OPINION: Incarcerated women struggle against a system built around the needs of men

In early 2016, when I was attorney general of the United States, the White House convened a summit on women in the criminal justice system . It was an important topic to me then, and it remains so today.

Caught in processes and facilities designed and built around the needs of men, women struggle to overcome a unique set of obstacles throughout their experience with the criminal justice system. Most justice-involved women come from backgrounds of poverty and trauma, and they are more likely than men to be victims of physical and sexual abuse , suffer severe substance use and mental health issues, and to have experienced homelessness in the year prior to incarceration.

Their pathways into the system differ from those of men, and they face distinct parental, health and economic challenges that affect their rehabilitation while incarcerated, as well as their success once released. Women also have specific health-related needs that prisons and jails struggle to address, ranging from access to menstruation supplies to pregnancy and menopausal care.

And then there are the devastating ripple effects. Because women are twice as likely as men to be the primary caretakers of their children before entering jail or prison, their incarceration is more likely to destabilize families. Children of incarcerated mothers are 12 times more likely than other children to be in foster care , while children of incarcerated fathers are about twice as likely.

These and other troubling realities have not received the attention they deserve, partly because men dramatically outnumber women in our prisons and jails . In recent years, however, women’s contact with the criminal justice system has been trending upward, while comparable figures for men have trended downward.

Number of incarcerated women rose at startling rate

The numbers are startling. The rate of women in U.S. prisons and jails rose 617% from 1982 to its peak in 2018.

In 2020, the total population behind bars experienced a historic drop due to responses to COVID-19, but growth resumed the following year. In 2022, there were about 181,000 women in local jails and state and federal prisons across the United States.

Women also make up a growing share ‒ roughly a quarter ‒ of the probation population , and they now account for more than a quarter of adult arrests .

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The jail incarceration rate for women has been on the rise as well, while declining for men. And, in a particularly troubling development, women are more likely as men to be victims of violent crime .

These trends are deeply disturbing, and last month I signed on as chair of a new, national Women’s Justice Commission established by the Council on Criminal Justice , a nonpartisan think tank.

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The panel includes 15 leaders who, despite differences in perspectives and expertise, are committed to producing policy solutions to reduce the flow of women into the justice system, enable women to maintain relationships with children and families during incarceration, and help women thrive in the community after release.

Tailor our approach for justice-involved women

As attorney general, I was proud to oversee initiatives targeting parts of this agenda.

The groundbreaking Girls Policy , for instance, spotlighted issues affecting young women – from family violence to sexual exploitation – and provided technical assistance, grants and other support to states, tribes and local communities.

Other gender-responsive efforts included the federal Bureau of Prisons' Mothers and Infants Together Program , which allows eligible pregnant inmates to live in community-based centers during the last two months of pregnancy and stay with their child during the critical early weeks.

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I’ve seen additional pockets of progress across the country since that White House summit eight years ago, but too often, criminal justice policy and practice fail to address women’s unique needs:

• Court professionals are seldom trained to understand the impact of intimate partner violence on women’s criminal offending .
• While most correctional facilities have at least one parenting education program, policies often create barriers to family visitation and physical contact .
• As for reentry , few programs help mothers regain custody of their children or offer space to house women and children after release.

I know America can do better. By further tailoring our approach for justice-involved women, we can prevent crime, strengthen families, and break intergenerational cycles of victimization and incarceration.

We can also send a clear message to every woman in this nation who feels let down, left out and left behind: You are not alone.

Loretta Lynch served as the 83rd U.S. attorney general and is chair of the Council on Criminal Justice Women’s Justice Commission .

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: OPINION: Incarcerated women struggle against a system built around the needs of men