responsible for overseeing implementation of the PREA standards and the auditing process, 

however DOJ does not have sufficient financial resources to ensure that PREA auditors are 

properly trained and certified.1241 Currently, DOJ’s PREA Management Office only has four staff 

members to oversee 533 DOJ-certified PREA auditors, and to monitor PREA implementation in 

over 6,000 custodial facilities in the United States.1242

Governors have responsibilities as well. The PREA statute requires that:

For each fiscal year, any amount that a State would otherwise receive for prison purposes 

for that fiscal year under a grant program covered by this subsection shall be reduced by 5 

percent, unless the chief executive of the State submits to the Attorney General—

(i) a certification that the State has adopted, and is in full compliance with, the national 

standards described in subsection (a) of this section [the PREA National Standards]; or

(ii) an assurance that not less than 5 percent of such amount shall be used only for the 

purpose of enabling the State to adopt, and achieve full compliance with, those national 

 

1236 28 C.F.R. § 115.401(f)-(o).

1237 28 C.F.R. § 115.404(a)-(c).

1238 28 C.F.R. § 115.404(d)-(e).

1239 28 C.F.R. § 115.401

1240 Julie Abbate, National Advocacy Director, Just Detention International, Follow-up Statement for the Women in

Prison Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Apr. 22, 2019, at 1.

1241 Ibid., 2.

1242 Ibid., 2.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 195

standards, so as to ensure that a certification under subparagraph (A) may be submitted in 

future years.1243

The Governor must consider the most recent agency audits as part of the determination of whether 

to certify for PREA standards compliance.1244 The Governor’s certification must be broad, as the 

regulation requires that it “shall apply to all facilities in the State under the operational control of 

the State’s executive branch, including facilities operated by private entities on behalf of the State’s 

executive branch.”1245 And under the PREA statute, by September 30 of each year, the Attorney 

General must publish a list of grantees that are not in compliance with the PREA National 

Standards (which were codified in the PREA regulations).1246 The Federal Bureau of Prisons,

Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Health and Human Services, which also 

detain persons or provide funding for entities doing so, are subject to similar auditing and reporting 

rules under the PREA.1247

Finally, in order to receive federal funds, “an organization responsible for the accreditation of 

Federal, State, local, or private prisons, jails, or other penal facilities”1248 must adopt accreditation 

standards consistent with the national standards.1249

But when enacting the PREA national standards as federal regulations, DOJ stated that it did not 

have “statutory authority to promulgate standards that would bind State, local, and private 

agencies, [but] other consequences may flow from the issuance of national standards, which could 

provide incentives for voluntary compliance.”1250 DOJ also stated that it hoped that agencies would 

want to come into compliance:

The Department cannot assume that all agencies will choose to adopt and implement these 

standards. An agency assessing whether to do so may choose not to based upon an 

assessment that, with regard to that specific agency, the costs outweigh the benefits. Such 

a course of action would be regrettable. The Department certainly hopes that it will not be 

common, and that agencies will instead consider the benefits of prison rape prevention not 

 

1243 34 U.S.C. § 30307(e)(2)(A).

1244 28 C.F.R. § 115.501(a).

1245 28 C.F.R. § 115.501(b).

1246 34 U.S.C. § 30307(e)(3).

1247 34 U.S.C. § 30307(b)-(d).

1248 34 U.S.C. § 30308(a).

1249 34 U.S.C. § 30308(b).

1250 28 C.F.R. § 115.501.
196 WOMEN IN PRISON

only to the agencies themselves but also to the inmates in their charge and to the 

communities to which the agencies are accountable.1251

At the Commission’s briefing, Julie Abbate, who was formerly part of the Attorney 

General’s PREA Working Group and contributed to drafting PREA regulations, testified 

that the lack of an enforcement mechanism was problematic.

1252 Other advocates have 

documented that it is problematic that a state’s governor is the official responsible for 

certification of the state’s prisons, and there is little oversight of the certification process.1253

In 2013, the year after the PREA regulations were implemented, federal funding accounted 

for just 2.9 percent of state prison budgets.1254 In 2014, then-Governor of Texas Rick Perry 

criticized the PREA regulations, calling them ill-conceived, and said that Texas would not 

adopt the national standards.1255

As of 2016, 40 states and the District of Columbia had not yet fully complied with PREA standards, 

resulting in over $10 million in reallocations of federal funds towards PREA compliance programs 

in 42 of the 56 jurisdictions subject to PREA.

1256 Four jurisdictions, Arkansas, Guam, the Northern 

Mariana Islands, and Utah, did not certify that they were in compliance with PREA, nor did they 

assure DOJ that they were working towards PREA compliance, incurring a loss of five percent of 

their federal corrections funding, equivalent to a reduction of $402,661 combined across the four 

jurisdictions.1257 Thirty-eight of the 40 jurisdictions filed assurances with DOJ that they were 

working to come into full PREA compliance, which allows them to redirect the five percent of 

federal funds that otherwise would have been withheld into PREA compliance efforts.1258 In 

contrast, under Eighth Amendment caselaw, not having sufficient funding is not a legal defense to 

deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of sexual assault.1259

 

1251 Id. (emphasis added).

1252 Abbate Testimony, p.110.

1253 Palacios, “The Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Limits of Liberal Reform.”

1254 Gabriel Arkles, Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Perpetuation of Sexual Harm, 17 NYU J. OF LEG. AND

PUB. POL’Y 801, 806 (2014).

1255 Sullivan, Laura, “Enforcing Prison Rape Elimination Standards Proves Tricky,” National Public Radio, Apr. 2,

2014, https://www.npr.org/2014/04/02/298332579/enforcing-prison-rape-elimination-standards-proves-tricky.

1256 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Impact of PREA on Department of Justice Grants, 2016

https://www.bja.gov/Programs/FY2016-PREA-Grant-Impact.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Impact of PREA).

1257Ibid.; see also Derek Gilna, “Five Years after Implementation, PREA Standards Remain Inadequate,” Prison

Legal News, Nov. 8, 2017, https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/nov/8/five-years-after-implementation-preastandards-remain-inadequate/.

1258 34 U.S.C. § 30307(e)(2).

1259 See supra notes 699-717.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 197

Bureau of Justice Statistics Surveys and Reporting Responsibilities

PREA also requires that DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics carry out an annual “comprehensive 

statistical review and analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape.”1260 The research in the 

chapters above illustrates the value of this information. To satisfy this provision, Bureau of Justice 

Statistics has utilized three data collection devices relating to the sexual victimization of inmates: 

(1) the National Inmate Survey, (2) the National Survey of Youth in Custody, and (3) the Survey 

of Sexual Victimization.1261 Bureau of Justice Statistics also releases a report every year to discuss 

its annual distribution of these surveys. These reports include brief discussions of survey findings, 

describe preparatory actions, and examine sampling objectives.1262 However, not every institution 

submits complete reports, and more in-depth surveys would be valuable.

Bureau of Justice Statistics released its most recent report in 2018 focused on the Survey of Sexual 

Victimization’s findings from 2012-2015.1263 Bureau of Justice Statistics distributed the Survey of 

Sexual Victimization to all federal and state prisons, all correctional institutions operated by the 

U.S. military and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a representative sample of 

privately operated prisons and jails, jails housing adult inmates in Indian country, and jail 

jurisdictions.1264 The most significant conclusions of the 2018 report are below: 

• Correctional administrators reported 24,661 allegations of sexual victimization in 2015, 

nearly triple the number recorded in 2011 (8,768).

• Most of the increase in allegations was due to an increase in unfounded (determined not to 

have occurred) and unsubstantiated (insufficient evidence to determine if it occurred) 

allegations.

• The increase in allegations of sexual victimization from 2011 to 2015 coincided with the 

release in 2012 of the National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape.

• In 2015, an estimated 1,473 allegations were substantiated (Determined to have occurred), 

up 63% from the 902 substantiated in 2011.

 

1260 34 U.S.C. § 30303(a).

1261 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, PREA Data Collection Activities, 2018 https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pdca18.pdf

(hereinafter DOJ, PREA Data Collection Activities, 2018).

1262 Ibid., 1-3.

1263 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional

Authorities, 2012-15, by Ramona R. Rantala, July 2018, p. 1, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/svraca1215.pdf.

1264 Ibid.,3.
198 WOMEN IN PRISON

• Fifty-eight percent of substantiated incidents of sexual victimization in 2015 were 

perpetrated by inmates, while 42% were perpetrated by staff members.

• The number of allegations in prisons increased from 6,660 in 2011 to 18,666 in 2015 (up 

180%).

• During the 3-year aggregated period of 2013-15, there were an estimated 15,875 

allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual harassment, of which 2,426 (16%) were 

substantiated based on completed investigations.1265

Review Panel on Prison Rape

PREA also requires that DOJ establish a Review Panel on Prison Rape (Panel) to carry out annual 

public hearings, with subpoena power, to hear testimony of federal, state and local officials as well 

as victims and organizations “concerning the operation of the three prisons with the highest 

incidence of prison rape and the two prisons with the lowest incidents of prison rape.”1266 The 

Panel’s website indicates that the most recent report focused on sexual victimization in prisons, 

jails, and juvenile facilities was published in 2016, based on 2014 hearings.1267 The Panel’s 

penultimate report focused on sexual victimization in prisons and jails was published in 2012, 

based on hearings in 2011.1268 The prior report focused solely on juvenile institutions and was 

published in 2010, based on hearings in 2010.1269 No other reports are listed on the website, and 

there are no upcoming hearings scheduled.1270

The reports provide comprehensive details about sexual abuse in prisons. The 2016 PREA Panel 

report assessed all of the fifteen institutions that testified at the Panel’s 2014 hearings.1271 The

Panel chose these fifteen institutions based on information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics 

Prisons and Jails Report (which gathered its data through the National Inmate Survey) and the 

 

1265 Ibid.,1.

1266 34 U.S.C. § 30303(b).

1267 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Review Panel on Prison Rape,

https://ojp.gov/reviewpanel/reviewpanel.htm (accessed Oct. 21, 2019) (hereinafter DOJ, Review Panel on Prison

Rape,) (also noting that: “On April 15, 2016, the Review Panel on Prison Rape released its latest report on sexual

victimization in prisons, jails and juvenile correctional facilities. The report is available at the link below.”).

1268 U.S. Dept of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Review Panel on Prison Rape: Report of Sexual Victimization

in Prisons and Jails, (Apr. 2012), p. viii, https://ojp.gov/reviewpanel/pdfs/prea_finalreport_2012.pdf (hereinafter

DOJ, Review Panel on Prison Rape: Report of Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails).

1269 Ibid., at 5.

1270 DOJ, Review Panel on Prison Rape.

1271 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Review Panel on Prison Rape: Report of Sexual Victimization

in Prisons, Jails, and Juvenile Correctional Facilities, (Apr. 2016), p. v,

https://ojp.gov/reviewpanel/pdfs/panel_report_prea_apr2016.pdf (hereinafter DOJ, Report of Sexual Victimization,

2016).
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 199

Bureau of Justice Statistics Juvenile Report (which gathered its data through the National Survey 

of Youth in Custody) that categorized the facilities as having a high- or low-incidence of sexual 

victimization.1272

Low-Incidence Facilities

Of the four low-incidence adult institutions (prisons and jails), one was mixed gender. The 

conditions contributing to the low-incidence nature of these institutions included having internal 

PREA policies, adequately training staff and inmates, housing lower-risk inmates (i.e. inmates 

who are medium custody, are more educated, are less violent, etc.), creating a housing-system 

based on inmate classification, and implementing procedures for reporting and responding to 

sexual victimization.1273 Of the two low-incidence juvenile facilities, one was mixed gender. The 

conditions contributing to the low-incidence nature of these institutions included having adequate 

staffing, having updated facilities (video camera systems), implementing PREA training for both 

staff and youth, and creating a housing system based on inmate classification.1274

High Incidence Facilities

Of the six high-incidence adult institutions, one was exclusively female and two were mixedgender. The conditions contributing to the high-incidence nature of these three institutions 

included having outdated facilities (a lack of video camera systems), having staff shortages and 

issues, housing higher-risk inmates (i.e. inmates who are violent, have mental illnesses, are less 

educated, etc.), and having discipline and management issues.1275

Of the three high-incidence juvenile facilities, none housed female inmates. The conditions 

contributing to the high-incidence nature of these institutions included having staffing issues, using 

an inadequate reporting system, having large facilities, and not establishing PREA curricula.

1276

Review Panel on Prison Rape Recommendations

The 2016 PREA Panel report also included key recommendations based on the Panel’s expert 

testimony on steps that might be taken to reduce sexual victimization at these high-incidence 

facilities. For prisons, the report stated:

The Panel encourages prisons to work closely with community service providers to serve 

inmates who are victims of sexual violence. In particular, prisons should collaborate with 

 

1272 Ibid., 2-9.

1273 Ibid., viii-ix.

1274 Ibid., x.

1275 Ibid., vii-ix.

1276 Ibid., x.
200 WOMEN IN PRISON

victim advocates, state sexual-assault coalitions, local rape crisis centers, and local 

healthcare providers. 

The Panel encourages prisons to develop protocols that protect inmates who are most 

vulnerable to sexual predation. As part of this initiative, prisons should have effective staff 

training to respond to the needs of inmates with mental illness, inmates with developmental 

disabilities, and inmates who are non-heterosexual. Prisons should also review all of their 

interactions with inmates to ensure they are trauma informed and gender specific.

The Panel encourages prisons and prosecutors to work together to bring charges against 

anyone who sexually assaults an inmate. The Panel encourages the U.S. Department of 

Justice, along with other governmental agencies, professional and advocacy organizations, 

and educational institutions to sponsor opportunities for continuing education to help 

prosecutors and prison administrators develop effective strategies for pursuing criminal 

cases against sexual predators who target inmates.1277

PREA also requires that the Attorney General provide an annual report regarding Bureau of Justice 

Statistics’s annual survey and the Panel’s hearings, to Congress and the Secretary of Health and 

Human Services.1278 Commission research shows that Bureau of Justice Statistics been conducting 

and reporting annual surveys.1279 However, since the Panel apparently has not been holding annual 

hearings, the Attorney General has not been able to report on them.1280 According to information 

on the DOJ website, the latest PREA Panel report was issued in April 2016, and it presented the 

findings of panel hearings in 2014.1281

National PREA Resource Center

Under the PREA, the Attorney General may also provide grants to conduct research, as well as to 

provide training, policies and programs, to investigate and prosecute prison rape, and to more

effectively protect inmates.1282 Among other activities, DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau 

 

1277 Ibid., 36 (footnotes omitted).

1278 34 U.S.C. §30303(c).

1279 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, PREA Data Collection Activities, 2016 https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pdca16.pdf;

U.S. Dep’t of Justice, PREA Data Collection Activities, 2017 https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pdca17.pdf; DOJ,

PREA Data Collection Activities, 2018.

1280 “Review Panel on Prison Rape,” U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Justice Programs

https://ojp.gov/reviewpanel/reviewpanel.htm (accessed Oct. 4, 2019).

1281 Ibid.

1282 34 U.S.C. § 30303(d).
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 201

of Justice Assistance has funded the National PREA Resource Center.1283 The National PREA

Resource Center is a coalition of organizations led by Impact Justice (a nonprofit group), which 

states that it “serves as a central repository for the best research in the field on trends, prevention, 

and response strategies, and best practices in corrections. Technical assistance and resources are 

available through the National PREA Resource Center’s coordinated efforts with its federal 

partners, and the National PREA Resource Center will take the lead in helping the corrections field 

to implement the Department of Justice’s national PREA standards.”1284 National PREA Resource 

Center’s mission is to provide assistance to prisons and jails and inmates and their families “in 

their efforts to eliminate sexual abuse in confinement.”1285 It provides access to national standards 

for various types of correctional institutions, audit instruments and training for auditors, training 

and technical assistance, and an online library of materials.1286

DOJ Litigation 

In addition to the above, regarding the civil rights of women in prison, DOJ’s Civil Rights Division 

prosecutes violations of the Eighth Amendment, the PREA Resource Center, or the Civil Rights 

of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA). 

 

1283 “About, National PREA Resource Center,” PREA Resource Center.org,

https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/about (accessed June 18, 2019).

1284 Ibid.

1285 Ibid.

1286 “National PREA Resource Center,” PREA Resource Center.org, https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/ (accessed

June 18, 2019).
202 WOMEN IN PRISON

Table 11: DOJ CRIPA Cases Against Corrections Institutions Regarding Women in Prison 

(1986–present)1287

Facility 

Investigated 

by DOJ Defendant Claim

Facilities: 

Exclusively 

Female or 

Mixed 

Gender

Consent 

Decree or 

Out-ofCourt 

Settlement

Specific 

Substantive 

Provisions 

Regarding 

Sexual 

Assault? Date

Erie County 

Correctional 

Facility (New 

York)

Erie County, 

New York

8th

Amend. Mixed Gender Consent Decree Yes 08/17/2011

Golden Grove 

Adult 

Correctional 

Facility (Virgin 

Islands)

Territory of the 

Virgin Islands

8th

Amend. Mixed Gender

Consent 

Decree

(incl. PREA)

No 08/31

/2012

Orleans Parish 

Prison System 

(Louisiana)

Orleans Parish 

Sherriff (in his 

official capacity)

8th

Amend. Mixed Gender

Consent 

Decree

(incl. PREA)

No 06/06

/2013

Topeka 

Correctional 

Facility 

(Kansas)

State of Kansas 8th

Amend.

Exclusively 

Female

Out-of-Court 

Settlement 

(incl. PREA)

Yes 12/22

/2014

Julia Tutwiler 

Prison for 

Women 

(Alabama)

State of Alabama, 

Alabama 

Department of 

Corrections

8th

Amend.

