NCJ Number
80485
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 43 Issue: 6 Dated: (November/December 1981) Pages: 66-72
Date Published
1981
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the nature and extent of women's involvement in the work force and implications for corrections, and presents findings from a survey of work-related programs for women in correctional institutions.
Abstract
A 1980 survey of female work-related correctional programs received responses from 3 Federal prisons, 37 State prisons, 22 jails, and 64 community-based programs. Work assignments involved 2 out of 5 women in prisons and 3 out of 5 jails in food service or housekeeping duties. The sewing industry is still the most prevalent form of industrial activity. Other work assignments, each accounting for 5 to 8 percent of all inmates, are laundry, clerical, groundskeeping or agriculture, institutional maintenance, data processing, and aides of various types. Of the 22 jails studied, one-half offer vocational classes, usually in clerical areas. Only four jails offer nontraditional programs. About one-third offer training in computer programming or data processing, followed by cosmetology, which is offered in 15 prisons. The proportion of women involved in each type of training includes about one-third in clerical skills, 13 percent in data processing, 11 percent in nontraditional trades, 11 percent in cosmetology, and 7 percent in electronics and other industrial production. There are 2.6 percent of women inmates involved in work, study, and training release. Fifteen references and tabular data are provided.