Governor wants to reshape approach to women prisoners

[Judi Lynn]

Governor wants to reshape approach to women prisoners

Saturday, February 11, 2006

(02-11) 07:42 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) --

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to move 40 percent of the state's female inmates out of their cells and into neighborhood correctional centers.

The plan for female convicts is in the state budget the governor proposed last month.

It calls for about 4,500 female inmates to be able to live closer to their families and receive education, job training, drug and alcohol counseling.

The new centers would be secure facilities run by private companies under contract to the state. Only inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes would be eligible. Some prisoners would be allowed to have their children live with them.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/11/state/n074224S11.DTL

[f-bush]

1. The only thing the terminator would want to do with a woman is...

grope her. I wouldn't trust that slimy, sex offending bastard with any issues dealing with woman!

[baldguy]

2. Why not give them education, job training & counciling

BEFORE sending them to prison?

[WhiteTara]

12. oh picky picky!

that would cut into the prison industry's profits.

[MADem]

3. Well, am I the only one who sees a court challenge here???

Males convicted of nonviolent crimes go to PRISON. Females with the same rap sheet get the institutional equivalent of "homeschooled correction" with perks like schooling, training and counselling--AND, they get to raise their own kids???

Can anyone holler DISCRIMINATION????

[eyesroll]

4. That was my thought as well.

Why not offer this sort of thing to first-time nonviolent offenders of both genders?

[Laelth]

15. As much as I might agree with you ...

I seriously doubt this policy could be successfully challenged in court. The SCOTUS applies a kind of "middle scrutiny" to gender discrimination. The court recognizes that there are some significant differences between men and women and it allows the state to treat the genders differently when there's a rational basis for doing so. This is probably one of those times when it's rational to give women better treatment. They're less likely to attempt to escape.

My beef with this plan is that it privatizes much of the system. More profits for cronies. Typical Repuke thinking.

-Laelth

[demosincebirth]

5. He is sounding like a democrat since the special election

where he got his dingus handed to him, on a plate, by the voters. Still won't be enough to get him re-elected.
Voters are still pissed at him.

[MADem]

6. Would a Democrat discriminate on the basis of gender, though?

Where's the program for nonviolent male offenders?

If someone doesn't jump all over this, I will be very surprised. This is a court challenge that BEGS to happen.

[demosincebirth]

8. there is a system, in Ca. where non- violent drug offenders

are placed in drug re habs instead of jail. I don't know how it works or how many chances you get at staying out of the slammer, but it takes some of the pressure off of the penal system.

[MADem]

10. This program seems "special" though

I'm not saying it is not a good idea, but I do find it odd in the extreme that the GOP gov, from the party of "can't have the black kids taking the legacy college slots of the poor downtrodden rich white boys" is clearly discriminating SOLELY on the basis of gender with this program. Where is the program for the nonviolent male offender to raise his kid or kids, get counselling, get job training???

He'd better set up a parallel program, or he's gonna get sued, is all I'm saying...

[Kipling]

7. Why the hell only for women?

Oh, right. Because only women have families.
What a sexist piece of shit.

[GinaMaria]

9. women in prison

tend to live much farther away from their children than men in prison because there are fewer women's prisons in the country. Because of mandatory sentencing laws women go to prison the same amount of time as drug dealing husbands and boyfriends. They serve the same sentence as if they sold every ounce that he did, when they've only innocently 'participated' in driving him to the airport or taking a phone message. The fastest rising segment of the prison population is minority women in their 20's. It's time to examine some alternatives.

[Kipling]

11. Oh, come on!

"women go to prison the same amount of time as drug dealing husbands and boyfriends."
Oh NO! They go to prison just like men!

"They serve the same sentence as if they sold every ounce that he did, when they've only innocently 'participated' in driving him to the airport or taking a phone message."
Innocently participated in organised crime? Your ideas are rooted in the deeply sexist assumption that women do not make their own decisions and are simply dragged about by men.

"The fastest rising segment of the prison population is minority women in their 20's. It's time to examine some alternatives."
Why shouldn't everyone get alternatives?

[GinaMaria]

14. Get the facts about the drug war

The most serious offense for 65% of women in federal prisons and 31.5% of women in state prisons is violation of drug laws.

"During 2004 the number of women under the jurisdiction of State or Federal prison authorities increased 4.0% (table 5). The number of men in prison rose 1.8%. At yearend 2004, 104,848 women and 1,391,781 men were in prison."

"From 1995 to 2004 the annual growth of the female inmate population averaged 4.8%, higher than the 3.1% increase in male inmate population. By yearend 2004 women accounted for 7.0% of all prisoners, up from 6.1% in 1995 and 5.7% in 1990."

Women are the fastest growing and least violent segment of prison and jail populations. 85.1% of female jail inmates are behind bars for nonviolent offenses.

From 1986 (the year mandatory sentencing was enacted) to 1996, the number of women sentenced to state prison for drug crimes increased ten fold (from around 2,370 to 23,700) and has been the main element in the overall increase in the imprisonment of women.

From 1985 to 1996, female drug arrests increased by 95%, while male drug arrests increased by 55.1%.

Between 1990 and 1996, the number of women convicted of drug felonies increased by 37% (from 43,000 in 1990 to 59,536 in 1996). The number of convictions for simple possession increased 41% over that period, from 18,438 in 1990 to 26,022 in 1996.

In 1997 a US Justice Department investigation of women's prisons in Arizona concluded that the authorities failed to protect women from sexual misconduct by correctional officers and other staff. The misconduct included rape, sexual relationships, sexual touching and fondling, and "without good reason, frequent, prolonged, close-up and prurient viewing during dressing, showing and use of toilet facilities." (CIV97-476, US District of Arizona).

Sick and pregnant women are routinely shackled during hospitalization and childbirth if they are inmates of prisons or jails in the USA.

Approximately 516,200 women on probation (72% of the total), 44,700 women in local jails (70% of the total), 49,200 women in State prisons (65% of the total), and 5,400 women in Federal prisons (59% of the total) have minor children.

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/women.htm

Mandatory minimums have not actually reduced sentencing discretion. Control has merely been transferred from judges to prosecutors.

"After eleven years, it should be obvious that the system has failed and that it cannot be fixed - even by the Supreme Court - because the criminal justice system has been distorted: the enhanced power of the prosecutor in sentencing has diminished the traditional role of the judge. The result has been even less fairness, and a huge rise in the prison population."

Fifty-five percent (55%) of all federal drug defendants are low-level offenders, such as mules or street-dealers. Only 11% are classified as high-level dealers.

According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, only 5.5% of federal crack defendants are considered high-level crack dealers.

Since the enactment of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug users, the Federal Bureau of Prisons budget increased by more than 1,350%, from $220 million in 1986 to about $3.19 billion in 1997.


http://www.drugwarfacts.org/mandator.htm


Innocently participated in organised crime? Your ideas are rooted in the deeply sexist assumption that women do not make their own decisions and are simply dragged about by men.

Your issues of projection aside, Should you have the misfortune of getting involved with someone involved with drugs (selling) and you answer her phone while at her home and take a message, do you really think you should serve the same exact sentence as her? for a phone message? This isn't organized crime, it's prisons as business. Nothing better for the business than long term non violent offenders. Bigger profit with less staff.

[Greyhound]

13. Don't waste your time...