Exclusively 

Female

Consent 

Decree 

(includes 

PREA)1288

Yes 06/18

/2015

Main Features of DOJ Enforcement Actions for Adult Women in Prison

Of the five DOJ CRIPA cases addressing the situation of women in prison, all included claims of 

sexual abuse, and all raised constitutional claims.1289 Four also resulted in agreements that the 

 

1287 Ibid. 

1288 Consent Decrees or Out-of-Court Settlements coded as including PREA means that the parties agreed that

Defendant should comply with PREA regulations. See, e.g., Consent Decree, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-

cv-368, § III.A.1 (M.D. Ala., Jun. 18, 2015) (“ADOC and Tutwiler shall comply with all the provisions of PREA.”).

1289 See Amended Complaint, United States v. Erie Cty., No. 09-cv-0849, ¶¶ 22(b), 47(a) (W.D.N.Y., July 30, 2010),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/US_v_Erie_AmendedComplaint_07-23-10.pdf;

Settlement Agreement at 6, United States v. Territory of the Virgin Islands, No. 1:86-cv-00265 (V.I. Aug, 31, 2012),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2013/09/25/goldengrove_settlement_8-31-12.pdf; Order

Granting United States’ Motion to Find Defendant in Contempt and for Appointment of Special Master, United

States v. The Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. Marc. 23, 2006),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/04/12/GoldenGrove_ContemptOrder_3-23-06.pdf; Acting

Ass’t Attorney General Loretta King, letter to Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman, Sept. 11, 2009,

Re: Orleans Parish Prison System, New Orleans, Louisiana, at pp. 2-21,
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 203

facility would comply with PREA regulations, which were issued in 2012.

1290 Only the first one, 

resolved in 2011, was brought and resolved solely on constitutional bases (without mention of 

PREA).

These five cases required a range of specific remedies. The main remedies included requiring the 

prisons to train staff about sexual assault and harassment, to create a better reporting system, to 

establish an appropriate inmate classification system, to eliminate cross-gender body searches, to 

discipline offenders, and to undergo federal monitoring.1291 As discussed, four of the five cases 

required coming into compliance with PREA. Because PREA’s regulations and audit requirements 

are more thorough, these post- PREA settlements effectively require a broad and comprehensive 

range of remedies.1292 Of these five cases, one was resolved by an out-of-court settlement,1293 and 

four were resolved by consent decree.1294

 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/parish_findlet.pdf (hereinafter DOJ Orleans

Findings Letter); Findings Letter from Attorney General Thomas E. Perez to Kansas Governor Samuel D.

Brownback (Sept. 6, 2012), Re: Investigation of the Topeka Correctional Facility at pp. 3-21,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/09/10/topeka_findings_9-6-12.pdf (hereinafter DOJ

Kansas Findings Letter); Complaint, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-368, ¶¶ 9-36 (M.D. Ala., May 28,

2015), https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2015/06/12/tutwiler_complaint_5-28-15.pdf.

1290 Settlement Agreement at 6, United States v. Territory of the Virgin Islands, No. 1:86-cv-00265 (V.I. Aug, 31,

2012), https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2013/09/25/goldengrove_settlement_8-31-12.pdf; Order

Granting United States’ Motion to Find Defendant in Contempt and for Appointment of Special Master, United

States v. The Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. Marc. 23, 2006),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/04/12/GoldenGrove_ContemptOrder_3-23-06.pdf; Acting

Ass’t Attorney General Loretta King, letter to Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman, Sept. 11, 2009,

Re: Orleans Parish Prison System, New Orleans, Louisiana, at pp. 2-21,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/parish_findlet.pdf (hereinafter DOJ Orleans

Findings Letter); Findings Letter from Attorney General Thomas E. Perez to Kansas Governor Samuel D.

Brownback (Sept. 6, 2012), Re: Investigation of the Topeka Correctional Facility at pp. 3-21,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/09/10/topeka_findings_9-6-12.pdf (hereinafter DOJ

Kansas Findings Letter); Complaint, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-368, ¶¶ 9-36 (M.D. Ala., May 28,

2015), https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2015/06/12/tutwiler_complaint_5-28-15.pdf.

1291 See Consent Decree, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-368 (M.D. Ala., June 18, 2015), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2015/07/09/tutwiler_agreement_6-18-15.pdf; Settlement 

Agreement, United States v. Kansas (Dec. 22, 2014), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2015/03/19/topeka_agreement_12-22-14.pdf; Stipulated Order 

of Dismissal, United States v. Erie Cty., No. 09-cv-0849, III.A.1-5 (W.D.N.Y Aug. 17, 2011), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/09/19/Erie_settle_8-18-11.pdf.; Order Granting United 

States’ Motion to Find Defendant in Contempt and for Appointment of Special Master, United States v. The Virgin 

Islands, supra note 1313; Consent Judgement, United States v. Gusman, No. 2:12-cv-00859 (E.D. La., June 6, 

2013), https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2013/06/12/opp_consentjudg_6-6-13.pdf.

1292 See supra note 1292.

1293 Settlement Agreement, United States v. Kansas, supra note 1316.

1294 See Consent Decree, United States v. Alabama; Stipulated Order of Dismissal, United States v. Erie Cty.;

Consent Judgement, United States v. Gusman, Order Granting United States’ Motion to Find Defendant in Contempt

and for Appointment of Special Master, United States v. The Virgin Islands, supra note 1316.
204 WOMEN IN PRISON

In the cases reviewed, DOJ has conducted long-term monitoring to enforce the rights of women 

prisoners. By their terms, the cases are only closed when a jurisdiction substantially comes into 

compliance. As of FY 2018, all but one (Topeka Correctional Facility) of these cases are all still 

open; four out of these five consent decrees and out-of-court settlements have not been closed out 

because the prisons have not achieved substantial compliance.1295 For example, in 2013 the United 

States entered into a consent decree with the Virgin Islands and mandated compliance with PREA 

to address the widespread sexual assault that plagued the territory’s Golden Grove facility.1296 In 

the Eleventh Monitoring Report evaluating compliance with the decree, issued in 2016, the 

Monitor declared that Golden Grove had not complied with the decree’s single substantive 

provision regarding the sexual abuse of prisoners.1297

Some of the main data about the five cases, including the nature of sexual abuse of women in 

prison that DOJ documented, which was the main focus of the enforcement actions, and the 

remedies DOJ procured through bringing claims under CRIPA, are discussed below.

 

1295 Dep’t of Just. Activities Under CRIPA Rep. FY 2018 (2019), https://www.justice.gov/crt/casedocument/file/1160466/download; Dep’t of Just. Activities Under CRIPA Rep. FY 2017 (2018),

https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/file/1081841/download; Dep’t of Just. Activities Under CRIPA Rep. FY

2016 (2017), https://www.justice.gov/crt/page/file/1019881/download; Dep’t of Just. Activities Under CRIPA Rep.

FY 2015 (2016), https://www.justice.gov/crt/page/file/933876/download; Dep’t of Just. Activities Under CRIPA

Rep. FY 2014 (2015), https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/split_cripa14.pdf; Dep’t of Just. Activities

Under CRIPA Rep. FY 2013 (2014), https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/split_cripa13.pdf; Dep’t of

Just. Activities Under CRIPA Rep. FY 2012 (2013),

https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/split_cripa12.pdf; Dep’t of Just. Activities Under CRIPA Rep. FY

2011 (2012), https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/split_cripa11.pdf; Dep’t of Just. Activities Under

CRIPA Rep. FY 2010 (2011), https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/split_cripa10.pdf.

1296 Settlement Agreement at 6, United States v. Territory of the Virgin Islands, No. 1:86-cv-00265 (V.I. Aug, 31,

2012) (a court-ordered settlement agreement, e.g., a consent decree),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2013/09/25/goldengrove_settlement_8-31-12.pdf. The

Defendant had already been held under contempt based on noncompliance with a 1986 consent decree regarding

other prisoners’ rights violations, and subsequently a special master was appointed to serve as an agent of the court

in evaluating Golden Grove prison policies. Order Granting United States’ Motion to Find Defendant in Contempt

and for Appointment of Special Master, United States v. The Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. Mar. 23, 2006),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/04/12/GoldenGrove_ContemptOrder_3-23-06.pdf; See

also, Consent Decree, United States v. The Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. Dec. 1, 1986),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/04/12/GoldenGrove_ConsentDecree_12-1-86.pdf. The

United States also filed to bring the Virgin Island’s under receivership in order to execute the 1986 decree. Motion

for Appointment of a Receiver, United States v. The Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. June 9, 2011),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/06/13/GoldenGrove_MemoinSupportMtnforReceiver.pdf.

1297 Court-Appointed Independent Monitor’s Eleventh Compliance Report at 31-32, United States v. Territory of the

Virgin Islands, No. 1:86-cv-00265 (V.I. May 29, 2016), https://www.justice.gov/crt/file/863576/download.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 205

Investigations into Exclusively Female Facilities, Post- PREA: Alabama and Kansas 

DOJ case brought its most recent case against Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women (Tutwiler), an allfemale institution located in Alabama.1298 Originally constructed to house 417 inmates, in 2013, 

when DOJ began its investigation, the facility was holding 928 prisoners—more than double its 

intended capacity.1299 In its post-investigation Findings Letter, DOJ determined that this institution 

was consistently violating the prisoners’ constitutional and PREA rights by allowing a pervasive 

environment of sexual misconduct.1300 The Findings Letter described that: 

For nearly two decades, Tutwiler staff have harmed women in their care with impunity by 

sexually abusing and sexually harassing them. Staff have raped sodomized, fondled, and 

exposed themselves to prisoners. They have coerced prisoners to engage in oral sex. Staff 

engage in voyeurism, forcing women to disrobe and watching them while they use the 

shower and use the toilet. Staff sexually harass women, subjecting them to a daily barrage 

of sexually explicit verbal abuse.1301

DOJ also found that staff not only physically and sexually abused the inmates, but additionally 

fostered a culture that systemically encouraged such abuse.1302 For example, staff dissuaded 

prisoners from reporting their assaults by isolating the women or forcing them to take lie detector 

tests.1303 And when abuse was reported, staff often failed to respond or investigate the 

allegations.1304 DOJ summarized the systemic problems and likely constitutional violations as 

follows:

• Tutwiler staff also harm women prisoners through a constant threat of sexual violence.

• Tutwiler has a toxic, sexualized environment that permits staff sexual abuse and 

harassment.

 

1298 Acting Ass’t Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels, letter to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, Jan. 17, 2014, Re:

Investigation of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and Notice of Expanded Investigation, passim.,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/01/23/tutwiler_findings_1-17-14.pdf (hereinafter DOJ,

Alabama Findings Letter).

1299 Id.

1300 Id. at 2-3.

1301 Id.

1302 Id. at 3-4.

1303 Id. at 4.

1304 Id.
206 WOMEN IN PRISON

• Prison officials have failed to curb the sexual abuse and sexual harassment despite 

possessing actual knowledge of the harm, including a federal statistical analysis identifying 

sexual misconduct at Tutwiler as occurring at one of the highest rates in the country.

• Prison officials discourage prisoner reporting of sexual abuse due to actual and perceived 

retaliation against individuals who make allegations. 

• Systemic deficiencies at Tutwiler directly contribute to staff and prisoner sexual abuse and 

staff sexual harassment that injures prisoners, and creates a substantial risk of further harm.

• These factual determinations provide us with reasonable cause to conclude that Tutwiler 

violates prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights to be protected from harm, Farmer v. 

Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 833 (1994), and serious risk of harm, Helling v. McKinney, 509 

U.S. 25, 33-35 (1993), as well as the constitutional right to bodily privacy, Fortner v. 

Thomas, 983 F.2d 1024, 1029-30 (11th Cir. 1993).1305

In 2015 the State of Alabama, the Alabama Department of Corrections and the United States 

entered into a settlement agreement, issued by a court consent decree, requiring Tutwiler to abide 

by the standards of PREA.1306 The agreement had a number of constructive policies, including, but 

not limited to, training staff on sexual harassment policies,1307 educating inmates on their rights to 

be free from sexual abuse,1308 implementing a gender-responsive classification system,1309 creating 

risk-assessment procedures,1310 and establishing a safe and effective method of reporting abuse.1311

Alabama Department of Corrections and Tutwiler are also required to report to a Monitor a selfevaluation of their implementation of these sexual-harassment policies until the agreement is 

terminated.1312 Further, the agreement will only be terminated when Tutwiler and Alabama 

Department of Corrections have substantially complied with the mandates of the consent 

decree.1313

At the Commission’s briefing, Wendy Williams, Alabama Department of Corrections’s Deputy 

Commissioner of Women’s Services, testified that without the consent decree, Tutwiler would not 

 

1305 Id. at 3-4.

1306 Consent Decree at ¶ 22, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-368 (M.D. Ala., June 18, 2015). 

1307 Id. at ¶¶ 44-45. 

1308 Id. at ¶ 49. 

1309 Id. at ¶ 52. 

1310 Id. at ¶ 55. 

1311 Id. at ¶ 66. 

1312 Id. at ¶ 112.

1313 Id. at ¶ 125.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 207

have been able to secure funds from the state in order to make the systemic changes needed to 

come into compliance with the PREA.1314 Julie Abbate also testified at the briefing that without 

federal intervention, systemic changes could not have occurred in Tutwiler, although she added 

that a deeper cultural change was also needed.1315 Notably, the DOJ findings and the court’s 

consent decree included provisions to address other issues that DOJ found were related to sexual 

abuse, such as mental and physical health care.

1316

The only other DOJ case specifically investigating a women’s prison also included findings of 

widespread sexual abuse. It was settled with similarly comprehensive remedies, but out of court. 

Topeka Correctional Facility, an all-female facility with a maximum capacity of 749, is operated 

by the Kansas Department of Corrections.1317 In May 2011, it held approximately 558 

prisoners.1318 In its investigation, DOJ found that Topeka Correctional Facility was violating the 

constitutional rights of the prisoners as well as their rights under PREA.1319 Specifically, the DOJ 

found that the women in the prison were subject to unwanted sexual contact and sexual abuse by 

both other inmates and correctional staff.1320 For example, in one case, a correctional officer was 

charged with sexual misconduct when he demanded oral and penetrative sex during the prisoner’s 

work-release-transport.1321

Furthermore, DOJ found Topeka Correctional Facility and Kansas Department of Corrections 

were “aware of, and deliberately indifferent to, the substantial harm and serious risk of harm to 

[Topeka Correctional Facility] TCF prisoners due to sexual assault, harassment, and misconduct 

and...failed to take reasonable steps to prevent harm and risk of harm.”1322 DOJ determined that 

in two of Topeka Correctional Facility’s Cell Houses, nearly 100 percent of prisoners feared for 

their safety and wellbeing.1323

Because of these findings of rampant sexual abuse, the United States and the State of Kansas filed 

a settlement agreement. The settlement agreement had a number of substantive mandates, 

 

1314 Williams Testimony, p. 240-41.

1315 Ibid., 177-178.

1316 DOJ Alabama Findings Letter, at pp. 8 and12.

1317 Id. at 2.

1318 Id.

1319 Id. at 1.

1320 Id.

1321 Id. at 4-5.

1322 DOJ, Kansas Findings Letter, at p. 16.

1323 Id. at 14.
208 WOMEN IN PRISON

including establishing useful correctional practices that the parties considered would reduce the 

risk of sexual assault (such as creating an inmate classification system to house prisoners with their 

same gender and eliminating cross-gender strip searches),1324 implementing sexual misconduct 

training for correctional staff,1325 and disciplining those who are charged with sexual abuse or 

harassment.1326 The United States and Kansas agreed to terminate the settlement agreement only 

when Kansas Department of Corrections and Topeka Correctional Facility achieve compliance 

with the mandates of the order, and maintain this compliance for at least twelve months 

thereafter.1327

Investigations into Mixed Gender Facilities, Post- PREA: Louisiana, Florida, and the Virgin 

Islands 

The remaining five cases involved the sexual assault of both men and women in mixed-gender 

facilities, and some involved various types of physical abuse (not only sexual assault). Three of 

these cases were settled by DOJ after the 2012 PREA regulations were issued, and so they require 

compliance with those regulations. 

The Orleans Parish Prison System, located in Louisiana, houses both men and women, and DOJ 

found in 2009 that Orleans Parish Prison System OPP had a dangerous culture of sexual 

misconduct, assault, and harassment.1328 The DOJ wrote in its Updated Finding Letter that: 

[S]exual violence is pervasive throughout the jail. A recent report by the [Department of 

Justice] DOJ Office of Justice Programs (OJP) confirms this conclusion reached from 

interviews and records review. A survey of prisoners conducted by the Bureau of Justice 

Statistics...revealed that 7.5% of [Orleans Parish Prison System] OPP prisoners had 

experienced sexual assault while incarcerated. [Office of Justice Programs] OJP’s Review 

Panel on Prison Rape singled out [Orleans Parish Prison System] OPP and reported that it

 

1324 Settlement Agreement at ¶¶ 11-16, United States v. Kansas (Dec. 22, 2014). 

1325 Id. at ¶¶ 17-18.

1326 Id. at ¶¶ 26.

1327 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Department of Justice Activities Under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 

Fiscal Year 2017, p. 7, https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/file/1081841/download (“In November 2016, the 

Division closed its investigation of the Topeka Correctional Facility in Topeka, Kansas. Kansas had successfully met 

and sustained all of the requirements of a 2014 settlement agreement designed to protect women prisoners from 

custodial sexual abuse by reforming systems designed to prevent, detect, and respond to custodial sexual abuse.”).

