betrayed_4_life
11-14-2004, 09:03 PM
Increasing number of women straining Arkansas’ prisons
BY TRACI SHURLEY
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004
The pace of women pouring into Arkansas’ prison system has surpassed the rate of male inmate growth in recent years, straining the resources in place for the traditionally small numbers of women.
And for now, no one seems to know when the rapid upswing will end. Uncertainty also remains about how well equipped financially the prison system will be to deal with the growth during the coming years. "The more we get, the more it’s going to cost us," said Dina Tyler, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction, referring specifically to the medical needs of female inmates versus men. "It almost seems as if they’re speeding up now and that’s the last thing we needed."
At the end of 2000, 774 women were in the Correction Department. As of Friday, there were 989 female inmates. That’s a 27 percent increase over four years and an 11 percent increase over the Dec. 31, 2003, total of 887. In contrast, the department’s male population experienced a 3 percent growth rate since Dec. 2003 and an approximately 2 percent growth rate between December 2002 and December 2003.
Officials say drugs, especially methamphetamine, are a major cause of the increase in female offenders.
The state Department of Community Correction’s residential treatment facility in Pine Bluff is also experiencing record gains. The center is an alternative to prison where women, many with drug problems, spend an average of nine to 11 months. Its typical population is 250 and in recent weeks the number of women waiting to get into the program has reached more than 150.
The total number of prisoners — male and female — is continuing to rise also because of lengthier, mandatory sentences, officials say. Earlier this week, the total prison population was more than 13,600.
Though women still make up only about 7 percent of inmates in Arkansas, their quick growth is having an impact on the department’s economic plans for the coming years. It is also causing changes in the way correctional officials do business. "With the women, the services have to be all at one unit," said Dr. Max Mobley, Correction Department deputy director over health and correctional programs. "With men you can have the treatment here and the vo-tech there and move the men around. You can’t move the women to a men’s unit, so we’ve got to make sure anything we’ve got for the males is duplicated at the women’s unit. We have to have more staff and more space at the women’s unit and we haven’t had that. We just didn’t expect this many women."
The growth has also meant new challenges for counties across the state. In the past few months, the number of women backed up waiting for space in the prison system has hovered between 150 and 200. "They don’t have the space for them and we don’t have the space for them either," Tyler said.
Outside of Arkansas, the number of women behind bars is also increasing.
Nationwide, the number of prisoners in federal and state prisons increased by 2.1 percent in 2003, reaching a total of 1,470,045 by Dec. 31, 2003, according to a study released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Nov. 7. During 2003, the number of male inmates increased by 2 percent, while the number of female inmates increased 3.6 percent nationwide.
Prison growth in 2003 didn’t match the average rate of growth since 1995; that was 3.4 percent. But Mary Parker, head of the criminal justice department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said colleagues across the nation she’s spoken with all say the number of female prisoners is creating a new woe. So far, she said, no state she’s heard of seems to have found a surefire solution to slowing female population growth. "What most people are doing is the very traditional thing that we do to deal with men and that is, build beds," Parker said.
That is exactly what Arkansas officials plan.
The state Correction Department gained approval from legislators earlier this year to add beds for women inmates for the first time since the McPherson Unit at Newport opened in 1998. The new housing located on the grounds of the Wrightsville Unit for men will hold 200 women. Its $3 million cost is being paid for through salary savings the department had during fiscal 2004.
Still, getting beds to put the inmates in is merely a first step for the prison system and other agencies. Correction Department leaders must also get approval during the 2005 Legislative session for almost $6 million in additional funding to run the new 200-bed unit through fiscal 2007.
The Community Correction Department is also asking for money for an expansion to its Pine Bluff center for women. Those additional 50 beds and the center’s staff will cost about $1.5 million over the next two fiscal years, the state estimates.
Money for both the Community Correction and Correction Department female bed projects was included in Gov. Mike Huckabee’s executive recommendation for the coming biennium. Overall, the governor’s budget would increase the department’s general revenue budget, which is $209.3 million this year, to $252.6 million in fiscal 2006 and $259.3 million in fiscal 2007. It would increase Community Correction’s current yearly share of general revenue funds from $44.9 million in fiscal 2005 to $55 million in fiscal 2006 and $55 million in fiscal 2007.
But, nothing is certain yet.
Last week, some legislators getting their first look at the governor’s proposed budget heavily criticized it for not making allowance to pay for court-ordered improvements in the state’s school buildings.
Whatever the final figure, Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne, said he believes legislators must realize that just building new prisons isn’t a financially viable solution. Instead, he said, measures to divert nonviolent offenders from serving long sentences at the state’s expense must be explored. "I sense, at least at times, that there’s a growing awareness that we can’t just continue to build and build and build without taking resources from somewhere else," Luker said.
For now, prison officials are making do with what they have — trying to make sure women have the same opportunities for rehabilitation that men in the prison system do. Construction on a $250,000 to $270,000 metal building that will house treatment programs is set to begin soon at McPherson.
Mobley said the new addition has been needed for some time.
Right now, the department runs pre-release programs at four of the state’s men’s facilities. For those who have been in prison for several years, the counselors in those programs offer advice on how to adjust to life on the outside and resist the temptation to commit new crimes. During the 60-day program inmates also learn realworld skills, like how to prepare for a job interview.
At the women’s unit, a counselor provides some pre-release services, but no formal program yet. The new building under construction will also give prison officials a chance to set up a sex offender treatment program for women. "We just haven’t had the space to do what we needed to do," Mobley said.
