Improving Health Equity for Women Involved in the Criminal Legal System
Creators: name: Golembeski, Cynthia
name: Sufrin, Carolyn B.
name: Williams, Brie A.
name: Bedell, Precious
name: Glied, Sherry
name: Binswanger, Ingrid A.
name: Hylton,, Donna
name: Winkelman, Tyler N. A.
name: Meyer, Jaimie P.
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2023
Subjects: classificationCode: 480503
subject: Criminal procedure
classificationCode: 480504
subject: Legal institutions (incl. courts and justice systems)
classificationCode: 480599
subject: Legal systems not elsewhere classified
classificationCode: 480401
subject: Criminal law
classificationCode: 480405
subject: Law and society and socio-legal research
classificationCode: 480410
subject: Legal theory, jurisprudence and legal interpretation
classificationCode: 480412
subject: Medical and health law
classificationCode: 480413
subject: Race, ethnicity and law
classificationCode: 480407
subject: Law, gender and sexuality (incl. feminist legal scholarship)
classificationCode: 480406
subject: Law reform
classificationCode: 480402
subject: Family law
classificationCode: 321503
subject: Reproduction
subject: FOS: Medical biotechnology
classificationCode: 321502
subject: Obstetrics and gynaecology
classificationCode: 440202
subject: Correctional theory, offender treatment and rehabilitation
classificationCode: 440204
subject: Crime and social justice
classificationCode: 440205
subject: Criminological theories
classificationCode: 440206
subject: Critical approaches to crime
classificationCode: 440209
subject: Gender and crime
classificationCode: 440213
subject: Race/ethnicity and crime
classificationCode: 440214
subject: Sociological studies of crime
classificationCode: 420210
subject: Social epidemiology
classificationCode: 420603
subject: Health promotion
classificationCode: 420602
subject: Health equity
classificationCode: 420601
subject: Community child health
classificationCode: 420604
subject: Injury prevention
classificationCode: 420605
subject: Preventative health care
classificationCode: 420606
subject: Social determinants of health
classificationCode: 420699
subject: Public health not elsewhere classified

description: More than 1,000,000 women in the U.S. are currently under supervision of the criminal legal system (CLS). Since 1980, the number of women in prison has increased by over 800%. CLS involvement increases risk of physical and sexual violence, with direct or indirect health and health care effects, which impact families and communities. These risks are consequences of pre-incarceration factors, including poverty, structural racism, and inadequate health care access; limited jail and prison health care; and the health impacts of carceral systems themselves. Furthermore, parenting and reproduction, health care needs as they age, and reentry challenges of WICLS are underrepresented in current policy, research, and clinical contexts. We delineate reproductive health and motherhood, aging in prison, and reentry as critical areas exemplifying women's complex health related needs, which may be best addressed via gender-responsive and trauma-informed care. Bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation, which includes improving the health of WICLS, is gaining support. As a public health community committed to advancing equity, we must evaluate and support legal and legislative reform that seeks to improve health care quality and access for this often overlooked population.