PENNSYLVANIA Prison populations of women increase

The increase is attributed to more women criminals and tougher jail sentences.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The number of women in Pennsylvania prisons has risen at a faster rate than the male population, potentially stressing the state's cash-strapped prison system, though there remain far more men behind bars, according to a newspaper report.
According to an analysis of prison records by the Tribune Review of Greensburg, the state's female prison population rose from 161 to 1,795 inmates in the past three decades.
While there are 38,834 men in prison, women make up a greater proportion of inmates statewide -- jumping from 2.3 percent in 1970 to 4.5 percent today, the newspaper reported in Sunday's editions.
Pennsylvania is not alone. Arizona, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma -- which two years ago had the largest per capita female prison population nationwide -- have reported similar increases in recent years.
Likely reasons
Prison officials and experts attributed the rise to more women being arrested on drug charges and related crimes of theft, forgery and burglary, as well as tougher jail sentences.
"There's two ways to get a jail or prison overcrowded. One way would be to put more people in; the other would be to have them stay longer," said Rosemary Gidoi, a criminology professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
According to the newspaper's analysis, the growing female prison population could tax the state prison system; a woman inmate costs the state about $35,000 a year -- $7,000 more than a male inmate.
Recent studies by the state Department of Corrections have found that female inmates are twice as likely to report mental health problems, and twice as likely to have been homeless before going to prison -- 18 percent for women, 8 percent for men.
In May, for example, state prison records showed 37 percent of female inmates were taking psychiatric drugs.
Some legal experts claim the female prison population in part has been fueled by disproportionately stringent sentencing.
"You can make yourself a hero for sending someone to prison for a long time. No one ever gets criticized for doing something too harsh," said Carolyn Engels Temin, a Philadelphia judge and president-elect of the National Association of Women Judges.
According to state prison records, 53 percent of female inmates committed violent crimes compared to 68 percent of men.
Women, however, are paroled more often. So far this year, 69 percent of women seeking parole got out of prison, compared to men's 48 percent.