NCJ Number
141938
Journal
Women and Criminal Justice Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (1992) Pages: 91-116
Date Published
1992
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study analyzes recent Federal court dispositions that involve women inmates' claims of rights in areas that have an important bearing on their postincarceration future: health care issues, rehabilitative education, and the maintenance of relationships with families and friends.
Abstract
These areas are examined in terms of the types of claims that have been successful and those that have not, whether or not the successful cases have primarily validated constitutional rights with broad application or legislative/administrative "privileges" with more limited impact, and the nature of the courts' equal protection guidelines as regards "parity" and identical treatment for female and male inmates. The analysis yielded three general conclusions. First, in the areas in which the courts recognize a constitutional basis for women's rights claims, the litigants have had some successes. In these instances, claims have by definition the same judicial protection as those raised by men. Second, when claims do not rise to constitutional status but rest on administratively or legislatively created privileges, women have had some success in using the equal protection clause and equivalent State constitutional provisions to improve their status compared to male inmates. Third, even when equal protection claims are successful, courts do not require identical treatment for men and women in prison, and separate can be equal. 70 notes