ANOTHER CASE OF SHRINKING THE GENDER GAP: PRISON

Programs Aren't Always In Place To Help The Growing Population Of
Female Inmates

BROOKSVILLE - Outside the department store, Angela Wynn waited in the car.

Meanwhile, her boyfriend stole whatever he could get his hands on.
Silverware. Perfume. Sweaters.

He would smuggle the goods out and hand them to Wynn. She would
return minutes later, telling the cashier she forgot her receipt and
request a refund.

Instant cash.

"I hung out with a guy, and that was his thing - the bad boy image,"
Wynn said. "I never thought it would take over me."

For years, Wynn, a petite brunet with deep brown eyes, played
accomplice to a variety of boyfriends, racking up grand theft and
forgery charges. Except for a short five-month sentence, judges
slapped her on the wrist and gave her probation.

But when she landed at the Hernando County Correctional Facility in
2004 for a second - and much longer - stint in prison, Wynn joined a
skyrocketing number of incarcerated women.

While the number of men and women in Florida's general population
increased at similar rates from 1977 to 2005, the population of women
in prison grew 600 percent, compared to 345 percent for men.

Unlike their male counterparts, experts say, most women are being
incarcerated for low-level crimes. Prostitution. Cocaine possession.
Forgery. Writing bad checks. And more often than not, these crimes
are committed with their boyfriends or husbands.

Experts call it "the girlfriend problem."

"Women are in very low-level positions. They are making the drops.
They are the mules, holding and carrying stuff," said Brenda Smith, a
professor at American University College of Law in Washington, D.C.
"They aren't the people running it. They are the low-hanging fruit
the police can get."

Some compare it to the Tammy Wynette classic Stand By Your Man, even
if sticking around means prison time.

"Women are less likely to rat out the men they love," said Sarah From
of the Women's Prison Association in New York, who recently wrote a
report on female prisoners.

But an increased presence of female prisoners is overburdening an
underbudgeted prison system. As women adjust to being treated like
men during the sentencing process, they are often left behind in
prison rehabilitation programs.

Equal, But Fair?

Though the number of female prisoners in Florida has fluctuated since
1977 the earliest numbers kept by the U.S. Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 1986 marked the start of the first consistent five-year
increase in the women's prison population. That year, a law was
enacted that attempted to level the playing field among men and women
in the criminal justice system.

In 1986, federal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines were
established through the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. By law, judges were
required to impose minimum sentences on offenders based on the
quantity and type of drug involved in a crime.

Supporters of mandatory minimums say enacting the law bridges
disparities that used to exist in sentencing.

"The idea is, you shouldn't have a shorter sentence because you drew
a liberal judge," said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, a former
federal prosecutor. "I don't think it made sense to cut people breaks
because they aren't the more dominant member of the team. Mandatory
minimums create a floor, and you can't go below it."

But women like Wynn, who admits her guilt and involvement in her
offenses, often became casualties of the new law.

Before she became a heroin addict and amateur thief, Wynn, 40, was a
ballet dancer who dreamed of an ice-skating career. She grew up with
her mother. The two did drugs together. Wynn started dating men she
labeled "drifters." Like her, they relocated often and found a common
bond committing crimes.

She became angry at the world and expected a free ride in life,
including the criminal justice system.

"I heard women say it's their first offense and they got sent to
prison," Wynn said. "I went to county jail. I was given break after break."

Before the new law, judges were inclined to sympathize with a woman
who may have played a secondary role in a crime, and sentenced them
less aggressively.

"Women want equality," said Laura Bedard, deputy secretary for the
Florida Department of Corrections. "Not just in the workplace, but
also in crime and punishment. That's had a tremendous impact. Twenty
years ago, a woman had to appear before a judge three or four times
before she got a prison sentence."

Gender Entrapment

Not anymore, said Meda Chesney-Lind, a feminist and criminologist at
the University of Hawaii. Chesney-Lind said women are caught in a
pattern of "vengeful equity" as society pushes toward equality in the
criminal justice system. Often, she said, women are victims of
"gender entrapment," meaning they become involved in bad
relationships that can lead to criminal activity.

Michelle Dennis, a Hernando inmate, is among them. Once, she allowed
a boyfriend to sell drugs from a room in her house. Another time, she
banked drug money for a boyfriend through a check forging scheme. She
also stole heavy equipment from construction sites for a man she
loved, who she says sometimes abused her.

Chesney-Lind said the needs of women like Dennis are ignored.

"A lot of these sentencing reforms are gender-blind, assuming women
have the same equalities that men have," Chesney-Lind said. "They
forget that women are mothers. It's not call your lawyer. It's call
your babysitter."

Funding Hurdles

A new crop of female prisoners has correction officials scrambling to
adjust to women's needs. But a lack of funding and a sparsity of
gender-specific prison programs nationwide has proved to be an obstacle.

Over the past six years, the Florida Department of Corrections has
seen its programming budget, which includes prison programs for both
men and women, decrease from $59-million during fiscal year 2000-01
to $42- million during fiscal year 2004-05.

In Florida, the programs that do exist are rooted in gender stereotypes.

The state's women's prisons offer cosmetology and fashion design
classes. Men's prisons offer carpentry or construction classes.

Wynn and Dennis both took drug rehabilitation classes, and Dennis got
her high school degree in prison. But those are general programs that
are offered to both men and women.

Nationwide, the few programs for female prisoners are often
spearheaded by nonprofits. Some teach women how to repair strained
relationships with family members, who experts say are more apt to
stigmatize a female prisoner and avoid visiting them.

Some say corrections officials must begin addressing a cycle that
some women offenders have fallen into: childhood trauma mixed with
inadequate treatment of abuse leads to illegal activity, often with a
boyfriend, to feed themselves or their children.

"Women offenders bring a unique set of circumstances," said Laura
Bedard, deputy secretary for the Department of Corrections. "They
come in with mental illness, high rates of prior trauma and abuse,
increased anxiety over leaving their children. Men have that, but not
to the rates women have it."

The increase of women in prison has corrections officials
brainstorming gender-specific programming and evaluating changes.

"There was a change in society's ideology on the purpose of what
corrections is," Bedard said. "I think we are starting to focus on
changing an offender's behavior and realizing that they are going to
come out. Before, it was, 'Lock them up and throw away the key.' "

Women like Dennis hope to learn from a lifetime of mistakes.

"I've lost five and a half years of my life to prison," said Dennis,
38. "I'm angry at myself. ... My mom asks me where she went wrong. I
tell her, 'I went wrong.' "

By The Numbers:

104, 848 Number of women in state and federal prisons nationwide

6,153 Number of women in Florida prisons