The criminal justice system was built for men — men’s bodies, men’s psyches, men’s problems. But the fastest-growing contingent of jail and prison inmates is women. They are housed in institutions not built with them in mind and are guarded by officers untrained to meet their needs and challenges. They are more likely than men to suffer from mental illness or drug addiction, and far more likely to have been victims of sexual or physical abuse. More than half of incarcerated women have children, and one study after another demonstrates that they will do better during and after their time in jail with frequent visits from their kids — yet women’s jails are often built in remote locations, so the trip to visit them is too long and too costly.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 02, 2019 11:03 UTC