Number of Women in Texas Prisons Growing

The 'gender gap' is closing in the state prison system, and that's not a good thing, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

A report from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition shows that the number of women among the 142,000 inmates in the state's sprawling complex of prisons is on the increase, while the number of male inmates is going down.

While the number of men in Texas prisons still vastly outnumbers women, the Coalition's Lindsay Linder says the reason that women number are going up isn't because women are committing more crimes, its that women are being sent back to prison for technical violations far more frequently than men.

"Maybe they are not getting the programs they need while they are in the system, because they are far more likely to be sent back to prison for technical violations and things like that," Linder said.

She says women are also getting longer sentences for similar crimes, something which didn't used to be the case.

"Not only are they increasing in number in our jails and prisons, they are serving longer and longer sentences, and they haven't been impacted by reforms designed to reduce the prison population."

Linder says while a concerted effort is being made to make sure inmates can handle life on the outside, and have skills both to get jobs, and also to lawfully negotiate their way through society, women in prison are not getting the same programs.

She also says many of the programs which are offered to all inmates to try to cut down on recidivism aren't tailored to deal with the unique needs that women who are ex cons face in the free world.

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