PRISONS STRUGGLE WITH RISE IN WOMEN

FEMALE INMATES DON'T FIT MALE STEREOTYPES

Long used to dealing with violent male offenders, corrections administrators
are finding their prisons increasingly filled with women whose presence
raises a whole host of new issues involving safety, privacy and treatment.

Recognizing that women learn, react and form relationships in ways different
than men do, penal systems are trying to tailor their programs and practices
to be "gender responsive."

"It is extremely tricky," said Meda Chesney-Lind, a professor of women's
studies at the University of Hawaii and author of the book "The Female
Offender."

On Sunday, criminal justice workers from around the country kicked off a
four-day conference at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place on how best to deal
with adult and juvenile female offenders. The gathering brings together
prison administrators, corrections officers, probation and parole experts
and counselors. Seminar topics include "The Seduction of Girl Gangstas,"
"Detoxification and Treatment Behind the Walls," and sexual misconduct
between staff and offenders.

"The issues are difficult in that the number of female offenders has grown
so rapidly in the last 10 years," said Donna Klein-Acosta, deputy director
of the Illinois Department of Corrections' Women and Female Services
Division, a unit started in May to address the growing female population.

The number of women in America's prisons has increased to 84,472 in 1998
from 12,000 in 1980, with much of the increase attributed to mandatory drug
sentences. Women now make up roughly 6.5 percent of the prison population,
up from 3 percent in 1970.

"You can't ignore (that portion) of your population," said Chesney-Lind, one
of the presenters at the conference.

Once housed in converted motels or former mental institutions, female
prisoners are now forcing a costly building boom in jail space.

In Illinois, the state has added beds to its all-female prison, the Dwight
Correctional Center, and by the end of this year is expected to open a
200-bed facility in Dixmoor and a 500-bed female prison in Decatur,
Klein-Acosta said. The state also is searching for a site for a 1,800-bed
female prison.

Only recently, the state opened the Illinois Youth Center-Chicago for female
juvenile offenders, many of whom come to the system after living on the
streets, engaging in drug use or prostitution and after years of physical
and mental abuse.

"Some of these cases are unimaginable," said Janice Shallcross,
superintendent of the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville. "You wonder how
some of these girls are still alive."

Administrators say they are searching for ways to improve vocational
training for the girls, educate them about responsible motherhood, provide
them appropriate medical care and boost their self-esteem.

In the male-dominated prison culture, staffing all-female institutions can
become problematic. Under equal opportunity employment laws, administrators
cannot refuse to hire male corrections officers, many of whom vie for the
jobs believing them safer than roles in male institutions.

At the same time, prison superintendents must ensure that these same men do
not sexually abuse the women they're assigned to guard. In New York, for
example, corrections officers were accused of videotaping female strip
searches and showing them as porn films in the staff lunchroom.

Finding ways to ensure that women stay drug free once released from prison
also is a concern. Two decades ago, one in 10 women in prison was charged
with drug offenses, Chesney-Lind said; today it's one in three.

Another challenge is separation from their children.

Unlike male prisoners, whose wives or girlfriends often bring their children
to visit, female prisoners may not regularly see their youngsters, officials
said. Many are sent to foster care or to live with relatives.

A year ago, Illinois started a small reunification program for women and
their children, allowing the women to live with their children in monitored
group homes. Other prisons are working to improve lines of communication
between the women and their children.

"You can't get them to focus on themselves unless they know their children
are OK," Klein-Acosta said.