STATES PUTTING MORE WOMEN IN PRISON

Report Cites Drug Offenses

NEW YORK . Oklahoma, Mississippi and the Mountain States have set the
pace in increasing the imprisonment of women, while several
Northeastern states are curtailing the practice, according to a new
report detailing sharp regional differences in the handling of female
offenders.

The report, to be released today by the New York-based Women's Prison
Association, is touted as the most comprehensive state-by-state
breakdown of the huge increase in incarceration of women over the
past 30 years.

Overall, the number of female state inmates serving sentences of more
than a year grew by 757 percent between 1977 and 2004, nearly twice
the 388 percent increase for men, the report said.

The report concurred with previous analyses attributing much of the
nationwide increase in women's imprisonment to drugs. The proportion
of women serving time for drug offenses has risen sharply in recent
years, while the proportion convicted of serious violent crimes has
dropped, it said.

Though the surge occurred nationwide, it was most notable in the
Mountain States, where the number of incarcerated women soared by
1,600 percent, the report said.

According to federal statistics cited in the report, Colorado had 72
female inmates in 1977 and 1,900 in 2004, while the comparable
numbers increased from 28 to 647 in Idaho, from two to 473 in
Montana, from 187 to 2,545 in Arizona and from 30 to 502 in Utah.

Idaho, Wyoming and Montana were among six states, along with
Oklahoma, North Dakota and Hawaii, where women comprised more than 10
percent of the prison population in 2004 -- compared with the
national average of 7 percent. In Rhode Island, by contrast, only 3.2
percent of the inmates were women.

Oklahoma had the highest per capita imprisonment rate for women --
129 behind bars for every 100,000 women in its population.
Mississippi was second with a rate of 107. Women in those states were
roughly 10 times more likely to be imprisoned than women in
Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which shared the lowest rate of 11.

Nationwide, there were 1.42 million inmates in state and federal
prisons at the end of 2004, including 96,125 women -- up from 11,212 in 1977.

Though the overall surge of women behind bars has continued in recent
years, it has tapered off in the Northeast, the report said. From
1999 to 2004, it said, the number of female inmates dropped by 23
percent in New York and 21 percent in New Jersey -- part of broader
reductions that also cut the number of male inmates.

Bob Anez, a Corrections Department spokesman in Montana, confirmed
that drug offenses -- especially related to methamphetamine -- were a
major factor in the high proportion of female inmates in the state.
Half the women imprisoned from January through March had committed
meth-related offenses, he said.

Jerry Massie of Oklahoma's Corrections Department also said rising
drug convictions were a factor in the high number of imprisoned
women, but he noted that Oklahoma has one of the highest
incarceration rates for men as well as for women.