I read this yesterday and still am wondering if I’m dealing with a click-bait headline or an article from a true female supremacist.
The argument is actually quite straightforward: There are far fewer women in prison than men to start with — women make up just 7 percent of the prison population. This means that these women are disproportionately affected by a system designed for men. […]
Essentially, the case for closing women’s prisons is the same as the case for imprisoning fewer men. It is the case against the prison industrial complex and for community-based treatment where it works better than incarceration. But there is evidence that prison harms women more than men, so why not start there? […]
What purpose is served by subjecting the most disempowered, abused and nonviolent women to the perpetually negative environment of prisons?
Efforts to make prison “work” for women have only perpetuated the growth of the prison industrial complex. These putative reforms have helped some individuals, and possibly brought the nature of mass warehousing of poor, black and brown bodies more into focus, but the number of incarcerated people still continues to rise.
The buzzwords — “prison industrial complex” — plus the whole “oh those poor dears, so disadvantaged they had no choice but to [rob, rape, pillage, murder] … they haven’t failed society, society as failed them!” schtick is so cliched one might be tempted to pass this off as a parody post.
The author rattles off statistics and points to some transitional programs as models for rehabilitating women back into normal society, yet I haven’t seen anything about recidivism.
I want to know, for each “successful” rehab of an early-release criminal, how many have be cycled back, either to prison or given a 2nd, 3rd, 4th chance at rehab?
California Gov Brown’s AB109 Prison Realignment program has tossed back thousands of state prisoners to the counties … ostensibly because counties are more “local” and will have a better chance of getting these criminals into local support programs.
However, the smoke and mirrors with regard to how AB109 is faring and the complicity of California’s Left-dominated media pretty much covered up the ugly side of the release of state prisoners based solely on their last conviction and not the totality of their criminal history.
The author seems to believe that being a “mother” makes female criminals somehow more worthy of being spared anything more limiting than a peace circle.
Women are also more likely than men to have children who rely on them for support — 147,000 American children have mothers in prison. […]
So what is the alternative to jailing women at the rate we do? In Britain, advocates propose community sentences for nonviolent offenders and housing violent offenders in small custodial centers near their families. […]
We need to understand the harm embedded in the current prison system and explore what alternative responses already exist. For example, Susan Burton, the founder of A New Way of Life, a group of transition homes for women exiting prison in Los Angeles, indicates that an abolitionist perspective transforms the lives of former prisoners. Direct assistance from this program reconnects women to their families, communities and citizenship. Circle processes used by indigenous communities in the United States, Canada and New Zealand provide models for these practices.
The children of Susan Smith and Andrea Yates could not be reached for comment.
i’m just starting season two of OITNB but so far my impression is that lots of heartwarming life lessons are learned in these women’s prisons
there’s a lot of love in there even if there are also some painful and frustration moments too
Susan Smith is a sociopath. She killed her kids to secure a man.
Andrea Yates had post-partum psychosis. Her chemically screwed-up brain was lying to her, telling her that her kids would be better off living with Jesus than living with the most worthless, awful mother in the world.
Please don’t put them in the same category.
Di,
I have no problem with treating criminals according to their crimes, but the idea that no woman needs to be incarcerated for anything becuz WOMAN or MOTHER is wrong beyond measure.
I’m sorry Yates had bad brain chemistry, but her kids are still dead and she deserves, at minimum, a lifetime of being monitored. Including spending some of that time separated from society.
– Speaking of women who should be incarcerated for the safety of society Debbie Wasserman, that unique lady with her head up the ass of a poodle is busy denying reality yet again:
“We need to understand everything that went wrong so that we can address all the potential problems and prepare for future elections,” she said.
– The answer just cannot be that the electorate thinks the Progs can’t do anything right. No, no, that can’t be it in Progtardia, so I have absolute faith she couldn’t find the truth if it was stapled to her face.
– Ahh, feel the power as it returns to the sane. Jug ears will have to roll over and beg for his dog bones from now on.
chink in the armor news
link
chink in the armor news
Chinese Media Slams Obama Before Visit: “Obama’s Best Performance Is Empty Rhetoric”
[…] Darleen Click on Protein Wisdom: “We should stop putting women in jail. For anything.” […]
OT: US active-duty military and veterans — http://themilitarywallet.com/veterans-day-free-meals-and-discounts/
Worth a look-see…
proggtardia news
Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of the day the gates were opened in the Berlin Wall.
A delightful Fisking, Darleen.
Firstly, women who commit felonious, heinous crimes should be forever separated from their children. If society really cares that her children have any chance at all in succeeding in their lives.
“Unfit Mother”, means just that.
(Oh, and offer a few grand to the convicted heinous ‘mother’ to undergo snippings. If she comes back to society remorseful, healed, and able to function normally without a great chance of recidivism, then she can adopt a child. If she marries with intent to stay married*, of course.)
(*to a suitable (male) partner… )
“In Britain, advocates propose community sentences for nonviolent offenders and housing violent offenders in small custodial centers near their families.”
Oh, good grief, America, please don’t make our mistakes!
We don’t put women in jail. We put criminals in jail.