Nationwide, women are the fastest growing population in jails and prisons. Over the past twenty five years, the rate of women’s involvement in the criminal justice system has increased by more than 700%   However, the criminal justice system was not built to hold women which creates additional and unique challenges, particularly in local jails due to limited programming and services as well as lack of acknowledging gender differences and their inability to provide gender-responsive services. The majority of women in prison or jails are there for non-violent offenses and report high rates of substance abuse, mental health disorders, histories of trauma and low-level of education.

[1] The Sentencing Project (2015). Incarcerated Women and Girls. Retrieved from: http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/Incarcerated-Women-and-Girls.pdf

[2] DC BOP Census Roster. Rep. Washington: CSOSA, October 2016.

 Key Publications:

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• Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017 by Aleks Kajstura, Prison Policy Institute and ACLU Smart Justice – Published on October 2017.

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• Opening Doors: How to develop reentry programs using examples from public housing authorities by John Bae, Kate Finley, Margaret diZerega and Sharon Kim, Vera Insititute of Justice – Published on September 2017.

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• The Prison Paradox: More incarceration will not make us safer by Don Stemen, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Loyola University Chicago (Member of Vera Research Advisory Board) – Published on July 2017.

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• Working for Redemption: Formerly Incarcerated Black Women and Punishment in the Labor Market by Susila Gurusami, University of California, Los Angeles, USA – Published on June 27, 2017.

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• Indicators of mental health problems reported by Prisoners and Jail Inmates, 2011-12 by Jennifer Bronson, Ph.D and Marcus Berzofsky, Dr. P.H, U.S. Department of Justice – Published on June 2017. 

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• Gender and Trauma - Somatic Interventions for Girls in Juvenile Justice: Implications for Policy and Practice by Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality – Published on April 2017.

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• Prisoners in 2015 by Bureau of Justice Statistics – Published on December 2016.

• Overlooked: Women and Jails in an Era of Reform by Vera Institute of Justice – Published on August 2016

• Fact Sheet on Justice Involved Women in 2016 by National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women – Published on July 2016.

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• Reentry Considerations for Justice Involved Women by Rachelle Ramirez, National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women – Published on July 2016.

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• The Color of Justice: Racial and ethnic disparity in state prisons by Ashley Nellis, Ph.D, The Sentencing Project – Published on 2016

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• Distribution of District of Columbia Inmates housed in a BOP Facility by State and Gender by Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency  for the District of Columbia (CSOSA) – Published on December 2015

• Incarcerated Women and Girls by The Sentencing Project – Published on November 2015

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• Trauma Among Girls in the Juvenile Justice System by National Child Traumatic Stress Network – Published on 2014.

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• The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women’s Incarceration by Marc Mauer from The Sentencing Project – Published on February 2013.

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• Parents in Prison by The Sentencing Project – Published on September 2012.

• Gender-Responsive Strategies for Women Offenders by National Institute of Corrections (U.S Department of Justice) – Published on May 2005.