1328 Chief of the Special Litigation Section for the Civil Rights Division Jonathan M. Smith, letter to Marlin N.

Gusman, Orleans Parish Sheriff, Apr. 23, 2012, Re: Update to Letter of Findings, United States’ Civil Rights

Investigation of the Orleans Parish Prison System, at pp. 2, 4,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/04/23/parish_update_4-23-12.pdf (hereinafter Updated

DOJ Orleans Findings Letter).
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 209

is [sic] “is deeply disturbed by the apparent culture of violence at [Orleans Parish Prison 

System] OPP.”1329

By relying on Bureau of Justice Statistics data, this case illustrates how Bureau of Justice Statistics

data may be used to help enforce PREA and related constitutional rights. The Bureau of Justice 

Statistics data showed high levels of reported sexual abuse in the prison. Citing this data, a class 

action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the inmates against the facilities.1330 The United States 

intervened under CRIPA.1331 Subsequently, the parties (the class action Plaintiffs, the U.S., and 

Orleans Parish Prison System), reached a Consent Judgement, requiring the Orleans Parish 

Sherriff’s Office to “develop and implement policies, protocols, trainings, and audits, consistent 

with the requirements of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003... and its implementation of 

regulations, including but not limited to, preventing, detecting, reporting, investigating, and 

collecting sexual abuse data, including prisoner-on-prisoner and staff-on-prisoner sexual abuse, 

sexual harassment, and sexual touching.”1332 The Consent Judgement required that the order could 

only be terminated when substantial compliance with the Judgement has been met and maintained 

for at least two years.

1333 It is still open.

The Golden Grove Correctional Facility of the Virgin Islands holds both men and women to serve 

their sentences.1334 After more than twenty years of noncompliance with a 1986 settlement and 

various court filings that do not mention the original 2003 PREA legislation,1335 DOJ won a courtordered consent decree in 2012, requiring that the Virgin Islands facilities comply with the 2012 

PREA regulations.1336 The facility is now required to “develop...facility-specific policies that 

incorporate the definitions and substantive requirements of the Prison Rape Elimination Act.”1337

The court order also required hiring a monitor to oversee the execution of the agreement, training 

 

1329 Id. at 4.

1330 Motion to Intervene at 2, Jones v. Gusman, No. 2:12-cv-00859 (E.D. La. Sep. 24, 2012) at 2.

1331 Id. at 1-2.

1332 Consent Judgement at ¶ 19, Jones v. Gusman, No. 2: 12-cv-00859 (E.D. La. June 6, 2013).

1333 Id. at ¶ 43.

1334 See World Prison Brief, Virgin Islands (USA), Golden Grove Corrections Facility,

https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/virgin-islands-usa.

1335 Consent Decree, United States v. The Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. Dec. 1, 1986); Order Granting

United States’ Motion to Find Defendant in Contempt and for Appointment of Special Master, United States v. The

Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. Mar. 23, 2006); Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of

United States’ Motion for Appointment of a Receiver Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 66 and This Court’s Equity

Jurisdiction, United States v. The Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. Jun. 9, 2011).

1336 Consent Decree at ¶ 6, United States v. The Virgin Islands, No. 1986-cv-0265 (V.I. Dec. 1, 1986).

1337 Id.
210 WOMEN IN PRISON

of staff in relation to sexual assault and abuse, and semi-annual impact evaluation reports, in order 

to enforce the provisions of the decree.1338 The order will remain operational until the Virgin Island 

facilities have proven that they have complied with the decree’s substantive mandates for at least 

one year.1339 It is still open.

Investigations into Mixed Gender Facilities, Pre- PREA: New York and Illinois

The last two cases—settled before the 2012 PREA regulations—also included findings of 

widespread sexual assault of both men and women, and deliberate indifference to it, but they were 

much less comprehensive in their discussions of sexual assault. These cases were brought by DOJ 

against correctional institutions in Erie County (NY) and Cook County (IL). 

As described in DOJ’s Finding Letters, both facilities notably often did not distinguish in their 

reporting between physical and sexual assault, lumping those two phenomena together in statistical 

analysis; DOJ reported of Erie County: “In a period of just over one year, between January 1, 2007 

and February 9, 2008, there were over 70 reported incidents of inmate-on-inmate assaults, 

including sexual assaults,”1340 and of Cook County, “[b]etween January 1, 2007 and June 19, 2007, 

IAD [Internal Affairs Division] opened approximately 254 cases involving inmate assault and/or 

battery and five cases of sexual assault. In 2006, [Internal Affairs Division] IAD opened 

approximately 357 cases involving inmate assault, battery, or sexual assault.”1341 Neither did the 

assessment distinguish between sexual assault occurring against women and sexual assault 

occurring against men. Furthermore, very little space was given to discussing and assessing sexual 

assault in the Finding Letters.1342

Additionally, the Cook County Jail Consent Decree provided little detail of how to implement 

policies to reduce the prisoners’ risk of sexual harm. There was no section on sexual assault; 

procedures and regulations regarding sexual assault were incorporated throughout the report in 

other administrative policies. For example, a regulation discussing investigatory procedures of 

sexual misconduct allegations appeared in the “Incidents and Referrals” section: “CCDOC shall 

 

1338 Id. at ¶¶ 15, 13, 14.

1339 Id. at ¶ 19.

1340 Amended Complaint at ¶ 13, United States v. Erie Cty., No. 09-cv-0849 (W.D.N.Y. July 23, 2010) .

1341 Acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker, letter to Todd H. Stroger, Cook County President and

Thomas Dart, Cook County Sheriff, July 11, 2008, Re: Cook County Jail, Chicago, Illinois, at p. 24,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/04/13/CookCountyJail_findingsletter_7-11-08.pdf.

1342 Id. and See Findings Letter from Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King to County Executive Chris

Collins (July 15, 2009), Re: CRIPA Investigation of the Erie County Holding Center and the Erie County

Correctional Facility, https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/Erie_findlet_redact_07-15-

09.pdf (hereinafter DOJ Erie County Findings Letter).
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 211

require timely and appropriate investigations of all suicides, serious suicide attempts... sexual

misconduct between inmates, sexual misconduct involving staff, fires, escapes...”1343 The consent 

decree guiding Erie County was more thorough in creating sexual assault and harassment policies, 

mandating procedures that included, most notably, creating the position of a sexual abuse 

prevention coordinator, eliminating cross-gender strip searches and visual body cavity searches, 

establishing a more effective system of reporting, and training staff for how to manage sexual 

abuse investigations and allegations.1344 On the positive side, the Consent Decree has been closed 

after CCDOC was found to have substantially complied by 2015. 

DOJ Enforcement Actions for Girls in Juvenile Facilities

Ten DOJ CRIPA actions have dealt with sexual assault, harassment, or misconduct of juvenile 

inmates in juvenile correctional facilities, and of these, seven concerned female inmates. These 

cases are included to show the pattern of litigation of civil rights issues for incarcerated females. 

As in the case of federal litigation brought on behalf of women, all involved sexual assault. Of 

these seven cases brought on behalf of girls, three involved facilities that housed female inmates, 

exclusively. 

 

1343 Agreed Order at 15, 16, United States v. Cook Cty., No. 10-cv-2946 (N.D. Ill., May 13, 2010).

1344 Settlement Agreement at 10-11, United States v. Erie Cty., No. 09-cv-0849 (W.D.N.Y Aug. 17, 2011).
212 WOMEN IN PRISON

Table 12: DOJ CRIPA Cases Against Corrections Institutions Regarding Sexual Abuse of Girls 

and Women in Juvenile Facilities (1997 – present)1345

Facility 

Investigated by 

DOJ Defendant Claim

Facilities: 

Exclusively 

Female or 

Mixed 

Gender

Consent 

Decree or 

Out-ofCourt 

Settlement

Specific 

Substantive 

Provisions 

Regarding 

Sexual 

Assault? Date

Leflore County 

Juvenile 

Detention Center 

(Mississippi)

Leflore County 14th

Amend.

Mixed 

Gender

Consent 

Decree 

(does not 

include 

PREA)

No 05/13/

2015

Michigan 

Department of 

Corrections 

(private 

litigation)1346

(Michigan)

Michigan Department 

of Corrections

14th

Amend.

Mixed 

Gender and 

Excl. Female 

(and Excl.

Male)*

N/A 

(Statement 

of Interest)

N/A N/A

Juvenile Facilities 

of Office of 

Children and 

Family Services 

(New York)

The State of New York 

and the New York 

State Office of 

Children and Family 

Services

14th

Amend.

2 Exclusively 

Male and 2 

Excl. Female

(and 2 Excl.

Male)*

Consent 

Decree 

(does not 

include 

PREA)

No 07/14/

2010

Indianapolis 

Juvenile 

Correctional 

Facility (Indiana)

NA

8th

Amend. 

14th

Amend.

Exclusively 

Female* NA N/A NA

Scioto Juvenile 

Facility (Ohio) The State of Ohio 14thAmend.

Mixed 

Gender

Consent 

Decree 

(does not 

include 

PREA)

No 06/

2008*

Puerto Rico 

Juvenile Facilities 

(Puerto Rico)

The Commonwealth of 

Puerto Rico, the 

Governor of Puerto 

Rico, the Juvenile 

Institutions 

Administration, the 

Secretary of 

Corrections and 

Rehabilitation, the 

Administrator of the 

Juvenile Institutions 

Administration 

14th

Amend.

Mixed 

Gender 

Consent 

Decree 

(does not 

include 

PREA)

N/A 1997

 

1345 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Special Litigation Section, Cases and Matters, Corrections,

https://www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section-cases-and-matters0#corrections (accessed June 3, 2019) (each

of the cases are cited and discussed further in the following text; see infra notes 1379-1415).

1346 Statement of Interest of the United States of America, Doe v. Michigan Dep’t of Corrections, No. 2:13-cv14356, (E.D. Mich. Mar. 20, 2014).
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 213

DOJ Intervention in a Private Case in Michigan

One of the six cases did not take the form of a DOJ litigating or investigative action, but instead, 

a DOJ Statement of Interest submitted to a federal court overseeing a lawsuit of juvenile inmates 

alleging a culture of sexual abuse at the facilities of the Michigan Department of Corrections. In 

2014, seven inmates housed in Michigan Department of Corrections facilities filed a federal 

complaint representing a class of “‘youthful prisoners who are, were, or will be confined in adult 

prisons in Michigan and who have been or will be subjected to sexual and physical assaults and 

abuse, sexual harassment, and degrading treatment from adult prisoners and staff as a result of 

incarceration without adequate supervision, separation from adult prisoners, or treatment 

consistent with the status as children.’”1347 Thus, though this case was argued on behalf of male 

plaintiffs, the outcome could affect all similarly situated individuals, including female juvenile 

inmates.1348 The plaintiffs specifically alleged that Michigan Department of Corrections was aware 

of the harm consistently inflicted on the juvenile prisoners—including sexual assault, abuse, and 

extended periods of solitary confinement—and yet took no action to protect them from it.1349

DOJ asserted its “broad interest” in guarding the constitutional and federal rights of prisoners 

against violations by state and local governmental, including by ensuring that all correctional 

institutions abide by PREA.1350 DOJ then refuted Defendant’s assertion that state institutions are 

not required to comply with PREA, and stated that Michigan Department of Corrections and other 

state facilities are obliged to adhere to both the Constitution and PREA regulations.1351 Quoting 

the regulations, DOJ insisted that “The PREA regulations are clear: ‘The standards contained in 

this final rule applies to facilities operated by, or on behalf of, State and local governments and the 

Department of Justice.’”1352 DOJ further noted that if a state facility does not meet PREA 

standards, it is subject to a loss of federal funding.1353

DOJ also argued that meeting the standards of PREA is not sufficient to meeting the standards of 

the Constitution as they “‘are not intended to define the contours of constitutionally required 

conditions of confinement. Accordingly, compliance with the standards does not establish a safe 

harbor with regard to otherwise constitutionally deficient conditions involving inmate sexual 

 

1347 Statement of Interest of the United States at 4, Doe v. Michigan Dep’t of Corrections, No. 13-14356 (E.D. Mich.

Mar. 20, 2014), https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/03/26/doe_soi_3-20-14.pdf.

1348 Id. at 1.

1349 Id. at 4.

1350 Id. at 2, 3.

1351 Id. at 5.

1352 Id. at 6.

1353 Id. at 5.
214 WOMEN IN PRISON

abuse.’”1354 Though Plaintiff’s claims have not yet been decided on the merits, their PREA claims 

survived a motion to dismiss,1355 despite Defendant’s arguing that Michigan Department of 

Corrections’s compliance with PREA is voluntary.1356

DOJ Cases Currently Unresolved: Indiana

Along with the Michigan case in which DOJ filed a Statement of Interest, one of the DOJ-led cases 

has yet to be resolved, but it is the most thorough of DOJ’s evaluations of sexual assault at juvenile 

facilities. In its 2010 Findings Letter discussing its investigation into Indianapolis Juvenile 

Correctional Facility, which houses only girls, DOJ reported that the facility violated juvenile 

prisoners’ constitutional rights by failing to protect the juveniles from sexual harassment, abuse, 

and misconduct.1357 DOJ also found that these incidents were underreported: “the frequency of 

staff sexual abuse and misconduct at the facility is significantly higher than officially reported or 

investigated by the administration... Indeed, the sexualized environment at the facility appears 

rampant.”1358 DOJ quantified this culture of abuse with the following statistics: 

22.8% of girls at [Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility] IJCF reported having 

experienced at least one incident of sexual victimization by another youth or staff member 

at the facility in the prior year...nearly double the national average of 12.1%. It is also 

nearly double the national average of 14% for facilities housing only girls and is more than 

double the national average of 9.6% for facilities housing both sexes. These numbers place 

IJCF among the thirteen facilities with the highest rates of sexual victimization nationally. 

An astounding 16.3% of girls at [Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility] IJCF reported 

unwanted sexual activity with another youth...more than six times the national average of 

2.6%, and is nearly double the national average of 9.1% for girls in juvenile facilities 

nationwide. It also far exceeds the national average of 11% in facilities housing only girls. 

Additionally, 8.7% of girls at [Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility] IJCF reported 

sexual activity with facility staff. Although slightly below the national average of 10.3%, 

this rate is nearly double the national average of 4.7% for girls in juvenile facilities 

 

1354 Id. at 6.

1355 Opinion and Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendants’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and

to Dismiss Certain Claims at 10-13, No. 2:13-cv-14356, (E.D. Mich., Nov. 5, 2018).

1356 Opinion and Order at 10-13, John Doe 1 v. Michigan Dep’t of Corrections, No. 2:13-cv-14356, (E.D. Mich.,

May 28, 2014).

1357 Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, letter to Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, Jan. 29, 2010, Re:

Investigation of the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility, Indianapolis, Indiana, at p. 9,

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/Indianapolis_findlet_01-29-10.pdf.

1358 Id. at 10.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 215

nationwide, and nearly double the national average of 5% in facilities housing only 

girls.1359

DOJ found that inadequate staffing contributed to this pervasive culture of sexual misconduct by 

allowing lax security and supervision.1360 Furthermore, even when sexual abuse of the young 

women inmates was reported, the facility often failed to provide an adequate investigation, if any 

investigation at all.1361 Because of these findings, DOJ recommended that Indianapolis Juvenile 

Correctional Facility implement policies that ensure the protection of these juvenile inmates from 

the risk of sexual abuse and misconduct.1362 However, as noted above, the resolution of this case 

is pending.1363

Cases Resolved by Consent Decree or Out-of-Court Settlement: Mississippi, Ohio, Puerto Rico, 

New York

The remaining four of the six cases were either addressed by consent decree or out-of-court 

settlement (three and one, respectively). These cases about institutions housing both boys and girls 

do not discuss whether or how boys and girls may have been treated differently, either with respect 

to protections from sexual assault or with regard to other issues that arose. In Mississippi, in its 

2011 Findings Letter, DOJ reported that Leflore County Juvenile Detention Center violated the 

rights of its juvenile inmates by systematically failing to report and investigate allegations of abuse 

and thus subjecting the inmates to unnecessary risk of harm.1364 However, the only remedial 

measure required by the consent decree was to improve Leflore County Juvenile Detention 

Center’s system of child abuse reporting: “all Staff shall receive...competency-based training ... 

on the identification and prevention of custodial misconduct, including physical and sexual abuse, 

including appropriate reporting and non-retaliation requirements.”1365 Similarly, DOJ found that 

Ohio’s Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility was violating its juvenile inmates’ constitutional 

 

1359 Id. at 10-11. 

1360 Id. at 12. 

1361 Id. at 11.

1362 Id. at 42. 

1363 Dep’t of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, Cases and Matters, Corrections: Indiana 

Juvenile Facilities, Indianapolis and Pendleton, IN, https://www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section-casesummaries#indianajuv-summ (accessed Aug. 19, 2019).

1364 Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, letter to Robert Moore, Chair, Leflore County Board of Supervisors, 

Mar. 31, 2011, Re: Investigation of the Lefore County Juvenile Detention Center, at pp. 1, 2 and 7, 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/04/14/LeFloreJDC_findlet_03-31-11.pdf. 

1365 Settlement Agreement at ¶ 23, United States v. Leflore Cty., No. 4:15-cv-00059 (N.D. Miss. May 13, 2015). 
216 WOMEN IN PRISON

rights to reasonable safety by consistently subjecting them to the risk of sexual harm.1366 Since 

2003, 14 correctional staff at Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility were charged and indicted for 

sexually and physically abusing juvenile prisoners1367 and DOJ also found that Scioto Juvenile 

Correctional Facility had a deficient grievance system.1368 In 2015, a district court terminated the 

agreement after finding that Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility substantially complied.1369

In Puerto Rico, DOJ’s case summary states that at Juvenile Facilities suffered pervasive 

constitutional violations, including the risk of sexual harm, particularly at the hands of correctional 

staff.1370 Despite this, sexual abuse was not mentioned in DOJ’s 1994 Findings Letter regarding 

its investigation of the Juvenile Facilities1371 or in the consent decree.

1372 The Findings Letter 

included overcrowding, lack of medical and mental health care, lack of access to education, and 

lack of access to special education or other equal opportunities for juveniles with disabilities; but 

none of these findings were specific to boys or girls.1373 The Monitoring Reports describe a number 

of substantive provisions to correct these issues as well as provisions that address sexual assault at 

juvenile institutions in Puerto Rico, the efficacy of which the Monitoring Report assessed by 

comparing the provisions to PREA regulations.1374

The final case—an investigation of New York’s Office of Children and Family Services—was 

initially focused on whether the all-female juvenile inmates housed at these facilities were 

 

1366 Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim, letter to Ted Strickland, Governor of Ohio, May 9, 2007, Re:

Investigation of the Scioto Juvenile Correction Facility, Delaware, Ohio, at p.4,

https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/scioto_findlet_5-9-07.pdf.