BY TRACI SHURLEY
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004
The pace of women pouring into Arkansas’ prison system has surpassed the rate of male inmate growth in recent years, straining the resources in place for the traditionally small numbers of women.
And for now, no one seems to know when the rapid upswing will end. Uncertainty also remains about how well equipped financially the prison system will be to deal with the growth during the coming years. "The more we get, the more it’s going to cost us," said Dina Tyler, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction, referring specifically to the medical needs of female inmates versus men. "It almost seems as if they’re speeding up now and that’s the last thing we needed."
At the end of 2000, 774 women were in the Correction Department. As of Friday, there were 989 female inmates. That’s a 27 percent increase over four years and an 11 percent increase over the Dec. 31, 2003, total of 887. In contrast, the department’s male population experienced a 3 percent growth rate since Dec. 2003 and an approximately 2 percent growth rate between December 2002 and December 2003.
Officials say drugs, especially methamphetamine, are a major cause of the increase in female offenders.
The state Department of Community Correction’s residential treatment facility in Pine Bluff is also experiencing record gains. The center is an alternative to prison where women, many with drug problems, spend an average of nine to 11 months. Its typical population is 250 and in recent weeks the number of women waiting to get into the program has reached more than 150.
The total number of prisoners — male and female — is continuing to rise also because of lengthier, mandatory sentences, officials say. Earlier this week, the total prison population was more than 13,600.
Though women still make up only about 7 percent of inmates in Arkansas, their quick growth is having an impact on the department’s economic plans for the coming years. It is also causing changes in the way correctional officials do business. "With the women, the services have to be all at one unit," said Dr. Max Mobley, Correction Department deputy director over health and correctional programs. "With men you can have the treatment here and the vo-tech there and move the men around. You can’t move the women to a men’s unit, so we’ve got to make sure anything we’ve got for the males is duplicated at the women’s unit. We have to have more staff and more space at the women’s unit and we haven’t had that. We just didn’t expect this many women."
The growth has also meant new challenges for counties across the state. In the past few months, the number of women backed up waiting for space in the prison system has hovered between 150 and 200. "They don’t have the space for them and we don’t have the space for them either," Tyler said.
Outside of Arkansas, the number of women behind bars is also increasing.
Nationwide, the number of prisoners in federal and state prisons increased by 2.1 percent in 2003, reaching a total of 1,470,045 by Dec. 31, 2003, according to a study released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Nov. 7. During 2003, the number of male inmates increased by 2 percent, while the number of female inmates increased 3.6 percent nationwide.
Prison growth in 2003 didn’t match the average rate of growth since 1995; that was 3.4 percent. But Mary Parker, head of the criminal justice department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said colleagues across the nation she’s spoken with all say the number of female prisoners is creating a new woe. So far, she said, no state she’s heard of seems to have found a surefire solution to slowing female population growth. "What most people are doing is the very traditional thing that we do to deal with men and that is, build beds," Parker said.
That is exactly what Arkansas officials plan.
The state Correction Department gained approval from legislators earlier this year to add beds for women inmates for the first time since the McPherson Unit at Newport opened in 1998. The new housing located on the grounds of the Wrightsville Unit for men will hold 200 women. Its $3 million cost is being paid for through salary savings the department had during fiscal 2004.
Still, getting beds to put the inmates in is merely a first step for the prison system and other agencies. Correction Department leaders must also get approval during the 2005 Legislative session for almost $6 million in additional funding to run the new 200-bed unit through fiscal 2007.
The Community Correction Department is also asking for money for an expansion to its Pine Bluff center for women. Those additional 50 beds and the center’s staff will cost about $1.5 million over the next two fiscal years, the state estimates.
Money for both the Community Correction and Correction Department female bed projects was included in Gov. Mike Huckabee’s executive recommendation for the coming biennium. Overall, the governor’s budget would increase the department’s general revenue budget, which is $209.3 million this year, to $252.6 million in fiscal 2006 and $259.3 million in fiscal 2007. It would increase Community Correction’s current yearly share of general revenue funds from $44.9 million in fiscal 2005 to $55 million in fiscal 2006 and $55 million in fiscal 2007.
But, nothing is certain yet.
Last week, some legislators getting their first look at the governor’s proposed budget heavily criticized it for not making allowance to pay for court-ordered improvements in the state’s school buildings.
Whatever the final figure, Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne, said he believes legislators must realize that just building new prisons isn’t a financially viable solution. Instead, he said, measures to divert nonviolent offenders from serving long sentences at the state’s expense must be explored. "I sense, at least at times, that there’s a growing awareness that we can’t just continue to build and build and build without taking resources from somewhere else," Luker said.
For now, prison officials are making do with what they have — trying to make sure women have the same opportunities for rehabilitation that men in the prison system do. Construction on a $250,000 to $270,000 metal building that will house treatment programs is set to begin soon at McPherson.
Mobley said the new addition has been needed for some time.
Right now, the department runs pre-release programs at four of the state’s men’s facilities. For those who have been in prison for several years, the counselors in those programs offer advice on how to adjust to life on the outside and resist the temptation to commit new crimes. During the 60-day program inmates also learn realworld skills, like how to prepare for a job interview.
At the women’s unit, a counselor provides some pre-release services, but no formal program yet. The new building under construction will also give prison officials a chance to set up a sex offender treatment program for women. "We just haven’t had the space to do what we needed to do," Mobley said.