About one woman out of every 109 adult women in the United States is involved with the criminal justice system. Since 1980, the number of women in prison has increased at nearly double the rate for men. There are now nearly seven times as many women in state and federal prisons as there were in 1980. Some estimates tally over 146,000 female inmates in state and federal prisons and local jails. This total accounts for about six percent of the total prison population.
Drug offenses contribute to nearly half of the increase in the female prison population.
Women who are caught on the fringes of America's war on drugs are heavily impacted by mandatory minimum sentencing. They have few resources for their defense or plea bargaining. There have been numerous investigations and accounts of abuse of female inmates verified by the U.S. Department of Justice, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International USA, and the news media. Supermaxes have a particularly devastating effect on the health of women. There is much debate as to whether female prisoners' behavior fit the criteria for supermax placement.