1367 Id.

1368 Id. at 7.

1369 Order Grant. Joint Mot. to Terminate the Consent Decree, United States v. Ohio, Case No. 2:08-cv-00475 (S.D.

Ohio, Dec. 9, 2015).

1370 Dep’t of Justice, Civil Rights Division, “Special Litigation Section, Cases and Matters, Corrections: United

States v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (D.P.R.) San Juan, PR,” https://www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigationsection-case-summaries#prjuv-summ (accessed June 10, 2019).

1371 Assistant Attorney General Deval L. Patrick, letter to Pedro J. Rossello, Governor of Commonwealth of Puerto

Rico, 1994, Re: Investigation of Juvenile Facilities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,

https://www.justice.gov/crt/commonwealth-puerto-rico-findings-letter (hereinafter DOJ Puerto Rico Findings

Letter).

1372 Settlement Agreement, United States v. the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, No. 94-2080 (D.P.R. 1997),

https://www.justice.gov/crt/united-states-district-court-district-puerto-rico.

1373 DOJ, Puerto Rico Findings Letter.

1374 Monitor’s Compliance Ratings, Third Quarter, 2015, United States v. the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, No.

94-2080 (D.P.R Dec. 31, 2015); Monitor’s Compliance Ratings, First Quarter, 2016, United States v. the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, No. 94-2080 (D.P.R Mar. 31, 2016).
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 217

adequately protected from harm, specifically sexual assault and abuse.1375 But after its inquiry, 

DOJ reported in its 2009 Findings Letter that Office of Children and Family Services was 

appropriately safeguarding the rights of juvenile inmates (without distinguishing by gender) to be 

free from sexual harm, writing:

In the course of our investigation, we...reviewed allegations of custodial sexual 

misconduct. We find no current systemic constitutional deficiencies in this area. In the 

wake of custodial sexual misconduct charges at the facilities, [Office of Children and 

Family Services] OCFS has taken multiple steps, including but not limited to installing 

video cameras, increased staff accountability, and additional training for staff in order to 

safeguard youth at the facilities.1376

Nonetheless, the consent decree required the State of New York to report to the U.S. allegations 

of sexual misconduct and gave the U.S. the discretion to demand additional compliance with 

regulations if there exists “emergent issues” or “recurring problems” of sexual misconduct at the 

facilities.1377

Overview of DOJ Litigation Activities

In its recent report on CRIPA activities during fiscal year 2018, DOJ reported that it opened three 

new CRIPA investigations, closed two CRIPA investigations, and terminated three CRIPA 

cases.1378 At the end of fiscal year 2018 (September 30, 2018), DOJ reported that it “had active 

CRIPA matters and cases involving 106 facilities in 17 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

and the Virgin Islands.”1379 DOJ reported that it initiated five new CRIPA investigations, closed 

six investigations, and terminated three CRIPA cases when the facilities came into compliance 

with a settlement agreement or consent decree.1380 At the end of fiscal year 2017, DOJ had active 

 

1375 Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King, letter to David A Paterson, Governor of New York, Aug. 14, 

2010, at p. 1, https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/NY_juvenile_facilities_findlet_08-14-

2009.pdf.

1376 Id. at 2. 

1377 Settlement Agreement at ¶¶ 23, 21, United States v. New York, No. 1:10-cv-0858 (N.D.N.Y. July 14, 2010), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/01/26/NY_juvenile_facilities_settle_07-14-10.pdf. 

1378 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Legislative Affairs, Department of Justice Activities Under the Civil Rights of 

Institutionalized Persons Act Fiscal Year 2018, (Apr. 23, 2019), p. 2, https://www.justice.gov/crt/casedocument/file/1160466/download (hereinafter DOJ, Department of Justice Activities Under the Civil Rights of 

Institutionalized Persons Act Fiscal Year 2018).

1379 Ibid., 2-3.

1380 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Legislative Affairs, Department of Justice Activities Under the Civil Rights of 

Institutionalized Persons Act Fiscal Year 2017, (Mar. 9, 2018), p. 2, https://www.justice.gov/crt/casedocument/file/1081841/download.
218 WOMEN IN PRISON

CRIPA matters and cases involving 156 facilities in 24 states.1381 These data indicate a decrease 

in active CRIPA matters and cases. However, unlike the above data about cases litigated and 

resolved through settlements or consent decrees, these data do not document how many of those 

involve protecting women and girls in prison. The data do indicate which facilities remain under 

compliance evaluation, and of those, as of fiscal year 2018, the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women 

Correctional Facility is the only women-only facility that still remains under federal monitoring, 

although the Golden Grove facility in the Virgin Islands that houses both men and women and is 

subject to a consent decree to come into compliance with Prison Rape Elimination Act is still 

subject to monitoring.1382 Notably, a 2016 investigation of the Georgia Department of Corrections 

is focusing on “whether Georgia adequately protects transgender and gay prisoners from sexual 

harassment, sexual abuse, and assault by both staff and other prisoners.”1383 DOJ is also reportedly 

investigating widespread sexual abuse and extortion of women prisoners in Lowell Correctional 

Institution for Women in Ocala, Florida; a formal investigation was reportedly opened in July 

2018.1384 At the time of this writing, no Findings Letter has yet been issued in either of these 

cases.

1385

Due to the legal and practical limits of private litigation discussed in Chapters 1 and 4, women in 

prison rely substantially on DOJ work in this area.

1386 While the Commission heard testimony about 

the value of DOJ litigation,1387 critics contend that DOJ does far too little enforcement under 

CRIPA and does not open enough investigations to properly ensure the safety of women prisoners. 

Julie Abbate testified before the Commission that “DOJ brings far too few CRIPA investigations 

to have a meaningful impact on women prisoner’s sexual safety,”1388 and “between fiscal years 

 

1381 Ibid.

1382 DOJ, Department of Justice Activities Under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act Fiscal Year 2018,

p. 5.

1383 U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, Cases and Matters, Georgia Dep’t of

Corrections, https://www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section-case-summaries#pdoc-summ (accessed Oct. 4,

2019).

1384 See Brown, Julie K. “Meeting on Rapes, Degradation at Notorious Florida Women’s Prison Draws a Packed

House,” Miami Herald, Aug. 19, 2018, https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/floridaprisons/article216987885.html; see also “Feds Investigate Allegations of Sexual Abuse at Central Florida Women’s

Prison,” Orlando Sentinel, Aug. 20, 2018, https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-sexual-abuseflorida-womens-prison-20180820-story.html.

1385 See U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, Cases and Matters, passim.,

https://www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section-cases-and-matters0 (accessed Oct. 4, 2019).

1386 See supra notes 334-63 (discussing legal obstacles to private litigation, in Ch. 1) and 691-98 and 718-48

(discussing how these obstacles operate in private cases about sexual abuse of women in prison, in Ch. 4).

1387 See supra notes 1316-18 (discussing Alabama).

1388 Abbate Testimony, p. 109.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 219

2010 and 2018, the Special Litigation Section opened an average of just two CRIPA investigations 

into jails and prisons per year.”1389

The Commission’s research of the five DOJ cases involving adult women in prison that were 

resolved by enforcement actions, illustrated in Table 11 above, shows that DOJ’s CRIPA findings 

letters and complaints do not document civil rights issues unique to adult women without 

connecting them to sexual abuse. Of the two investigations DOJ has carried out regarding women

in prison under CRIPA, DOJ focused mainly on sexual abuse and less so on other challenges 

suffered by women in prison that are documented in this report. In Alabama and Kansas, DOJ 

found widespread sexual abuse and harassment.

1390 It expanded its enforcement work to include 

more comprehensive issues in Alabama, but did not in Kansas. In Alabama, the complaint filed in 

court centered on sexual abuse and how other “deficiencies at Tutwiler that contributed to the 

sexualized environment and harm to prisoners.”1391 Other issues were addressed, but, for example, 

the investigation of mental and physical health care was done in relation to sexual abuse.1392

Similarly, access to menstrual products was addressed because of the finding that women prisoners 

were “compelled to submit to unlawful sexual advances” to obtain such necessities.

1393 In Kansas, 

DOJ’s investigation and subsequent enforcement actions were even more focused on sexual abuse 

and harassment; other civil rights issues that women in prison may have experienced were not part 

of this case.1394 In the three other DOJ CRIPA investigations of mixed-gender prisons (in Erie 

 

1389 Ibid., 110.

1390 See DOJ, Alabama Findings Letter at p. 7-32 (headings of findings are as follows: Staff Sexual Abuse and

Sexual Harassment Subjects Prisoners to Harm and the Serious Risk of Harm, Tutwiler’s Toxic Sexualized

Environment Permits Staff Sexual Abuse and Harassment, ADOC and Tutwiler Officials are Deliberately

Indifferent to the Constitutional Harms to Women Prisoners”); DOJ, Kansas Findings Letter at p. 3-17 (headings of

findings are as follows: “Women Prisoners are Subjected to Sexual Assault and Other Unwanted Sexual Conduct

From Staff, Women Prisoners are Exposed to Harm and the Risk of Harm From Prisoner-on -Prisoner Sexual

Violence, Sexual Misconduct by Staff and Prisoners is Rampant Throughout the Facility, Women Prisoners Live in

Fear of Sexual Abuse, Prison Officials Are Deliberately Indifferent to the Constitutional Harms to Women

Prisoners”).

1391 Complaint, United States v. Alabama, No. 2:15-cv-00368, ¶¶ 9-30 (M.D. Ala., May 28, 2015),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2015/06/12/tutwiler_complaint_5-28-15.pdf (quote is from ¶

30).

1392 DOJ, Alabama Findings Letter at p. 8,12.

1393 DOJ, Alabama Findings Letter at p. 3 (“Prisoners are compelled to submit to unlawful sexual advances to either

obtain necessities, such as feminine hygiene products and laundry service, or to avoid punishment. Inconsistent

application of facility rules and disciplinary sanctions causes many prisoners to believe that acceding to staff sexual

abuse will engender improved treatment”).

1394 DOJ, Kansas Findings Letter at p. 3-17 (headings of findings are as follows: “Women Prisoners are Subjected to

Sexual Assault and Other Unwanted Sexual Conduct From Staff, Women Prisoners are Exposed to Harm and the

Risk of Harm From Prisoner-on -Prisoner Sexual Violence, Sexual Misconduct by Staff and Prisoners is Rampant

Throughout the Facility, Women Prisoners Live in Fear of Sexual Abuse, Prison Officials Are Deliberately

Indifferent to the Constitutional Harms to Women Prisoners”).
220 WOMEN IN PRISON

County, NY, Orleans Parish, LA, and the Virgin Islands), the issues addressed are broader and 

include investigations into physical abuse, lack of access to mental health care, and whether 

conditions are safe and sanitary, among other issues.1395 Sexual abuse of both men and women are 

also addressed in these cases.1396 None of the adult CRIPA prison cases that included investigations 

of the situation of women in prison addressed any disparities in treatment between men and 

women.1397

The fact pattern is slightly different when reviewing the six CRIPA cases that involve girls in 

juvenile prisons. Of the DOJ CRIPA actions have dealt with juvenile female inmates, all six 

involved mixed-gender state correctional systems (although some included female-only juvenile 

prisons).1398 These included much more comprehensive sets of civil rights issues and claims: 

although they all included investigations of sexual assault, many other issues were addressed, such 

as inadequate protection from harm, physical and mental health, and education.1399 On the other 

hand, none of the juvenile CRIPA prison cases addressed any disparities in treatment between boys 

and girls.1400

Because PREA and CRIPA can only be enforced by the federal government, private litigation must 

allege other violations, such as constitutional violations. Furthermore, the comprehensive remedies 

available under PREA and CRIPA statutes are not available to private plaintiffs. The Commission 

also heard testimony that federal litigation may include other advantages over private litigation. 

At the Commission’s briefing, Julie Abbate testified that private “Eighth Amendment litigation is 

primarily limited by the Prison Litigation Reform Act, barriers to access to courts,” and by 

difficulty in proving that the victim did not “consent, and I put that word in air quotes and in actual 

quotes whenever I write it.”1401 She clarified that few women experiencing sexual abuse in prison 

 

1395 DOJ, Erie County Findings Letter at p. 9-36 (headings of findings are as follows: “Inadequate Suicide

Prevention, Inadequate Mental Health Care, Inadequate Protection from Harm, Inadequate Medical Care,

Environmental Health and Safety Deficiencies”); DOJ, Orleans Parrish Update to Findings Letter atpp. 2-21

(headings of findings are as follows: “Inadequate Protection From Violence and Sexual Assault, Inadequate Suicide

Prevention, Inadequate Mental Health Care and Access to Medical Care, Concerns regarding Inadequate Services to

Limited English Proficient Individuals”); Complaint, United States v. Territory of the Virgin Islands et al., 1:86-cv00254 ¶¶ 13-16 (D.V.I., Nov. 24, 1986).

1396 Complaint, United States v. Erie County, New York, 1:09-cv-00849, ¶¶ 22,26 (W.D. NY., Sept. 30, 2009),

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/US_v_Erie_AmendedComplaint_07-23-10.pdf;

Complaint in Intervention, Jones v. Gusman, 2:12-cv-00859, ¶¶15-16 (E.D. L.A., Sept. 24, 2012).

1397 See Table 11 (summary of cases and citations thereafter).

1398 See Table 12 (summary of cases and citations thereafter).

1399 All cases except New York included education as a focal point; all cases except LeFlore County included mental

health as a focal point. See Table 12 (summary of cases and citations thereafter).

1400 See Table 12 (summary of cases and citations thereafter).

1401 Abbate Testimony, p. 108-9.
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS 221

are believed, which ironically makes cases brought by one plaintiff more difficult than class action 

cases.1402 She emphasized that although CRIPA investigations by DOJ also have to overcome the 

hurdle of disproving consent “before they get out of the Department of Justice... in all my dealings 

with jurisdictions in CRIPA cases of sexual abuse, not one jurisdiction or agency has actually 

raised the defense of consent in negotiating those settlements.”1403 These dynamics show the 

relative power of the federal government as compared to litigation by individual impacted women, 

making the work of the federal government in enforcing these statutes protecting the rights of 

women in prison even more critical.

 

1402 Ibid.

1403 Abbate Testimony, p. 108-9.
222 WOMEN IN PRISON

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CHAPTER 8: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 223

CHAPTER 8: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Overview

Findings

Finding 1. The incarceration rate for women is rapidly increasing, even as the overall rate for men 

is declining. Despite this increase policies and practices in women’s prisons generally do not 

adequately protect the civil rights of these women.

Finding 2. Incarcerated people retain many civil rights despite their incarceration. They retain the 

right to enforce the legal protections to which they are entitled through administrative proceedings 

and the courts. These rights include the freedoms of speech and religion, the right to petition courts 

for relief, the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, the right to due process, and the 

right to be free from discrimination.

Finding 3. The Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment includes the right 

for incarcerated people to receive adequate healthcare, to be protected from sexual assault and 

harassment, and to experience overall conditions that do not violate contemporary standards of 

decency.

Finding 4. Many prison policies and facilities are not designed for women or tailored to their 

specific needs. Rather, many policies were adopted from men’s prison institutions without 

evaluating their application to women’s prison institutions.

Finding 5. Incarcerated women report extremely high rates of histories of physical, sexual, and 

mental trauma, much higher rates than incarcerated men report, although incarcerated men also 

report high rates of trauma. Studies indicate as many as 90% of incarcerated women experienced 

traumatic events prior to their incarceration, including, but not limited to physical assault, sexual 

assault, and psychological degradation. 

Finding 6. Incarcerated women are disproportionately women of color and LGBT people.

Finding 7. Very limited data exists on incarcerated women and their experience in the prison 

system, leaving policymakers at a deficit in designing and implementing policies for incarcerated 

women.

Finding 8. According to some experts, the routine practices of prisons (e.g. strip searches, or 

solitary confinement) and the physical environment and design of prisons (e.g. limited light, loud 

noises, clanking metal doors, and often extreme temperatures) can create or recreate the damaging 

experiences of trauma for women in prison. But prisons, when effectively run, can still accomplish 

their punitive and rehabilitative goals by using trauma informed responses without exacerbating 

the impacts on traumatized women. 
224 WOMEN IN PRISON

Finding 9. Providing adequate services to assist formerly incarcerated individuals with reentering 

society can reduce recidivism rates, given that re-arrests are often related to technical violations of 

release provisions related to difficulties in meeting financial obligations, lower employment skills, 

or the inability to secure safe housing. 

Adequacy of Legal Protections and Federal Action

Findings

Finding 10. Legal barriers impede incarcerated people seeking to enforce their constitutional 

rights. These include procedural barriers, such as administrative exhaustion and limits on 

attorney’s fees contained in the Prison Litigation Reform Act, and high substantive standards of 

proof, such as the deliberate indifference standard for Eighth Amendment claims, This standard 

requires not only that prison administrators knew of the rights violation that caused the harm to 

the inmate (such as lack of adequate medical care or extended solitary confinement), but, in 

addition to knowing about the deficit were indifferent to the harm the violation would cause. 

Finding 11. Notwithstanding federal statutory legal protections such as the Civil Rights of 

Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) and the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), aimed at 

protecting incarcerated people, many incarcerated women continue to experience physical and 

psychological safety harms while incarcerated and insufficient satisfaction of their constitutional 

rights.

Finding 12. Federal funding assistance such as through the National Institute of Corrections and 

the National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women specific to issues faced by women in 

prison made an important contribution in the past by facilitating the development of research tools 

and training methods specific to policies and practices regarding incarcerated women. This 

assistance has been sharply decreased because of federal budget cuts and agency prioritization of 

funds.

