Fact Sheet: Women, Prison, and the Drug War - Drug Policy Alliance

Fact Sheet: Women, Prison,
and the Drug War
February 2013
The perceived targets of drug law enforcement are
men, but many of its victims are women. Largely
as a result of draconian drug laws, women are now
a fast growing segment of the U.S. prison
population. More than three quarters of women
behind bars are mothers, many of them sole
caregivers. Women, and particularly women of
color, are disproportionately affected by drug law
enforcement, by social stigma, by laws that punish
those unable or unwilling to inform on others, by
regulations that bar people with a drug conviction
from obtaining public assistance, and by a drug
treatment system designed for men.
Drug use and drug selling occur at similar rates across
racial and ethnic groups, yet black and Latina women
are far more likely to be criminalized for drug law
violations than white women. 1
Black women are more than two and a half times more
likely than white women to be sent to prison, and
Latinas are nearly 1.5 times more likely than white
women to be imprisoned. 2
U.S. Female Incarceration Rates, 2011
150
100
50
White
Latina
Black
0
Rate Per 100,000 –– State and Federal Prison
Source: E. Ann Carson and William J. Sabol, Prisoners in
2011 (Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012).
Women are one of the fastest growing segments of the
prison population. Between 1977 and 2010, the
number of women in state and federal prisons grew by
more than 800 percent. 3
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
Female Drug Arrests, 1980-2010
1980
1983
1986
1989
1992
1995
1998
2001
2004
2007
2010
Sales
Possession
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Arrest Data Analysis
Tool.
The drug war drives these numbers: More than a
quarter of women in state prison are incarcerated for a
drug law violation, compared to 17 percent of men. 4
At yearend 2010, more than 58 percent of women in
federal prison were incarcerated for a drug law
violation. 5
Even though they use illicit drugs at similar rates
during pregnancy, black women are far more likely
than white women to be reported to child welfare
services for drug use. 6 One study found that black
women were 10 times more likely than white women to
be reported to child welfare. 7
More than half (54 percent) of incarcerated people are
parents of minor children, including more than 120,000
mothers and 1.1 million fathers. Two-thirds of these
parents are incarcerated for non-violent offenses, most
of which are drug law violations. 8
Sixty-one percent of women in state prison and 56
percent of women in federal prison were mothers of
minor children in 2004 (the most recent year for which
data are available). 9
As many as 2.7 million children (one in every 28) are
growing up in U.S. households in which one or more
parents are incarcerated. 10
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The racial disparities seen in the incarcerated
population replicate themselves among the children
left behind: by 2008, one in nine (11.4 percent of)
black children, one in 28 (3.5 percent of) Latino
children and one in 57 (1.8 percent of) white children
had an incarcerated parent. 11
125,000
100,000
75,000
50,000
25,000
0
1977
1980
1983
1986
1989
1992
1995
1998
2001
2004
2007
2010
Sources: E. Ann Carson and William J. Sabol, Prisoners in
2011 (Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012); and
George Hill and Paige Harrison, “Female prisoners under
State or Federal jurisdiction,” U.S. Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Statistics.
15%
10%
5%
0%
Number of Women in State and Federal
Prisons, 1977-2011
Children with an Incarcerated Parent
1980 1990 2000 2008
11.4%
3.5%
1.8%
Black
Latino
White
Source: Bruce Western and Becky Pettit, Collateral Costs:
Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility (Washington: The
Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010).
According to the most recent data (2004), 84 percent
of parents in federal prison and 62 percent of parents
in state prison are housed 100 miles or more from their
children. 12
Pregnant women who are incarcerated for drug law
violations often do not receive prenatal care. Children
are often separated from their imprisoned mothers,
causing irreparable damage to the child.
Prisons commonly use restraints (handcuffs and
shackles) on women in labor and during delivery
regardless of their histories. Only 13 state departments
of corrections (California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, New
Mexico, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and West
Virginia) and Washington DC have banned this
practice. The American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists opposes this practice because it puts
“the health of the woman and fetus at risk.” 13
The lifelong penalties and exclusions that follow a drug
conviction have created a permanent second-class
status for millions of Americans, who are often
prohibited from voting, getting a job, securing a student
loan, and accessing housing or other forms of public
assistance. Because of the overwhelming racial
disparities in drug law enforcement and sentencing,
these collateral consequences disproportionately affect
people of color.
1
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance
Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey
on Drug Use & Health 2011 (Washington: U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, 2012); and Human Rights Watch,
Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United
States (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2008).
2 E. Ann Carson and William J. Sabol, Prisoners in 2011
(Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012), 9.
3 George Hill and Paige Harrison, “Female prisoners under State
or Federal jurisdiction,” U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of
Justice Statistics,
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/dtdata.cfm#corrections; and
Carson and Sabol, Prisoners in 2011, “Table 1. Prisoners under
the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities,
December 31, 2000–2011.”
4 Carson and Sabol, Prisoners in 2011, 9.
5 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal
Justice Statistics Program, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/fjsrc/
6 Sarah C. M. Roberts and Amani Nuru-Jeter, “Universal
Screening for Alcohol and Drug Use and Racial Disparities in
Child Protective Services Reporting,” Journal of Behavioral Health
Services & Research 39.1 (2012): 3-16.
7 Chasnoff IJ, Landress HJ, and Barrett ME, “The prevalence of
illicit-drug or alcohol use during pregnancy and discrepancies in
mandatory reporting in Pinellas County, Florida.” New England
Journal of Medicine 322, no. 17 (1990):1202–1206.
8 Bruce Western and Becky Pettit, Collateral Costs:
Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility. (Washington: The
Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010) 4,
http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_report_detail.aspx?id=60960.
9 Lauren Glaze and Laura Maruschak, “Parents in Prison and
Their Minor Children.” (Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics,
2010) 3, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/pptmc.pdf.
10 Western 4.
11 Ibid.
12 The Sentencing Project, Incarcerated Parents and Their
Children: Trends 1991-2007 (2009),
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/publications/inc
_incarceratedparents.pdf.
13 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Health
Care for Pregnant and Postpartum Incarcerated Women and
Adolescent Females,” (2011); and Institute on Women & Criminal
Justice, “Laws Banning Shackling during Childbirth Gaining
Momentum Nationwide,” (Women's Prison Association, 2011),
http://wpaonline.org/pdf/Shackling%20Brief_final.pdf.
Drug Policy Alliance | 131 West 33 rd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001
nyc@drugpolicy.org | 212.613.8020 voice | 212.613.8021 fax
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