It was built with a capacity of 1,200 - and with the hope that it can contain the rising number of female criminals, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. That increase is not peculiar to Virginia, where the female inmate population has nearly doubled since 1990. Nationwide, the number of women in state and federal prisons rose an astounding 478 percent from 1980 to 1997, nearly double the rate for men. North Carolina has just opened its sixth women's prison. Texas prisons house more than 2,400 women for violent crimes alone.
Penologists say there is no single explanation.
Some authorities say that tougher sentencing laws have ensnared women who played minor roles in drug organizations. There is also evidence that today's more liberated and assertive women see violence as an acceptable way to solve problems. Nationwide, women still account for only 6 percent of the inmate population.