Finding 13. DOJ litigation against prison systems involving sexual abuse among other wrongs, has 

secured important changes to safeguard incarcerated women’s rights. Consent decrees have played 

important roles in resolving such cases to the parties’ satisfaction, allowing for necessary reforms 

to commence and take hold.

Finding 14. DOJ has a finite capacity to litigate constitutional violations and therefore cannot 

litigate against all institutions that, for example, do not address women’s medical needs, requiring 

additional mechanisms to ensure these rights.

Finding 15. DOJ is required pursuant to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to conduct 

annual public meetings of the Review Panel on Prison Rape. DOJ has not held a meeting since 

2014 and has none scheduled.
CHAPTER 8: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 225

Finding 16. Of the investigations it has carried out under CRIPA, DOJ has focused heavily on 

sexual abuse and less so on other challenges suffered by women in jails and prisons. Noticeably 

lacking are investigations into issues unique to women that are unconnected to sexual abuse, 

including dedicated attention for feminine health needs or access to programs and resources equal 

to those made available to men.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1. Congress should restore federal assistance through the National Institute of 

Corrections and the National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women to resume the 

development of research tools and training methods regarding incarcerated women.

Recommendation 2. Congress should amend the Prison Litigation Reform Act to address 

unnecessary legal barriers that limit the ability of incarcerated people to bring meritorious cases of 

constitutional violations.

Recommendation 3. The Review Panel on Prison Rape should return to its mandated annual 

meetings rather than continue its ongoing noncompliance with the statute.

Recommendation 4. DOJ should continue to litigate enforcement of the civil rights of incarcerated 

women in states that violate these mandates and the rights of incarcerated women. It should expand 

its investigation and litigation capacity to ensure the rights of all incarcerated women are protected 

through internal recognition of these civil rights harms and requests for additional funding if 

necessary. 

Recommendation 5. The National Institute of Corrections should direct its resources to continuing 

to develop and implement evidence-based, gender-informed policies and trainings. The NIC must 

be provided sufficient resources by Congress to do so.

Classification and Placement

Findings

Finding 17. Classification systems which are not calibrated for gender-specific characteristics have 

been shown to classify incarcerated women at higher security requirement levels than necessary 

for the safety and security of prisons. This classification results in some women serving time in 

more restrictive environments than is necessary and appropriate.

Finding 18. Women who are classified at higher security levels may receive fewer programming 

(such as vocational and educational opportunities), community placement, and reentry 

opportunities, which often results in women serving more time in prison than would be required if 

they had access to and completed these programming opportunities.
226 WOMEN IN PRISON

Finding 19. Transgender inmates report often being placed in facilities which do not conform to 

their gender identity, but rather their biological assignment at birth. These misplacements subject 

them to a greater risk of harm. The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which is administered by the 

Attorney General and the DOJ, has adopted definitions classifying transgender inmates to 

emphasize biological sex, which has the potential to lead to inaccurate classifications of 

transgender people.

Recommendations

Recommendation 6. Prison officials should adopt validated assessment tools, currently available, 

to avoid inaccurately classifying incarcerated women to a higher security level than appropriate.

Recommendation 7. Prison officials should ensure they place transgender incarcerated people in 

an appropriate facility consistent with their gender identity which ensures their safety and does not 

unduly restrict their movements within the prison facility such as restrictive housing or protective 

custody.

Family Disruption

Findings

Finding 20. Many incarcerated women are placed at facilities far from their families, many times 

as a result of a lack of regional facilities, despite policies requiring that they be placed as close to 

home as practicable. The federal system’s goal of placement within 500 miles of home often still 

results in incarcerated women being located in a different state from their family, dramatically 

limiting visitation opportunities. Women’s institutions are often isolated in rural areas. As a result, 

incarcerated women face barriers to receiving visitation from their family members and children.

Finding 21. Many prison policies do not prioritize family visits, such as by permitting extremely 

limited family visitation hours that often do not reflect distances visiting family must travel.

Finding 22. Women are disproportionately primary caretakers of minor children prior to 

incarceration. Women are estimated to be 5 times more likely to have a child placed in foster care 

while they are incarcerated, compared to incarcerated men.

Finding 23. Alternatives to traditional sentencing such as community placements or intermittent 

sentencing, such as pursuant to federal law permitting confinement during nights and weekends in 

some circumstances, are often not employed by sentencing authorities, despite the ability of these 

alternatives to help maintain family ties and avoid termination of parental rights.

Finding 24. Incarcerated parents are at risk of permanent loss of their parental rights when their 

children are placed in foster care. The Adoption and Safe Families Act calls for termination of 
CHAPTER 8: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 227

parental rights if a child has been placed in foster care for 15 of the past 22 months. Some states, 

such as Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, have 

amended state law to prohibit termination of parental rights solely on the basis of incarceration.

Finding 25. Incarcerated parents permanently lose parental rights at higher rates than parents 

whom courts find to have neglected or abused their children but are not incarcerated.

Finding 26. Prison policies can fail to support incarcerated parents’ efforts to maintain their 

parental rights by impeding participation in hearings and contact with their children or through 

lack of coordination with social service providers.

Finding 27. Some prisons unnecessarily curtail inmates’ opportunity for in-person contact with 

their loved ones by banning in-person visits after installing technology to support video 

conferencing systems to allow visitation without the need for physical proximity. In addition, 

prisons often charge inmates for the cost charged by the providers of video conferencing.

Recommendations

Recommendation 8. Prison officials should enforce policies that support parental rights and 

familial contact except where inconsistent with safety concerns. Such policies include keeping 

incarcerated parents apprised of family court proceedings, providing transportation to those 

proceedings, and assisting in locating counsel. Institutions should implement visitation policies 

with the goal of maintaining familial relationships.

Recommendation 9. Prison officials should give strong preference to placing incarcerated women 

in as close proximity as possible with location of their family.

Recommendation 10. Institutions should provide free video and low-cost phone services to 

incarcerated persons, and should not ban in-person visits for non-safety reasons.

Recommendation 11. Prison officials should ensure adequate staffing to allow for more 

meaningful visitation hours, including regular evening and weekend availability, that reflect the 

realities of visiting family traveling long distances.

Recommendation 12. Lawmakers and judges should explore sentencing alternatives, such as 

intermittent confinement, drug treatment programs or early transfer to residential re-entry centers 

closer to family which would limit family disruption and decrease the likelihood of termination of 

parental rights resulting from incarceration.
228 WOMEN IN PRISON

Healthcare

Findings

Finding 28. Incarcerated women generally have biological healthcare needs distinct from 

incarcerated men. They have a constitutional right to have these healthcare needs met.

Finding 29. There is a lack of standardization among prison systems regarding how female-specific 

healthcare, such as gynecological and prenatal care, is provided. Some prisons provide adequate 

regular care while others do not.

Finding 30. Incarcerated women who are pregnant are at heightened risk of healthcare 

emergencies, yet there is a lack of standardization in policies governing how their healthcare needs 

should be met, particularly in light of the rural locations of many prisons and distances to adequate 

specialist healthcare for pregnant women.

Finding 31. Reports from incarcerated women include prison officials ignoring early symptoms of 

potential miscarriage until too late to intervene, failing to transport laboring women to the hospital, 

and forcing them to give birth in their cells alone.

Finding 32. Shackling pregnant women and placing them in solitary confinement still occurs in 

some institutions despite the proven risks these practices pose to the safety of pregnant women.

Finding 33. Incarcerated women report incredibly high rates of past trauma, resulting in the need 

for mental health care and treatment while incarcerated.

Finding 34. Some incarcerated women do not have access to feminine hygiene products or must 

purchase them, putting them at risk of infection and other health consequences when they cannot 

be obtained in a timely adequate fashion.

Finding 35. Many prisons are located far from urban centers where specialized care for womenspecific health issues can be rendered.

Finding 36. LGBT women in prison are at even greater risk for their physical safety and healthcare 

needs being met than all women as a group.

Finding 37. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) does not collect information on pregnancy rates, 

medical treatment during and after pregnancy and health outcomes of pregnant incarcerated 

women.

Recommendations

Recommendation 13. Prison officials should implement policies to address women’s specific 

healthcare needs, including gynecological and prenatal care, as is constitutionally required.
CHAPTER 8: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 229

Recommendation 14. All prisons should prohibit shackling pregnant women and placing them in 

solitary confinement, as these practices represent serious physical and psychological health risks.

Recommendation 15. Prisons should provide adequate feminine hygiene products free of charge.

Recommendation 16. Prison officials should adopt training policies that adequately train their staff 

on how to handle medical emergencies, including emergencies specific to women, any time of day 

or place they occur.

Recommendation 17. The federal government should facilitate standardization of prison healthcare 

through its convening and grant-making authority so that all health needs are met, including 

gender-specific health needs.

Recommendation 18. Prison administrators should adopt policies to ensure specialist healthcare is 

available and where necessary, provide transportation to a specialist healthcare provider without 

delay.

Recommendation 19. BJS should routinely collect information about pregnancy while 

incarcerated, such as medical treatment and health outcomes to insure best medical practices are 

being followed at the institutions charged with the women’s care.

Recommendation 20. Prisons should have adequate mental health care staff and treatment 

programs available to meet the needs of the many incarcerated women with mental health 

challenges, such as past trauma.

Prevention of Sexual Abuse

Findings

Finding 38. Sexual abuse and rape remain prevalent against women in prison. This continuing 

prevalence has led to significant litigation involving several different institutions, at tremendous 

cost to taxpayers and providing strong evidence of the need for reform at the institutional level, 

even following passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003. Reports include abuse 

of incarcerated women by staff and other incarcerated women that is prevalent and pervasive. 

Finding 39. Incarcerated women who report sexual assault have experienced retaliation by their 

institutions and prison personnel in violation of PREA and their Eighth Amendment rights.

Finding 40. PREA’s enforcement mechanism of 5% reduction in certain federal funds for 

noncompliance has not yet achieved full compliance with PREA:

a. As of 2016, DOJ deemed 40 states and the District of Columbia out of compliance, although most 

continually assert every year they are working towards compliance;
230 WOMEN IN PRISON

b. DOJ rarely reduces funds for noncompliance, and amounts allowed by the statute are not sufficient 

to serve as a true incentive for states to comply

c. The Department of Justice does not have sufficient resources to ensure PREA auditors are properly 

trained and certified.

Finding 41. PREA standards prohibit prison personnel from conducting cross-gender searches and 

viewing incarcerated people in states of undress, however some prisons struggle to meet these 

requirements due to inadequate staffing.

Finding 42. Congress does not consistently appropriate grant funds sufficient to provide personnel, 

training, technical assistance, data collection, and equipment for institutions to comply with 

PREA.

Recommendations:

Recommendation 21. The Department of Justice should rigorously enforce the PREA standards, 

including training and certifying auditors and investigating whether facilities are in fact in 

compliance. Congress should provide more funds for investigations and audits.

Recommendation 22. Congress should enact stricter penalties for non-compliance with PREA 

standards focused on inmate safety.

Recommendation 23. Congress should consistently appropriate grant funding sufficient to ensure 

correctional agencies do not default on their obligations to incarcerated people to protect them 

from sexual abuse, such as funding for personnel, training, technical assistance, data collection, 

and equipment.

Recommendation 24. Prison officials should implement policies and discipline practices to 

eliminate retaliation for reporting sexual assault, and should take all necessary measures to ensure 

incarcerated people can report assault without risk to their safety.

Recommendation 25. PREA standards require prison officials to hire sufficient staff to ensure the 

safety of incarcerated people, including sufficient women staffing to perform searches and 

supervision in sensitive areas. In order to implement these requirements and comply with Title VII 

of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, officials should consider a rigorous analysis of their hiring 

practices, including whether a bona-fide occupational qualification is appropriate for any posting 

in the circumstances, consistent with legal precedent when such action is necessary and 

permissible by law.
CHAPTER 8: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 231

Discipline and Restrictive Housing

Findings

Finding 43. Studies have shown incarcerated women are often given disproportionately harsh 

punishments for minor offenses while incarcerated compared to incarcerated men. This 

disproportionality results in such outcomes as placing women in segregation for minor violations 

of prison regulations, which denies them good time credits which would shorten their sentences 

and denies them programing privileges, among other restrictions. Reports indicate women are 

disproportionately punished harshly for offenses such as “being disorderly” where men tend more 

often to be punished for violence.

Finding 44. Placement in solitary confinement, also known as segregation or restrictive housing, 

does profound physical and psychological harm. It may also result in a longer period of 

incarceration as people in segregation can lose good time-credits, do not have the same access to 

programming opportunities that can shorten their sentences, and do not have access to prison jobs.

Finding 45. Prisons inappropriately use segregation as a purported means of protection for LGBT 

people and people who report sexual assault, which amounts to additional punishment for these 

incarcerated people.

Finding 46. Incarcerated people who report past mental health challenges are more likely than 

other incarcerated people to be found in violation of prison rules and sent to restrictive housing.

Finding 47. Restricted housing is also often used disproportionately against people of color.

Recommendations:

Recommendation 26. Prisons should implement evidence-based discipline policies that are 

trauma-informed to avoid harsh punishments for minor infractions, recognizing significant harms 

that can result from placement in restrictive housing. Prisons should ensure restrictive housing is 

not used against people of color, LGBT people, and people with mental health challenges in a 

discriminatory manner based on these characteristics.

Recommendation 27. Prison officials should ensure the safety of LGBT people and people who 

report sexual assault without using punitive restrictive housing as the only alternative.

Training

Findings

Finding 48. Prison officials, supervisors, and correctional officers are inconsistently trained on the 

prevalence of disproportionate punishment of incarcerated women and evidence-based 

disciplinary practices.
232 WOMEN IN PRISON

Finding 49. Prison policies generally are not designed to address the high rates of historical trauma 

among incarcerated women lead to women being punished for behavior that results from trauma. 

Policies and practices designed to address trauma have resulted in less violence and need for 

discipline, such as the dramatic reduction in the use of segregation after such policies were 

implemented in Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Alabama following a settlement agreement in 

2015.

Finding 50. BOP executive staff had not, as of February 2019, completed trauma-informed training 

required of staff at women’s institutions. According to the DOJ Office of Inspector General, such 

training of executive staff is necessary to inform BOP policy regarding incarcerated women.

Finding 51. State departments of corrections report a need for additional staff trained in medical 

and mental health needs, programming for pregnant women, and sufficient staff to support 

visitation by families and friends. Trauma-informed training of staff has not been fully 

implemented in many states. 

Recommendations

Recommendation 28. Prison officials should implement staff training to address the high rates of 

trauma among incarcerated women and adjust prison policies accordingly, including training on 

evidence-based discipline practices.

Recommendation 29. BOP executive staff should complete trauma-informed training as 

recommended by the Office of the Inspector General, and should continually train new staff as 

they begin employment.

Programming

Findings

Finding 52. Incarcerated women report an overall lack of programming in varying professions 

which would create a meaningful impact to their lives so they can successfully reenter the 

community after prison.

Finding 53. Reports indicate vocational programming for incarcerated women can be limited to 

professions that are stereotypically coded female, such as cosmetology, and not include training in 

professions that are stereotypically coded male, such as welding.

Finding 54. Programs that are present often are small in number with long waiting lists.

Finding 55. BOP has extensive waitlists for programs designed and proven successful to address 

the prevalent trauma in women’s lives.
CHAPTER 8: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 233

Finding 56. Corrections officials report a lack of sufficient staff to implement the programs they 

see as necessary.

Recommendations

Recommendation 30. Prison officials should implement programming necessary to assist 

incarcerated women to develop skills they need to successfully re-enter the community. They 

should hire appropriate staff to manage these programs.

Recommendation 31. Congress and states should appropriate sufficient funds to implement 

necessary programming.

Recommendation 32. Prison officials should not limit vocational opportunities available to 

incarcerated women based on gender stereotypes. Vocational programs should not be coded 

female-only, but should include programs that will optimize job advancement, regardless of 

gender.

Recommendation 33. BOP should increase availability of its trauma-related programming for 

incarcerated women.

Recommendation 34. Prison officials and lawmakers should fund and implement sufficient 

trauma-related programming to meet the incredible rates of trauma reported by incarcerated 

women.
234 WOMEN IN PRISON 

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COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS 235

COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND 

REBUTTALS

Statement of Commissioner David Kladney

A woman lays on a jail cell bunk in the throes of labor. She is alone, but is being watched by a jail 

guard via color video somewhere in the jail complex. She is moaning and then screaming in the 

pain of labor. Yet no one comes to assist. Finally, as the time of delivery approaches the not 

convicted 27-year-old, soon-to-be mother, sheds her own sweat pants and delivers the baby alone. 

Curiously, after the delivery the staff entered the room.1404 In 2018, the Denver jail did not have a 

policy mandating that a prisoner giving birth to be taken to the hospital so that both mother and 

child receive appropriate care.

The Illinois prison system rounded up 200 women prisoners without notice. They corralled them 

into a gym cutting out small groups to the bathroom and a beauty shop where they were ordered 

to strip naked in full view of male guards and the prisoners remaining in the gym. They were 

ordered to stand and remove their tampons or sanitary napkins even through that left them bleeding 

standing in place in front of prison staff. They were ordered to lift their breasts and hair, cough, 

squat and finally bend over and expose their vaginal and anal cavities to staff and cadets taking 

part in a training exercise on how to visually search inmates without probing their body 

openings.1405

This humiliating and dehumanizing conduct by the government for the sake of a training exercise 

was found by the courts not to be a search in violation of fourth amendment proscriptions as there 

was no bodily intrusion.1406 The women standing totally naked, exposed, and bleeding, not for 

anything they did, but for the sake of the state saving a few dollars by not hiring free person standins for training is shameful. 

 

1404 Jordan Culver, “‘They took no action’: Colorado Women Files Lawsuit After Prison Video Shows Her Giving

Birth Alone in Jail,” USA Today, August 29, 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/29/coloradowoman-who-gave-birth-alone-jail-cell-files-federal-lawsuit/2156850001.

