Followed their move to Tucker where there were about 400 women, and then to the new facility, McPherson, a Wackenhut-run prison at Newport, which currently houses about 690 women. The capacity at McPherson is 600. Room for 200 is being added. The dramatic increase in the incarceration of women is due primarily to the increased penalties of the drug war . Women, on average, do more time than men for identical violations, largely because they have nothing with which to plea bargain.
Women cost more to house than men due to greater medical costs.
Incarceration of a mother generally causes greater family disruption and trauma than the jailing of a father. Eighty percent of women in prison have underage children. Over 50,000 children in Arkansas have an incarcerated parent. These children are 5-6 times more likely to become incarcerated themselves. The problems are inter-generational.