WOMEN ENTERING PRISON AT HIGHER RATES

WASHINGTON – Anna Davis spent four months this year in the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women in Jessup, where she said she found herself in the same living pod as an inmate who raped another woman with a curling iron.

Pamela Griffith, now a psychology student, was imprisoned there several years ago after being convicted of theft. She had similar concerns about being housed with inmates from multiple security levels.

“There’s no way to physically separate the lifers from the others … These women have nothing to lose,” Griffith said.

Women are entering the U.S. prison system at a faster rate than any other group, and they face an array of issues that male inmates don’t, including pregnancy and higher rates of mental health issues stemming from the tangled web of trauma, homelessness, and sexual abuse. Drugs are often a way to cope. 
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