ease in male inmates (Chesney-Lind).
The number of females grew at a rate nearly double that of males in 1996 alone, standing at 9.5 percent, compared to 4.8 percent for males, and similar patterns have been seen in adult jails. While women constituted seven percent of the population in the mid 1980s, today they account for 11 percent of the prison population. The rate of increase in female incarceration in local jails since 1985 has also increased, standing at 9.9 percent for women, compared to 6.4 percent for men. Additionally, the rate of women's imprisonment is at a historic high, having increased from a low of six sentenced female inmates per 100,000 U.S. women in 1925 to 54 per 100,000 in 1997. That same year, California led the nation with 11,076 women in prison, followed by Texas with 10,549, New York with 3,584, and Florida with 3,404 (Chesney-Lind).
This has created a crisis in terms of sentencing. The correctional establishment has long been accustomed to forgetting about women and was taken almost completely by surprise when this change started. At first, women inmates were housed virtually anywhere, as in remodeled hospitals, abandoned training schools, and even converted motels. Each jurisdiction struggled to cope with the soaring increase in women's imprisonment. More and more states have started to open new units and facilities specifically to house female inmates, which has also meant a building boom:
Between 1930 and 1950, the United States opened approximately two to three facilities for women each decade, but during the 1980s alone, more than 34 were opened. By 1990, the nation had 71 female only facilities; in 1995, the number of female facilities had jumped to 104 - an increase of 46.5 percent (Chesney-Lind).
Figures such as these are one reason why alternative sentencing has been considered specifically for women.
Black women fare worse than white in the system, and more than half th...