WOMEN BEHIND BARS: AN ILLUMINATING PORTRAIT

Mass incarceration, as a major social ill has garnered significant attention among academics, however the surge in the number of women prisoners in the U.S., has been given comparatively short shrift by the literature, which tends to focus on male inmates. By focusing on incarcerated females in the state of Ohio this paper seeks to help fill that void. This article also presents the reader with a sense of women's sexual abuse history across race. The number of women inmates in Ohio who were sexually violated before entering prison is staggering. Moreover, the data show that the problem transcends race and age. This article makes a call for understanding the potential far-reaching consequences of this history of sexual abuse and the complex needs of a steadily increasing prison population. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]