1405 Meagan Flynn, “Female Inmates Were Forced to Expose Their Genitals in a ‘Training Exercise.’ It was Legal,

Court Rules,” Washington Post, July 19, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/19/femaleinmates-were-forced-expose-their-genitals-training-exercise-it-was-legal-court-rules.

1406 Henry v. Hulett, 930 F. 3d 836 (7th Cir. 2019).
236 WOMEN IN PRISON 

These recent examples of the treatment of women in prison and jails throughout our country may 

be anecdotal, but they are, regretfully, not isolated or unusual.

1407

It shouldn’t have taken an act of Congress1408 to supply women in prison with free menstrual 

products, a feat most of the states have yet to match. (As of 2018 only 15 states supplied free 

feminine hygiene products.)1409 For that matter, it shouldn’t have been necessary for Congress to 

pass a law banning BOP from handcuffing and shackling women while giving birth. Other states 

and local jails still do.

I see a better way.

The Commission’s study on Women in Prison covers the major issues faced by incarcerated 

women every day. I fully support the findings and recommendations of the Commission. They are 

not pie in the sky reforms that are impossible to implement. They do not make “doing time” easier 

on women nor do they adjust the authority dynamic between correctional officers and incarcerated 

people. What they do is correct wrongdoing. They change a culture of oppression into a culture of 

correction which will benefit incarcerated women and make the public safer.

Women are the fastest growing segment of the prison population. The reasons why can be debated; 

however, it is a fact. As our report explains, women’s incarceration is growing almost twice as fast 

as incarceration for men, as since 1980 the number of women in prison increased by more than 

700 percent compared to an approximately 400 percent increase for men.1410

From healthcare to prevention of sexual assault to having their parental rights terminated, the 

prison industry is failing these women and the public.

Prisoners do not leave their civil rights at the jailhouse gate. They maintain a host of rights, 

including, but not limited to freedom of religion, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, the 

right to due process and access to the courts to redress grievances, and the right to be free from 

discrimination. They do forfeit some rights as well, such as prohibitions on warrantless search and 

seizure and freedom to travel among others.

 

1407 See, e.g., Sandra E. Garcia, “Ordeal of Woman Who Gave Birth in Florida Jail Cell Prompts Internal

Investigation,” New York Times, May 7, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/woman-gives-birth-jailcell.html.

1408 The First Step Act of 2018, P. L. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194.

1409 Derek Gilna, “New Policies for Federal and State Prisoners Guarantee Feminine Hygiene Products,” Prison

Legal News, April 2, 2018, https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/apr/2/new-policies-federal-and-stateprisoners-guarantee-feminine-hygiene-products/.

1410 Report at 10.
COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS 237

We found most women prisoners (90%) are low and minimum security. They, by much greater 

rates than men, enter the prison system after suffering extremely high rates of physical and sexual 

assault, and mental abuse. 

To its credit, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has instituted trauma-informed training for its staff.

This training enlightens the staff as to the different ways women in their custody have suffered 

trauma and the best approaches to those traumas. It works. Hopefully, the executive staff of BOP 

takes the training as suggested by the Office of Inspector General1411 to see for themselves. States, 

cities and counties should also institute this type of training throughout their systems.

BOP also offers trauma-informed classes. It is a program used by women in BOP institutions 

which addresses the unique sexual, physical and mental abuse they suffered. The only issue is BOP 

does not offer near enough classes in this program so all those who want and need to attend can. 

More resources should be spent in this area for such a popular and effective program.

There is also an additional need for more and better trained staff to address medical and mental 

health needs of women. Many prisons are located in rural America, far from urban centers where 

specialized healthcare professionals are concentrated. The complex and different medical needs of 

women go unaddressed because of a lack of resources. Many women do not get annual exams in 

prisons, timely mammograms or sufficient mental health counseling. Even where good mental 

health treatment programs exist, the wait lists to enter them are extraordinarily long, causing more 

problems for the inmate and staff.

If the public and legislatures demand incarceration, they should be willing to provide the resources

necessary to create effective incarceration.

Most women’s prisons are located far from their homes. Women at the time of their incarceration 

are disproportionately the primary caretakers of minor children. BOP does not have institutions in 

every state. BOP has a policy to attempt to place women within 500 miles of their homes. Still 

quite a distance for a visit. However, what is not understandable is why more federal judges do not 

utilize 18 U.S.C. § 3563(b)(10).1412 This is where the person being sentenced remains in the 

custody of the Bureau of Prisons during nights, weekends, or other intervals of time, totaling no 

more than the lesser of one year or the term of imprisonment authorized for the offense, during the 

first year of the term of probation or supervised release. 

 

1411 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management

of its Female Population, (Sept. 2018), https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2018/e1805.pdf.

1412 18 U.S.C. §3563 et. seq.
238 WOMEN IN PRISON 

This allows people to remain, work, and participate in the community, with their children and 

families. It also increases opportunities to attend vocational rehabilitation or any number of 

positive rehabilitative activities the court may order under the supervision of parole and probation.

Throughout the different prison systems there are three main methods families communicate with 

incarcerated women – in-person visits, by telephone or video visits. The cost of these visits varies 

greatly from the federal government, state to state prison, and county and city jails. As noted above, 

many federal and state prisons are located far from urban areas. Free people can use FaceTime or 

internet phone lines at a very, very low cost. Many states make a profit from the communication 

between inmates and their families.1413 They shouldn’t. The Commission understands the need of 

the institutions to monitor communications for security and to collect evidence for pending 

offenses. This should be done at the lowest possible cost with communication made easily 

available to the incarcerated to maintain family relations since in-person visits are difficult and 

costly. Phone and video calls at no cost to incarcerated people should be possible. The technology 

is available.

Where video visits are allowed, prisons should not eliminate in-person visits to incarcerated 

people.1414 This has occurred in some institutions. It is an alarming trend, again prioritizing cost 

savings over deeply important family connections. 

Where women do not have other family members to care for their children when they are 

incarcerated, social services place them in foster care. This starts the clock running on possible 

termination of their parental rights. Where children are in foster care for 15 of the immediate past 

22 months the law calls for termination of parental rights. However, some states of have amended 

state law to prohibit termination on the sole basis of incarceration.1415

Prison systems should also assist incarcerated people with keeping family court dates, whether by 

video or in person and assist in locating and/or maintaining a list of counsel and organizations to 

assist in representation.

 

1413 Clint Smith, “While Prisoners Struggle to Afford Calls to Their Families, States Are Making a Profit. This Must

Stop Now,” Time Magazine, May 24, 2019, https://time.com/5595475/prison-phone-calls-connecticut-law/

1414 Debra Cassens Weiss, “Another jail eliminates in-person visits and adopts 50-cent-a-minute video visitation,”

ABA Journal, July 24, 2018,

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/another_jail_eliminates_free_in_person_visits_and_adopts_video_visitatio

n

1415 Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Report at 81.
COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS 239

A comprehensive review of disciplinary actions in prison has not been conducted, but the 

information we do have indicates women are given harsh sanctions for minor offenses.

1416 They 

are sent to solitary confinement for subjective and comparatively minor offenses, such as talking 

back. We heard from experts that in men’s prisonsthe exact same disciplinary punishment, solitary 

confinement, tends to be imposed in response to violent conduct. The unfairness is obvious. 

Solitary confinement is an extremely harsh punishment in any circumstances. When it is the only 

resort prison officials have to even minor infractions, discipline policies and practices are in need 

of substantial adjustment. Prison officials who have rightfully recalibrated have seen safer prisons 

and avoided re-traumatizing incarcerated people through sending them to solitary confinement. 

More prison systems should follow suit.1417

Through the course of this project, we were reminded over and over not to forget the humanity of 

incarcerated people. This important call has been echoed by moral leaders throughout history, and 

bears repeating. It is all too easy to mentally categorize prisoners as people not worthy of our 

concern. We must resist this careless pattern of thinking and policy making.

As Justice Kennedy put it:

Even those of us who have specific professional responsibilities for the criminal justice 

system can be neglectful when it comes to the subject of corrections. The focus of the legal 

profession, perhaps even the obsessive focus, has been on the process for determining guilt 

or innocence. When someone has been judged guilty and the appellate and collateral review 

process has ended, the legal profession seems to lose all interest. When the prisoner is taken 

way, our attention turns to the next case. When the door is locked against the prisoner, we 

do not think about what is behind it.

We have a greater responsibility. As a profession, and as a people, we should know what 

happens after the prisoner is taken away. To be sure the prisoner has violated the social 

contract; to be sure he must be punished to vindicate the law, to acknowledge the suffering 

 

1416 See the testimony of Jessica Pupovac, lead reporter and researcher on discipline and its disproportionate

application in women’s prisons. Briefing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Women in Prison,”

Washington, D.C., February 22, 2019, page 206, line 10 to page 213, line 7,

https://www.usccr.gov/calendar/2019/02-22-Women-In-Prison-Transcript.pdf.

1417 See the testimony of Wendy Williams, Deputy Commissioner of Women’s Services, Alabama Department of

Corrections, referring to discipline at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, and testimony of Leann K. Bertsch,

Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation, North Dakota Department of Corrections. Briefing transcript at page

226, line 7 to page 228, line 10 https://www.usccr.gov/calendar/2019/02-22-Women-In-Prison-Transcript.pdf.
240 WOMEN IN PRISON 

of the victim, and to deter future crimes. Still, the prisoner is a person; still, he or she is 

part of the family of humankind.1418

As the family of humankind, we must not forget the people we don’t see because they are behind 

bars. Their rights to human dignity, safety, opportunity, and freedom from trauma are just as vital 

as the rights of people in free society. I am proud of the work of this Commission to draw attention 

to these rights and the realities many incarcerated women face where these rights are not upheld. 

I hope our work will lead to better prison conditions for women as their stories are heard and 

understood. 

 

1418 Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Address At The American Bar Association Annual Meeting, August 9, 2003,

https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/speeches/sp_08-09-03.html.
COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS 241

Dissenting Statement and Rebuttal of Gail L. Heriot (Peter N. Kirsanow concurring)

If ever you are given the choice between spending time in a women’s prison or a men’s, I would 

advise you to choose the women’s, no matter what your sex. Men’s prisons tend to be much 

tougher places.1419 This can be attributed to the fact that the crimes that lead to men’s incarceration 

are typically more serious and violent than those of women. If one reflects upon it for a moment, 

it should surprise no one that men are more likely to be raped in prison than women.

The Commission nevertheless chose to study conditions at women’s prisons rather than men’s (or 

rather than both). There is nothing wrong with that, but I do hope the Commission will in the future 

be as concerned about the special problems faced by men in prisons as they are here about those 

faced by women.1420

I originally supported this proposal because it provided an opportunity to conduct original research 

on whether educational and vocational training resources are allocated fairly between men’s and 

women’s prisons. Men are overwhelmingly more likely to be incarcerated than women. For 

example, according to the latest statistics available, 92.9% of federal prisoners are men and 7.1% 

are women.1421 It may therefore be easier for men’s prisons to offer a wide variety of educational 

and vocational offerings than it is for women’s prisons. To use a concrete example, imagine a 

men’s prison with 1000 inmates existing beside a women’s prison with 100 inmates. It’s more 

likely that you’ll find enough interested persons in the larger prison to make offering a particular 

educational or vocational offering worthwhile – whether that’s a GED program or an electrician’s 

 

1419 See, e.g., Mark Flesicher and Jessica Kreinert, “The Culture of Prison Sexual Violence,” National Institute of

Justice, November 2006, available at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/216515.pdf. Fleischer and Kreinert

stated, “Five percent of women and 22.0 percent of men reported they were certain that at least one rape occurred in

an institution they were housed in their life-time experience of imprisonment. Nine percent of women inmates and

21.3 percent of men inmates reported some worry or sense of threat caused by a potential rape” (260). See also

Cindy Struckman-Johnson, David Struckman-Johnson, Lila Rucker, Kurt Bumby, and Stephen Donaldson, “Sexual

coercion reported by men and women in prison,” 33 J. Sex Research 67 (1996) (“The reported incident rate [of

sexual coercion] was 22% for male and 7% for female respondents.”).

1420 In a previous report, The Collateral Consequences of Imprisonment, the Commission made an unusual claim--

that lifetime bans on public benefits for individuals with drug convictions disproportionately harm women. Report at 

72-73. This makes me wonder if the Commission can show equal concern for the concerns of both men and women. 

As Commissioner Kirsanow and I wrote at the time, “The problem is that prisoners are overwhelmingly male..., so 

the report’s efforts to cast these bans as having an unfair bias against women don’t quite work. The various statistics 

cited in the report—e.g., that female offenders are somewhat more likely to have been incarcerated for drugs than 

male offenders and that women are more likely to qualify for certain public benefits in the absence of a drug 

conviction—aren’t mathematically enough to overcome the fact that prisoners are overwhelmingly male. We are a 

bit troubled—and perhaps a bit amused—that our staff took a topic (the collateral consequences of a criminal 

conviction) that overwhelmingly affects men, downplayed the significance of this disproportionality, and somehow 

managed to instead argue (incorrectly) that certain collateral consequences have a disparate impact on women.” 

1421 BOP Statistics: Inmate Gender, available at https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_gender.jsp.
242 WOMEN IN PRISON 

license or a course in air conditioner repair. Therefore, men may be more likely to get a broad 

range of opportunities in prison that will prepare them for good jobs once back outside. In addition, 

there is the problem that men and women tend to prefer different courses. All of this adds to the 

difficulty of determining whether the range of opportunities available to each group is equitable.

For the most part, I don’t think that this type of imbalance results from intentional discrimination, 

as opposed to economies of scale.1422 But it may mean that policymakers should think carefully 

about how to ensure basic fairness. 

Unfortunately, that opportunity to conduct original research wasn’t taken. The report says almost 

nothing about specific educational and vocational offerings and how men’s and women’s prisons 

compare.1423 To my mind at least, this is unfortunate. The Commission needs to do more basic 

original research. I note that at least one State Advisory Committee has looked more closely at 

allocation of resources between men’s and women’s prisons in its state.1424 Other SACs may wish 

to take up this topic. 

Here are some of my problems with what did go into this report:1425

 

1422 Schools face a similar challenge with regard to allocation of athletic resources. Men as a group are more 

interested in playing sports than women as a group are. A school that allocates spots on sports teams based on 

interest is therefore likely to allocate more spots to men’s teams than women’s. That will mean that some schools 

will wind up offering men’s lacrosse but not women’s or the like.

Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 has been interpreted to require schools to offer equal athletic 

opportunities to men and women. A school that offers men’s lacrosse but not women’s may find itself the recipient 

of a Title IX complaint and the target of an investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. 

Many schools have therefore added women’s teams (or dropped men’s) to avoid costly investigations or litigation.

I am not aware of similar legal pressure being placed on prisons to have identical offerings or programs for both 

sexes. The Title IX sports experience suggests, though, that measures intended to bolster women can have the 

unintended consequence of decreasing opportunities for interested men. Policymakers would be advised to tread 

carefully here. 

1423 Some discussion of older research conducted by others appears starting at page 157 of the Report. 

1424 See New Hampshire State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Unequal 

Treatment In New Hampshire’s State Prison System, September 2011, available at 

https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/docs/Unequal_Treatment_WomenIncarceratedinNHStatePrisonSystem.pdf. 

1425 I note also the Commission didn’t interview any prison guards or officials who are involved with the day-to-day 

management of prisons. And while it did hear from some high-level administrators, that is not at all the same thing. 

Some policies that sound senseless turn out not to be when one learns more about the situation from those who deal 

directly with it. 

The Commission also did not visit a women’s prison. In my commissioners’ statements to two recent reports on 

immigration detention, I have described discrepancies between the majority’s lurid descriptions of conditions at 

detention facilities and what I actually saw with my own eyes when I visited. See Statement of Commissioner Gail 

Heriot in United States Commission on Civil Rights, Trauma at the Border: The Human Cost of Inhumane 

Immigration Policies (2019), 137-41; Statement of Commissioner Gail Heriot in United States Commission on Civil 
COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS 243

In advocating special treatment for women, the Commission overlooks potential equal protection 

issues. For example, the majority finds that not using assessment tools “calibrated for genderspecific characteristics” means that some women are placed in higher security facilities than is 

strictly necessary for safety.1426 It therefore recommends adopting assessment tools that take sex 

into account. The problem is that this is a sex-based classification that may be an equal protection 

violation. It is possible that the government’s interest in not putting prisoners in overly restrictive 

settings qualifies as an interest sufficient to withstand intermediate scrutiny, and that these 

classification tools are a means that are sufficiently related to that interest to withstand intermediate 

scrutiny.1427 If so, this particular sex-based classification would be lawful. But the report needs to 

make that case. It is troubling that a Commission on Civil Rights would just ignore this sort of 

legal problem.1428

The Commission also wanders into transgender issues without serious analysis.1429 Figuring out

where to put transgender individuals in a sex-binary system is difficult. I see four basic options.

One is to treat all transgender persons as members of their birth sex. But some transgender

 

Rights, With Liberty and Justice For All: The State of Civil Rights at Immigration Detention Facilities (2015) at 

172-219. 

Along the same lines, I recognize the gravity of some of the issues that Commissioner Kladney discusses in his 

Commissioner’s Statement. It is important to remember the basic humanity and dignity of all persons, even those 

who have committed terrible crimes, as he exhorts us to do in his Statement. At the same time, I fear he is 

overconfident about the level of wisdom and insight that we as a federal body can bring to bear on the problems of 

managing prisons. Are we really, without even so much as having visited a women’s prison, in a strong position to 

give micromanaging advice on tampon distribution? (My apologies in advance for making Commissioner Kirsanow 

blush.) 

1426 See Finding 17. 

1427 Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976)(applying “intermediate scrutiny” to differential treatment based on sex). 

1428 The opposite argument was made in City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power v. Manhart, 435 U.S. 

