Pubdate: Wed, 16 Mar 2005
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2005 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Mark R. Chellgren, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

FEMALE INMATE POPULATION ROCKETING FROM DRUG CRIMES

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentucky's female prison population is growing at a faster 
rate than male inmate totals, fueled by drug-related crimes and perhaps a 
new attitude toward prosecuting and sentencing female offenders.

The number of women with felony convictions incarcerated in Kentucky grew 
by nearly a fourth, from 1,387 in June 2003 to 1,728 in December 2004, 
according to Corrections Department figures. Less than 40 percent of the 
total is housed at Kentucky's only women's prison at Pewee Valley in Shelby 
County. The rest are scattered around county jails, halfway houses and 
treatment centers.

"It's an alarming statistic, most certainly," said Glenda Woods of the 
Kentucky Commission on Women.

The social consequences aside, the population explosion has caused enormous 
management headaches for the Corrections Department in trying to figure out 
where to put them, how to care for them and how to try to rehabilitate them.

"They're higher maintenance," said Grant County Jailer Steve Kellam, whose 
jail routinely houses about 80 females, though the total usually includes 
some women under federal sentence.

Women inmates have to deal with separation from children and sometimes 
their own pregnancies. They have more medical issues and, for local jails, 
simply transporting them back and forth to court or other institutions is 
more problematic than with male inmates.

"We are getting a different kind of inmate in," said Cheryl Million, 
spokeswoman for the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women. "We're 
getting younger, more violent, more drug charges."

Although the kinds of crimes that prompted incarceration have not changed 
dramatically in the last five years, corrections and academic officials 
believe much of the increase in female population can be attributed to 
drugs. A burglary or sex crime might be committed to finance a drug habit, 
or violence could grow from a drug deal gone bad.

"I think prosecutors and judges are looking at women more equally than they 
did historically," said Kentucky Corrections Commissioner John Rees. 
"They're treating women more like men."

The male population in prison is also growing, but at about half the rate 
as females.

Rees said the population problems at KCIW are so bad that only pregnant 
inmates, those with medical or mental health problems or those under the 
most serious sentence are admitted. The rest are left to stay in county 
jails until space opens. Prison programs for drug treatment, rehabilitation 
and skills training are not keeping up with demand.

Having only one female prison causes other problems, some very unusual. 
Co-defendants in criminal cases are in the same place, unlike the male 
population, where they are strictly kept in separate institutions. There 
are instances of members of the same family in the same prison, even 
mothers and daughters, Million said.

"We have to deal with all those issues," Million said.

In addition, more inmates are going into segregation for infractions, 
despite some advice.

"They try to teach them - just do your time and get out," Million said.

Yet the time is often getting longer. There were 169 inmates serving 
sentences of 15 years or more at KCIW in 2000. That figure was 213 by last 
year.

The female inmates are coming from cities and rural areas, east and west. 
"It's everywhere," Rees said.

Rees said he has considered moving some female inmates into private prison 
cells or even using a section of the new prison opening in Elliott County 
for female inmates.

"Pewee Valley has done a fantastic job," Rees said. "The only problem is I 
need to clone it."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom