NCJ Number
100542
Journal
Canadian Criminology Forum Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1985) Pages: 129-143
Date Published
1985
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Canadian society socializes women into the roles of wife and mother, which makes them economically dependent on men, and women's prisons perpetuate this dependent role for female inmates through prison management controls and treatment designed to condition women to adjust to dependent socioeconomic roles.
Abstract
Keeping women passive and submissive within the prison environment is comfortable for prison management and is viewed as a learning experience that trains women for their 'proper' role in society. Women's prisons have a central focus on the needs of the incarcerated mother, although there is little empirical evidence that women experience more severe deprivations than men through forced separation from their children. Developing programs for incarcerated mothers and their children reflects emphasis on the female's mothering role while detracting from the need for career training that will prepare women for economic independence. Most incarcerated female offenders are lower class. Prison programs that promote a middle-class role expectation that the women will return to the community to be cared for by a husband are unrealistic. 73 references.