702 (1978). In that case, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power knew that, on average, women live longer 

than men. It thus took that fact into consideration in requiring that women pay somewhat more than men for the 

same level of retirement benefits. The thought was that on average it will even out, since women will collect benefits 

longer than men due to their longer lives. The problem is that for any individual woman or man, this may or may not 

turn out to be true. The Supreme Court held that because Title VII prohibits sex from being taken into consideration 

in employment benefits, this was a violation of the law.

The same logic applies here (though here the claim would be an equal protection claim under the Constitution and 

hence subject to intermediate scrutiny). See Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976). The Commission’s failure even to 

recognize the issue suggests to me that its members take the position that taking sex into account is fine if it benefits 

women, but not if it benefits men. This should be an embarrassing argument to make. 

1429 The majority’s excitement about being on the “right side of history” with regard to LGBT issues sometimes 

leads it to do strange things. For example, on page 56, it complains about bans on sexual activity in prison and their 

negative effects on lesbian and bisexual women in prison. I see good reasons, unrelated to anti-gay bias, for such 

rules. Concerns about sexual coercion can be very serious. Also there’s not much privacy in prison, so preventing 

other people from having to witness intimate behavior can be a consideration. 
244 WOMEN IN PRISON 

individuals, especially those who have undergone surgery or are taking hormones, may no longer

fit in well in a single-sex prison with members of their birth sex. A second option (the one

endorsed in this report’s Findings and Recommendations) is to classify all transgender

individuals as members of their preferred sex. But this approach may not work well for

transgender persons who do not clearly identify with one particular sex (“two spirit” or the like)

or who have the anatomical features of their birth sex. There is also the problem of opportunism

on the part of biological males who wish to be transferred to women’s prison because they

believe that these facilities are safer or otherwise preferable.1430 A third approach is to have some

person (or committee of persons) study individual cases and then recommend an assignment.

Finally, a fourth option would be to create a specialized facility or part of a facility for

transgender persons.

I don’t claim to know what the right answer is here. But I’m not convinced that the Commission

does either. The report doesn’t weigh the tradeoffs in any kind of thoughtful way. Instead, it

adopts the orthodox (and unscientific) “progressive” position that anyone who identifies as a

woman is a woman, full stop, and that anyone who identifies as a man is a man, full stop. To

question any such assertion, or even to acknowledge that cisgender women and male-to-female

transgender persons have meaningfully different experiences of femininity, they dismiss as

bigotry.

Finally, I have reservations about the findings and recommendations under “Adequacy of Legal

Protections and Federal Action.” I agree that it is important to respect the individual rights of

prisoners and that violations should be corrected swiftly. However, the report laments “legal

barriers” (otherwise known as “democratically enacted laws”) such as “administrative exhaustion

and limits on attorneys’ fees” and “high substantive standards of proof.”1431 Prisoners can be a

litigious group. I observed some of this when delving into complaints for an earlier Commission

report on religious liberty in prison. As I discuss in my statement to that report, the Prison

Litigation Reform Act was passed in part because of concerns about the high volume of prisoner

complaints of dubious merit.1432 A balance needs to be struck between making it easy for prisoners

to vindicate their rights while deterring frivolous and vexatious claims. My colleagues haven’t

given me reason to conclude that the current system is out of balance.

 

1430 Note that gender and sexual orientation are not the same thing. A transgender woman (i.e. an anatomical male 

who psychologically identifies as a woman) may also be sexually attracted to women. Hence a finding that a 

transgender woman has been having sexual relations with women prisoners is not necessarily a ground for finding 

that the person is not transgender after all.

1431 Finding 10. 

1432 Statement of Gail Heriot in United States Commission on Civil Rights, Enforcing Religious Freedom in Prison

(2008) at 126.
COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS 245

Rebuttal of Commissioner David Kladney

Vocational and educational training in prison is vital to the success of the women leaving prison 

and lowering the recidivism rate. When people have employment options we have safer 

communities.

Commissioner Heriot’s initial support of the project was welcome, but her follow-up in seeking 

“original research” failed. Unfortunately, when the briefing came, she didn’t provide any input. At 

the Commission’s day-long briefing on this topic, the record reflects a lack of engagement with 

the testifying experts on Commissioner Heriot’s part. Ultimately Commissioner Heriot did not 

support the report.

Commissioner Heriot states she supported this project as it provided an opportunity to conduct 

original research on “whether educational and vocational training resources are allocated fairly 

between men’s and women’s prisons” as “men are overwhelmingly more likely to be incarcerated 

than women.”

We adopted the research plan for the Women in Prison project on December 7, 2018. At that 

meeting, Commissioner Heriot voiced her concern regarding economies of scale between men and 

women’s in prison as it is acknowledged that 95% of prisoners are men. I noted in response that 

throughout this project we would engage with the federal Bureau of Prisons and would seek to 

have a representative testify before us. Additionally, during the course of this project, we sent 

document requests and interrogatories to the BOP.

Dr. Alix McLearen, of BOP, did attend the briefing held by the commission on February 22, 2019. 

She was the first witness on the first panel when the Commission convened. Commissioner Heriot 

did not ask her, the expert sent from BOP, any questions about education or vocational education 

in BOP prisons. Commissioner Heriot sat through 21 expert witnesses and didn’t ask a single 

question about anything. If she had asked, Dr. McLearen would have told her BOP has a list of 

each educational and vocational programs offered, but, for some unknown reason, they do not keep 

track of the number of individuals who attend each program in each prison. Additionally, we 

requested a list of the programs offered by BOP in our interrogatories. BOP provided extensive 

information, but not the numbers of individuals who had completed each program, a metric it 

apparently does not track.1433

Ultimately, Commissioner Heriot sat mute during the entire process. She did not support the 

Commission’s report, findings and recommendations when there was a real opportunity to join in 

the process.

 

1433 See Attachments 12a and 12b to BOP’s Interrogatory Responses, on file with the Commission. 
246 WOMEN IN PRISON 

At the briefing, her only participation was to offer a suggestion to panelists for an avenue for 

research rather than engaging in the Commission’s information gathering process.

She stated:

COMMISSIONER HERIOT: I think I have a suggestion. And maybe this has already been 

done. But a couple of people have mentioned this notion that prisoners who get visitors do 

better when they get out than prisoners who haven't had visitors. 

And the problem with that is you don't know whether the causation runs one way or the 

other. It may be that the sort of person that nobody wants to visit is the sort of person that 

doesn't do very well when they get out. So what you could do to test that is to look at the 

population of prisoners whose home is very far away, because the reason they're not getting 

visited is going to be disproportionate because it's hard to, it's hard for the people to get to 

them, and compare that to the population who are very close to their families. And if the 

family isn't coming, it could signal something that's different from what, you know, from 

what you're thinking, and compare the gap in those two. And I think that would be useful 

research.1434

In her statement, Commissioner Heriot opines the lack of programs in women’s prisons may exist 

because it is easier and most cost effective to offer a wider variety of programs in men’s facilities 

because 92.7% of men and 7.1% women currently make up the incarcerated population. 

Mere speculation.

If size matters, Commissioner Heriot should compare size of women’s facility to that of a men’s 

facility before she proffers a “concrete example” imagining a men’s prison of 1,000 and a women’s 

prison of 100 inmates. In short, she states it is more likely a broad range of vocational and 

educational programs would be offered to men because of economies of scale.

Oh, how wrong.

In my home state of Nevada there are six men’s prisons of differing populations and one women’s 

prison. The women’s prison, Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Facility, has a capacity of 

950 people. According to the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) website the state offers 

self-help, substance abuse programs, and employment skills that employers expect employees to 

have to retain employment.1435 They also offer Adult High School diploma classes. The only 

vocational program listed by NDOC for women is a cosmetology program “to recruit, teach and 

 

1434 Briefing Transcript at p. 233-234, https://www.usccr.gov/calendar/2019/02-22-Women-In-Prison-Transcript.pdf. 

1435 State of Nevada Department of Corrections, http://doc.nv.gov/. 
COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS 247

train each inmate that is approved for this program, to master the art and sciences of the 

cosmetology industry.” As we noted in the report, offering only cosmetology classes to women is 

an example of programming likely based on stereotypical assumptions about women’s vocational 

preferences.1436 The educational program consists of classes to obtain an adult high school diploma 

or a high school equivalency certificate.

By contrast, the Lovelock men’s facility (capacity 1680), offers dry cleaning, culinary food 

service, computers, horticulture, automotive maintenance and repair. In addition, a mattress and a 

garment factory exists as a prison industry. Educational programs provide an “opportunity to enroll 

in educational classes in pursuit of a GED, high school diploma or college degrees.”

The Northern Nevada Correctional Center (capacity 1619) offers Auto mechanics/auto shop, 

computers, and dry cleaning. Prison industries offers wood shop, metal shop, paint shop and 

upholstery. Educational programs are listed as high school diploma by the Carson City School 

District and some college courses by Western Nevada Community College.

Clearly, with no significant difference in facility size, critical mass is present at the women’s 

facility to offer more and diverse vocational programs.

This is a factual approach which confirms the testimony of Dr. McLearen of the BOP, Dr. Wendy 

Williams, the Alabama Deputy Commissioner for Women’s Services, Leann K. Bertsch, the North 

Dakota Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and others who testified before the commission 

that more diverse educational and vocational programs should be offered women in prison to put 

their rehabilitation on an equal footing with men in prison.1437 This is not a matter of economies of 

scale, it is a matter of discrimination against women.

Commissioner Heriot also comments at footnote 7 of her statement that, “the Commission didn’t 

interview any prison guards or officials who are involved in the day-to-day operation management 

of prisons. And, while it did hear from some high-level administrators, that is not at all the same 

thing. Some policies that sound senseless turn out not to be when one learns more about the 

situation from those who deal directly with it.”

I believe the record we gathered very much reflects deep knowledge of day-to-day management 

of prisons. For example, Dr. Williams began her career as a correctional officer trainee in 1987. 

She has since moved up the ranks from correctional officer to captain. She was appointed the 

Director of training and ultimately Deputy Director for Women’s Services. Dr. McLearen has 

worked as a psychologist in three BOP institutions. Furthermore, their testimony revealed personal 

 

1436 Report at 159.

1437 See, e.g., Briefing Transcript at 20, 202, 219, https://www.usccr.gov/calendar/2019/02-22-Women-In-PrisonTranscript.pdf (describing a historic lack of programming for women and the steps correctional systems are taking to 

address this issue). 
248 WOMEN IN PRISON 

knowledge of the practical realities of the changes they implemented and a thorough explanation 

of the metrics they use to measure the success of those policies. Additional experts also shared 

their personal experience from working inside prisons. I am not aware that Commissioner Heriot 

suggested any additional persons, guards or otherwise, the Commission should hear from to 

address her concern. How can she be heard to complain now?

Commissioner Heriot then goes on to rail against the use of a classification tool to be used for 

women that is different from the instrument used for men. These instruments, among other things, 

are used to determine the security level the inmate is held. An improper higher classification 

limits/prohibits earning good time credits and educational and programing participation.

An improper classification can cause great harm.

The Commission’s research and the testimony we received at the briefing shows those institutions 

using the single sex classification tool for both sexes will either modify the results for women on 

what that institution believes it has seen in the past regarding the difference between men and 

women (on an ad hoc basis) and adjust the classification or will just go by the unmodified results 

of the instrument. Either approach is not the best practice. They unfairly discriminate against 

women. The report is replete with research on this issue.1438

In my opinion, putting prisoners in overly restrictive classifications qualifies as an interest 

sufficient to withstand scrutiny under equal protection. Commissioner Heriot’s example in 

footnote 10 is off the mark. An employment benefits case is a far cry from a situation that effects 

someone’s rehabilitation and freedom from incarceration.

Commissioner Heriot also opines that the Commission is not in a position to offer 

recommendations on the placement and treatment of transgender incarcerated people. The 

Commission has in the past and will continue to stand for the humanity of transgender people and 

support policies that keep them from harm. Gender identity should never be a reason someone’s 

safety should be at risk, and there is much work to be done to make this a reality for transgender 

people. The Commission should not shirk its duty to identify policies that fail to do so.

Commissioner Heriot’s concern about “opportunistic males” falsely claiming transgender status 

to secure transfer to a women’s facility does not appear to be based on any documented cases. As 

Commissioner Heriot knows, transgender status must have a basis in fact.

Finally, Commissioner Heriot objects to our finding that certain legal processes that apply only to 

incarcerated people, in reality, act as a barrier to vindicating their rights. Having spent three years 

litigating cases for the Nevada Attorney General’s Office and being attached to the criminal 

division, I can attest that prisoners can be a litigious group. The Prison Litigation Reform Act was 

passed to cut down on frivolous litigation. It is not contested that it also prevents some individuals 

 

1438 See Report at 63-65.
COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENTS, DISSENTS, AND REBUTTALS 249

with meritorious cases from seeking justice. In my opinion, as it has developed, it is over-the-top 

when it comes to short administrative complaint and appeal deadline times, the number of 

administrative appeals necessary before the exhaustion of administrative process and being 

allowed to file in court. (Then, of course, the court will review the merits of the filing on its face 

before allowing the case to proceed.) It also restricts allowable attorney’s fees, which would only 

be available in meritorious cases. Incarcerated people have valid legal claims, and they do face 

challenges, barriers even, they must overcome to have them heard. Such a statement should not be 

controversial. We should recalibrate to deter frivolous claims, but give valid claims an opportunity 

to be heard.

Commissioner Peter Kirsanow joined Commissioner Heriot’s statement upon which I have 

commented above. However, he expressed his own opinions on the briefing in his occasional 

column which appears in the National Review’s The Corner.1439

There he enlightened us that progressive witnesses, one after another, proclaimed that men and 

women are different. He was shocked that the heavens did not cave in as a result. He failed to note 

the witnesses spoke of the realities of differences in healthcare needs. They testified women require 

different reproductive and preventative healthcare then men. The witnesses also spoke to empirical 

research on differing rates of psychological and physical abuse prior to landing in the prison 

system. Statistically women report such abuse at much greater rates than men.

He failed to report to his readers that the witnesses felt women in prison were denied and should 

have the same opportunities as men when it comes to educational and vocational training.

Then he launched into a disingenuous attack in an attempt to paint all the 21 witnesses with the 

proverbial “soft on crime” brush, stating, “This momentary descent into reality (healthcare 

differences between women and men) was immediately overshadowed, however, by witness 

demands that the United States justice system cease incarcerating women. All female 

prisoners should be released.” He is referring to the statement of one witness, vastly overselling

the prevalence of this one person’s position. The transcript of our briefing is public.1440

These Commissioners missed the mark. They could have contributed to the protection and 

advancement of the civil rights narrative for women in prison. They chose not to.

 

1439 https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/breaking-men-and-women-are-different/

1440 Briefing Transcript, https://www.usccr.gov/calendar/2019/02-22-Women-In-Prison-Transcript.pdf.
250 WOMEN IN PRISON 

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APPENDICES 251

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Changes in State Prison Populations by Gender, 2000–20161441

Jurisdiction Gender 2000 2016

Percent Change in 

Prison Population 

2000- 2016

National Statistics 

(U.S. Total) 1,334,174 1,458,173 9%

Male 1,249,130 1,352,684 8%

Female 85,044 105,489 24%

Alabama 26,034 27,799 7%

Male 24,244 25,593 6%

Female 1,790 2,206 23%

Alaska 2,128 2,089 -2%

Male 2,031 1,982 -2%

Female 97 107 10%

Arizona 25,412 40,849 61%

Male 23,623 37,131 57%

Female 1,789 3,718 108%

Arkansas 11,851 17,476 47%

Male 11,084 16,111 45%

Female 767 1,365 78%

California 160,412 130,340 -19%

Male 149,815 124,443 -17%

Female 10,597 5,897 -44%

Colorado 16,833 19,862 18%

Male 15,500 17,963 16%

Female 1,333 1,899 42%

Connecticut 13,155 10,365 -21%

Male 12,365 9,804 -21%

Female 790 561 -29%

Delaware 3,937 4,090 4%

Male 3,692 3,889 5%

Female 245 201 -18%

Florida 71,318 99,974 40%

Male 67,213 93,111 39%

 

1441 See Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Statistical Analysis Tool (CSAT)—Prisoners (Custom Tables),

2000 State Prison Population (Year-end Jurisdictional Population with Sentence Greater than 1 year) available at

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=nps (accessed Oct. 20, 2019); Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Statistical

Analysis Tool (CSAT)—Prisoners (Custom Tables), 2016 State Prison Population (Year-end Jurisdictional

Population with Sentence Greater than 1 year) available at https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=nps (accessed Oct. 20,

2019); The percent change was calculated by Commission staff.
252 WOMEN IN PRISON 

