WOMEN SENT TO PRISON FOR DRUGS UP TENFOLD

WASHINGTON -- The war on drugs has sent an increasing number of women
to prison, according to a study released Wednesday. It also says
two-thirds of incarcerated women have children under age 18.

The drug war has had a "dramatic and disproportionate impact on
women," said the report by The Sentencing Project, a private group
devoted to finding alternatives to imprisonment.

The number of women in state prisons for drug offenses rose to 23,700
in 1996 from 2,400 in 1986, the study said, a nearly tenfold increase.

For non-drug crimes, the number of imprisoned women more than doubled,
rising to 39,400 from 17,200.

The figures for women imprisoned for drug crimes start from a
"relatively low base, but it's still an enormous growth," said
professor Alfred Blumstein of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

The numbers for women still are far below the numbers of men in
prison.

In 1986, there were 34,400 men in state prisons for drug crimes, a
number that rose to 213,900 in 1996. For non-drug offenses, 391,400
men were imprisoned in 1986, compared with 767,500 a decade later.
Drug crimes made up one-third of the total increase.

"It is unclear to what extent our findings reflect changes in behavior
and criminality or changes in official responses to those behaviors,"
the Sentencing Project's report said.

James Alan Fox, professor of criminal justice at Boston's Northeastern
University, said the study shows a strong impact of the drug war on
both men and women.

"This does not suggest that there has been any differential
enforcement on women," Fox said. But he added, "The impact on families
and children is obviously disproportionate when women are locked up."

Two-thirds of female state prison inmates had children under age 18,
and half of the women said their children had never visited them in
prison. Many children of female inmates were placed in foster care.

"Thus, women's incarceration results in a disruption of children's
living situation as well as creating emotional stress for both women
and their children," the report said.

The report focused further on three states -- New York, California and
Minnesota -- to show how the figures can vary across the country.

In New York, the number of women sentenced to state prison for drug
crimes rose to 1,226 in 1995 from 209 in 1986. For men, the number
tripled, to 9,110 from 3,006.

In Minnesota, a smaller share of the prison population was convicted
of drug offenses. In 1995, the report said, 19 percent of women's
prison sentences were for drug offenses, compared with 15 percent of
men's sentences.