Blog 15 The Changing Demographics of Incarceration

Throughout history the demographics of the prison population have changed due to the implications of gender and its effects on the ideologies of reformers and daily practices. From the time that prisons were first built to the present era, those who encompass the lowest rungs of race and class ladder have primarily populated prisons. In regards to gender, men make up the majority of inmates with 93.4% and women rank at 6.6%. When discussing race, Black men and women are seven times more likely to be incarcerated than white men and women. The inequalities of justice are also apparent in terms of class with 43% of men and 54% of women reporting an annual income of less than $12,000.

Over the last 5 years there has been a 15% increase in the number of state and federal prisons in the US and throughout the 1990’s the overall prison population has increased at a rate of about 6% per year. No other country in the whole world incarnates as many people as the US; in 2004 there were almost two and a half million inmates! The rate of incarceration rates for women is also skyrocketing. According to Judith Greene and Kevin Pranis, co-authors of “The Growth and Imprisonment of Women, 1977-2004” women comprise 7% of the total population of inmates and their rate of imprisonment has increased a whopping 757% between 1977 and 2004.

The history of women’s prisons differs from the history of men’s prisons. To begin, the Pennsylvania system of prison discipline was characteristically defined by keeping inmates in complete solidarity and spent their days engaging in craft labor. This system was implemented because it was believed that if prisoners interacted with one another they would reinforce their illicit behaviors by teaching each other to become better criminals. The Auburn plan required that men and women labor together during the day, and were confined to their individual cells at night. This plan, however more integrated, enforced absolute silence throughout the day and enforced the rules through physical punishments like slashing. Both plans focused of separation, obedience and labor.

Women were not separated from male inmates until after several scandals of gross human rights violations reached the public. This was when the state decided it was time to step in but it was obvious it not for their protection, but to further chastise them for deifying the socially accepted roles of the female and for being a “nuisance” to the prison world. For example, the architectural structures of these prisons were not designed to accommodate the separation of the groups so when women were separated they were confined in attics that were unventilated and overcrowded.

After years of violence, rape, murder and overall abuse of women prisoners and the unsuccessful implementation of the separation, obedience and labor models, the adult reformatory movement began from about 1873 to 1935. Instead of viewing all inmates as deserving of punishment, the adult reformatory movement advocated treatment in the form of activities varying from educational, religious, recreational, and military (pg. 33). Reformatory methods were soon established all over the country. Some methods were embraced more than others, especially those that were more “masculine”; most notably the Elvira method.

The end of the civil war marked the beginning of convict leasing and the farm system. Since slaves had been emancipated and newly freed slaves were committing more crimes (in the opinion of the power’s that be) there was an extreme shortage of labor and an increase in crime. To kill two birds with one stone Southern governments established the “Black Codes” which targeted crimes committed by free Blacks and began private individuals and groups to subcontract inmates for unpaid labor.

This was later abolished for being inhume, loss of profits for prison systems and the enforced segregation of the Jim Crow laws. To respond to the new labor deficit and the dramatic increase of black inmates, prison farms were created. This system placed black inmates, both male and female, back in plantations working on the fields but this time the profits went to the state and not rich plantation owners. This system is still used in Texas along with the most frequent use of the death penalty.

Arizona’s first prison, built in Florence, Arizona in the early 1900’s, is also equipped with a death row section and a gas chamber. The Florence Prison was much improved from the dungeon-like facility in Yuma which employed the Pennsylvania method of confinement. In the first decade of the century Arizona inmates were also used for cheap labor, most notably building roads. The Arizona Correctional Department also has a high incarceration rate; 34,000 inmates in our state alone. Women in Arizona have the 7th highest imprisonment rate in the country with almost 3,000 female inmates; one female prisoner to every 13 males. (http://www.wpaonline.org/institute/hardhit/states/az/az.htm)