Jurisdiction Gender 2000 2016

Percent Change in 

Prison Population 

2000- 2016

Female 4,105 6,863 67%

Georgia 44,141 53,064 20%

Male 41,390 49,324 19%

Female 2,751 3,740 36%

Hawaii 3,553 3,629 2%

Male 3,175 3,271 3%

Female 378 358 -5%

Idaho 5,535 7,376 33%

Male 5,042 6,416 27%

Female 493 960 95%

Illinois 45,281 43,657 -4%

Male 42,432 41,044 -3%

Female 2,849 2,613 -8%

Indiana 19,811 25,530 29%

Male 18,364 23,325 27%

Female 1,447 2,205 52%

Iowa 7,955 8,998 13%

Male 7,363 8,181 11%

Female 592 817 38%

Kansas 8,344 9,628 15%

Male 7,840 8,831 13%

Female 504 797 58%

Kentucky 14,919 23,018 54%

Male 13,858 20,077 45%

Female 1,061 2,941 177%

Louisiana 35,207 35,646 1%

Male 32,988 33,665 2%

Female 2,219 1,981 -11%

Maine 1,635 1,828 12%

Male 1,573 1,675 6%

Female 62 153 147%

Maryland 22,490 19,821 -12%

Male 21,429 19,010 -11%

Female 1,061 811 -24%

Massachusetts 9,479 8,494 -10%

Male 9,250 8,140 -12%

Female 229 354 55%

Michigan 47,718 41,122 -14%

Male 45,587 38,880 -15%

Female 2,131 2,242 5%

Minnesota 6,238 10,592 70%

Male 5,870 9,818 67%

Female 368 774 110%
APPENDICES 253

Jurisdiction Gender 2000 2016

Percent Change in 

Prison Population 

2000- 2016

Mississippi 19,239 18,666 -3%

Male 17,709 17,397 -2%

Female 1,530 1,269 -17%

Missouri 27,519 32,461 18%

Male 25,531 29,124 14%

Female 1,988 3,337 68%

Montana 3,105 3,814 23%

Male 2,799 3,405 22%

Female 306 409 34%

Nebraska 3,816 5,235 37%

Male 3,560 4,825 36%

Female 256 410 60%

Nevada 10,063 13,637 36%

Male 9,217 12,403 35%

Female 846 1,234 46%

New Hampshire 2,257 2,818 25%

Male 2,137 2,591 21%

Female 120 227 89%

New Jersey 29,784 19,786 -34%

Male 28,134 18,952 -33%

Female 1,650 834 -49%

New Mexico 4,666 6,972 49%

Male 4,322 6,276 45%

Female 344 696 102%

New York 70,199 50,620 -28%

Male 66,919 48,356 -28%

Female 3,280 2,264 -31%

North Carolina 27,043 34,596 28%

Male 25,654 32,085 25%

Female 1,389 2,511 81%

North Dakota 994 1,779 79%

Male 940 1,568 67%

Female 54 211 291%

Ohio 45,833 52,175 14%

Male 43,025 47,581 11%

Female 2,808 4,594 64%

Oklahoma 23,181 26,486 14%

Male 20,787 23,527 13%

Female 2,394 2,959 24%

Oregon 10,553 15,150 44%

Male 9,959 13,846 39%

Female 594 1,304 120%

Pennsylvania 36,844 49,000 33%
254 WOMEN IN PRISON 

Jurisdiction Gender 2000 2016

Percent Change in 

Prison Population 

2000- 2016

Male 35,266 46,188 31%

Female 1,578 2,812 78%

Rhode Island 1,966 2,030 3%

Male 1,902 1,962 3%

Female 64 68 6%

South Carolina 21,017 20,371 -3%

Male 19,716 18,981 -4%

Female 1,301 1,390 7%

South Dakota 2,613 3,820 46%

Male 2,413 3,323 38%

Female 200 497 149%

Tennessee 22,166 28,203 27%

Male 20,797 25,481 23%

Female 1,369 2,722 99%

Texas 158,008 157,903 0%

Male 146,374 144,928 -1%

Female 11,634 12,975 12%

Utah 5,541 6,181 12%

Male 5,180 5,776 12%

Female 361 405 12%

Vermont 1,313 1,229 -6%

Male 1,269 1,146 -10%

Female 44 83 89%

Virginia 29,643 37,813 28%

Male 27,658 34,704 25%

Female 1,985 3,109 57%

Washington 14,666 19,019 30%

Male 13,658 17,377 27%

Female 1,008 1,642 63%

West Virginia 3,795 7,162 89%

Male 3,508 6,286 79%

Female 287 876 205%

Wisconsin 20,336 22,144 9%

Male 18,977 20,734 9%

Female 1,359 1,410 4%

Wyoming 1,680 2,374 41%

Male 1,524 2,088 37%

Female 156 286 83%
APPENDICES 255

Appendix B: BOP Types of Facilities for Women in Federal Prison

The BOP describes its housing types as:

• Minimum security institutions, which is also referred to as Federal Prison Camps (FPC), 

have dormitory-like housing, low staff-to-inmate ratios, and limited or no perimeter 

fencing.1442

• Low security institutions, also known as Federal Correctional Institutions (FCI) or Federal 

Satellite Lows (FSL), have double-fenced perimeter fencing; have higher staff-to-inmate 

ratios than minimum-security facilities, and the housing accommodations are either 

dormitory style or cell-style.1443

• Federal Medical Centers (FMC) house sentenced inmates of all security levels who have 

severe or long-lasting medical problems.1444

• Administrative facilities are institutions that have unique missions.1445 Women in federal 

prison are usually held in administrative facilities either because they are receiving 

treatment for serious or chronic medical problems, or a small number of female inmates 

are classified as high risk and housed at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, 

Texas.1446

o Administrative facilities also include transfer centers, which houses inmates in 

transit to other BOP facilities, and detention centers that are designed for the 

temporary incarceration of pretrial detainees.1447 Dissimilar from institutions 

designed for long-term incarceration, detention and transfer centers house both 

female and male inmates in the same facility.1448

The next Appendix provides a description and breakdown of the types of facilities that women in 

federal custody are currently housed in. 

 

1442 Federal Bureau of Prisons, About Our Facilities, https://www.bop.gov/about/facilities/federal_prisons.jsp

(accessed Oct.20, 2019) (hereinafter Federal Bureau of Prisons, About Our Facilities).

1443 Ibid.

1444 Ibid.

1445 Ibid.

1446 DOJ, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prison’s Management of Its Female Inmate Population, p. 4; see also

McLearen Testimony, p. 105 (noting that there currently 7 women in federal prison that a classified as high risk);

see also Appendix D.

1447 DOJ, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management of Its Female Inmate Population, pp. 3-4.; see also

U.S. Department of Justice, “Female Offenders.”

1448 DOJ, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management of Its Female Inmate Population, pp. 3-4.
256 WOMEN IN PRISON 

Appendix C: Women in Federal Prison Housed Over 500 Miles from Listed Legal 

Residence (for U.S. Residents), by Institution

Name of Location Location of Facility

Number of Female Inmates 

Greater Than 500 Miles 

from Legal Residence

ALD—Federal Prison Camp Alderson Alderson, WV 123

ALI—Federal Correctional Institution 

Aliceville

Aliceville, AL 411

BRO— Metropolitan Detention Center

Brooklyn

Brooklyn, NY 3

BRY—Federal Prison Camp Bryan Bryan, TX 135

CCC— Metropolitan Correctional Center 

Chicago

Chicago MCC 5

COM—Federal Correctional Institute 

Coleman Medium

Sumterville, FL 88

CRW—Federal Medical Center Carswell Fort Worth, TX 647

DAN—Federal Correctional Institute 

Danbury

Danbury, CT 28

DUB—Federal Correctional Institution 

Dublin

Dublin, CA 465

GRE—Federal Correctional Institution 

Greenville

Grenville, IL 70

GUA—Guaynabo Metropolitan Detention 

Center

Guaynabo, PR 7

HAF—Federal Correctional Institution 

Hazelton

Bruceton Mills, WV 116

HON—Federal Detention Center 

Honolulu

Honolulu, HI 6

HOU—Federal Detention Center Houston Houston, TX 6

LEX—Federal Medical Center Lexington Lexington, KY 20

LOS—Los Angeles Metropolitan 

Detention Center

Los Angeles, CA 1

MIM—Federal Detention Center Miami Miami, FL 9

NYM— Metropolitan Correctional Center 

New York

New York, NY 4
APPENDICES 257

Source: BOP Response to USCCR Interrogatory No. 3.

Name of Location Location of Facility

Number of Female Inmates 

Greater Than 500 Miles 

from Legal Residence

OKL—Federal Transfer Center 

Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City, OK 30

PEK—Federal Correctional Institution 

Pekin

Pekin, IL 38

PHL—Federal Detention Center 

Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA 8

PHX—Federal Correctional Institution 

Phoenix

Phoenix, AZ 65

SDC—Metropolitan Correctional Center 

San Diego

San Diego, CA 1

SET—Federal Detention Center Seatac Seattle, WA 41

TAL—Federal Correctional Institution 

Tallahassee

Tallahassee, FL 248

TCN—Federal Correctional Institution 

Tucson

Tucson, AZ 45

VVM—Federal Correctional Institution 

Victorville Medium II

Victorville, CA 0

WAS—Federal Correctional Institution 

Waseca

Waseca, MN 257

TOTAL 2,877 

(25.7% of the Female Population)
258 WOMEN IN PRISON 

Appendix D: BOP Institutions for Women 

 

1449 Federal Bureau of Prisons, About Our Facilities.

Name of Location Detail Facility

Security 

Level(s)1449

Number of 

Female

Inmates

ALD—Federal Prison Camp 

Alderson Alderson FPC Minimum 899

ALI—Federal Correctional 

Institution Aliceville

Aliceville FCI Low 1,337

Aliceville FCI (Satellite Camp) Minimum 257

BRO— Metropolitan Detention 

Center Brooklyn Brooklyn MDC Administrative 37

BRY—Federal Prison Camp Bryan Bryan FPC Minimum 858

CCC— Metropolitan Correctional 

Center Chicago Chicago MCC Administrative 28

COM—Federal Correctional 

Institute Coleman Medium

Coleman Medium FCI 

(Satellite Camp) Minimum 502

CRW—Federal Medical Center 

Carswell

Carswell FMC (Administrative) High 7

Carswell FMC (Cron Care, 

Mental Health, Medical 

Surgery)

Administrative 271

Carswell FMC (Low) Low 987

Carswell (Satellite Camp) Minimum 368

DAN—Federal Correctional Institute 

Danbury

Danbury FCI Low 117

Danbury FCI (Satellite Camp) Minimum 167

DUB—Federal Correctional 

Institution Dublin 

Dublin FCI Low 1,019

Dublin FCI (Satellite Camp) Minimum 207

GRE—Federal Correctional 

Institution Greenville Grenville FCI (Satellite Camp) Minimum 327

GUA—Guaynabo Metropolitan 

Detention Center

Guaynabo MDC (Cadre) Low 3

Guaynabo MDC Minimum 72

HAF—Federal Correctional 

Institution Hazelton Hazelton FCI Low 564

HON—Federal Detention Center 

Honolulu Honolulu FDC (Cadre) Low 48
APPENDICES 259

 

1450 Federal Bureau of Prison, About Our Facilities.

Name of Location Detail Facility Security Level(s)1450

Number 

of Female 

Inmates

HOU—Federal Detention Center Houston 

Houston FDC Administrative 56

Houston FDC (Sht Trm Sen) Low 32

LEX—Federal Medical Center Lexington Lexington FMC (Satellite 

Camp) Minimum 236

LOS—Los Angeles Metropolitan 

Detention Center Los Angeles MDC Administrative 54

MIM—Federal Detention Center Miami

Miami FDC Administrative 73

Miami FDC (Cadre) Low 22

NYM— Metropolitan Correctional Center

New York New York MCC Administrative 39

OKL—Federal Transfer Center Oklahoma 

City Oklahoma City FTC Administrative 56

PEK—Federal Correctional Institution 

Pekin Pekin FCI (Satellite Camp) Minimum 240

PHL—Federal Detention Center 

Philadelphia 

Philadelphia FDC Administrative 31

Philadelphia FDC (cadre) Low 83

PHX—Federal Correctional Institution 

Phoenix Phoenix FCI (Satellite Camp) Minimum 286

SDC—Metropolitan Correctional Center 

San Diego San Diego MCC Administrative 39

SET—Federal Detention Center Seatac 

Seatac FDC Administrative 21

Seatac FDC (Cadre) Low 143

TAL—Federal Correctional Institution 

Tallahassee Tallahassee FCI Low 705

TCN—Federal Correctional Institution 

Tucson Tucson FCI Administrative 35

VVM—Federal Correctional Institution 

Victorville Medium II

Victorville Medium II FCI 

(Satellite Camp) Minimum 295

WAS—Federal Correctional Institution 

Waseca

Waseca FCI Low 527

Waseca FCI (Cadre) Minimum 136

Total Number of Female Inmates 11,184
260 WOMEN IN PRISON 

Appendix E: Frequency of Contact with Children Among State and Federal Inmates, 

by Gender and Type of Contact, 20041451

Any Kind of Contact with Minor Children

Frequency of Contact

Parents in State Prison Parents in Federal Prison

Total Male Female Total Male Female

Daily/Almost Daily 9.1% 8.7% 14.1% 18.8% 18.3% 26.9%

At Least Once a Week 30.8% 29.8% 41.6% 46.1% 45.9% 48.2%

At Least Once a Month 22.3% 22.7% 18.1% 17.0% 17.1% 14.7%

Less Than Once a Month 16.5% 16.9% 11.2% 9.4 9.6% 3.9%

Never 21.4% 21.9% 15.0% 8.8% 9.1% 3.9%

Telephone Contact with Minor Children

Frequency of Contact

Parents in State Prison Parents in Federal Prison

Total Male Female Total Male Female

Daily/Almost Daily 5.3% 5.0% 8.6% 16.9% 16.5% 23.4%

At Least Once a Week 17.5% 17.1% 22.4% 40.9% 40.7% 43.7%

At Least Once a Month 15.6% 15.6% 15.7% 17.2% 17.2% 16.9%

Less Than Once a Month 15.0% 15.3% 12.4% 10.1% 10.2% 7.4%

Never 46.6% 47.1% 40.9% 14.9% 15.4% 8.5%

Mail Contact with Minor Children

Frequency of Contact

Parents in State Prison Parents in Federal Prison

Total Male Female Total Male Female

Daily/Almost Daily 4.5% 4.3% 6.9% 4.2% 4.0% 7.7%

At Least Once a Week 24.0% 23.0% 35.3% 29.0% 28.3% 40.4%

At Least Once a Month 23.2% 23.3% 22.5% 31.0% 31.2% 28.2%

Less Than Once a Month 17.9% 18.3% 13.0% 19.8% 20.2% 12.9%

Never 30.4% 31.1% 22.3% 16.0% 16.3% 10.7%

Personal Visits Contact with Minor Children

Frequency of Contact

Parents in State Prison Parents in Federal Prison

Total Male Female Total Male Female

Daily/Almost Daily 0.6% 0.6% * * * *

At Least Once a Week 5.9% 5.7% 7.7% 4.6% 4.4% 7.6%

At Least Once a Month 12.5% 12.3% 14.6% 14.7% 14.7% 15.5%

Less Than Once a Month 22.5% 22.7% 19.7% 35.6% 35.9% 31.5%

Never 58.5% 58.6% 57.7% 44.7% 44.7% 44.6%

Estimated Number 

of Parents 636,500 585,200 51,100 81,300 76,200 5,100

 

1451 DOJ, Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children, p. 18. 
APPENDICES 261

Appendix F: Number of Staff Members in Federal Prisons for Women, by Location 

and Gender

Name of Location

Total of 

Staff

Number of 

Female Staff

Number of 

Male Staff

ALD—Federal Prison Camp Alderson 147 89 (60.5 %) 58 (39.5%)

ALI—Federal Correctional Institution Aliceville 257 113 (44 %) 144 (56%)

BRO— Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn 421 138 (32.8%) 283 (67.2%)

BRY—Federal Prison Camp Bryan 114 67 (58.8%) 47 (41.2%)

CCC— Metropolitan Correctional Center Chicago 197 52 (26.4%) 145 (73.6%)

COM—Federal Correctional Institute Coleman Medium 220 54 (24.5%) 166 (75.5%)

CRW—Federal Medical Center Carswell 373 194 (52.0%) 179 (48.0%)

DAN—Federal Correctional Institute Danbury 250 63 (25.2%) 187 (74.8%)

DUB—Federal Correctional Institution Dublin 207 82 (39.6%) 125 (60.4%)

GRE—Federal Correctional Institution Greenville 241 73 (30.3%) 168 (69.7%)

GUA—Guaynabo Metropolitan Detention Center 234 66 (28.2%) 168 (71.8%)

HAF—Federal Correctional Institution Hazelton 242 56 (23.1%) 186 (76.9%)

HON—Federal Detention Center Honolulu 167 43 (25.7%) 124 (74.3%)

HOU—Federal Detention Center Houston 206 65 (31.6%) 141 (68.4%)

LEX—Federal Medical Center Lexington 444 135 (30.4%) 309 (69.6%)

LOS—Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center 211 65 (30.8%) 146 (69.2%)

MIM—Federal Detention Center Miami 246 71 (28.9%) 175 (71.1%)

NYM— Metropolitan Correctional Center New York 204 54 (26.5%) 150 (73.5%)

OKL—Federal Transfer Center Oklahoma City 252 60 (23.8%) 192 (76.2%)

PEK—Federal Correctional Institution Pekin 248 63 (25.4%) 185 (74.6%)

PHL—Federal Detention Center Philadelphia 222 67 (30.2%) 155 (69.8%)

PHX—Federal Correctional Institution Phoenix 269 66 (24.5%) 203 (75.5%)

SDC—Metropolitan Correctional Center San Diego 193 39 (20.2%) 154 (79.8%)

SET—Federal Detention Center Seatac 199 52 (26.1%) 147 (73.9%)

TAL—Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee 249 110 (44.2%) 139 (55.8%)

TCN—Federal Correctional Institution Tucson 203 45 (22.2%) 158 (77.8%)

VVM—Federal Correctional Institution Victorville 

Medium II 247 54 (21.9%) 193 (78.1%)

WAS—Federal Correctional Institution Waseca 192 76 (39.6%) 116 (60.4%)

TOTAL 6,655 2,112 (31.7%) 4,543 

(68.3%)
262 WOMEN IN PRISON 

Appendix G: Copies of Interrogatories and Document Requests Sent by the 

Commission to the Federal Bureau of Prisons
APPENDICES 263
264 WOMEN IN PRISON 
APPENDICES 265
266 WOMEN IN PRISON 
APPENDICES 267
268 WOMEN IN PRISON 
APPENDICES 269
270 WOMEN IN PRISON 
APPENDICES 271
272 WOMEN IN PRISON 
APPENDICES 273
274 WOMEN IN PRISON 
APPENDICES 275
276 WOMEN IN PRISON 
APPENDICES 277
278 WOMEN IN PRISON