Every Woman Deserves a Second Chapter

In the many years of working with individuals, providing supportive services, we recognized a pattern. One, no jobs for the returning citizen with a record. Two, women are more likely to have been the primary caretakers of children prior to entering prison and are more likely to return to that role once released. Women's incarceration has caused a significant disruption in their children's and family lives. They are constantly worrying about the welfare of their children during their incarceration. Incarcerated women stand to lose their parental rights if they do not stay abreast of child welfare actions that require regular contact between a parent and a child placed in foster care. Third, but not last, if the woman can't get a job, they can't pay their fines, pay rent, child support, transportation or even get a birth certificate or state ID. Without a means of support, many will be re-incarcerated and the cycle begins again.

Why Women

The population of women offenders is growing and continues to grow at a faster rate than the population of men. Many feel that the increase is due to changes in state and national drug policies that mandated prison terms for even relatively low-level drug offenses. According to the Statistics on Women Offenders — 2015, the female jail population has been the fastest growing correctional population, increasing by an average annual rate of 3.4 percent. This does not include women under community supervision.

Women become involved in criminal behavior for different reasons than men:

• Survival of abuse
• Poverty
• Substance abuse

These reasons need to be considered when trying to keep women from reentering the penal system once released.

The relationship between the following three factors are significant and are very common in the life histories of women offenders: physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.