By Melissa Hogenboom, 16 April 2018, BBC Future

Many incarcerated women are victims themselves – of mental health problems, and of crimes worse than their own. Is prison the wrong place for them?

. . .

Globally, there are more than 714,000 women and girls in prison, with the highest number in the United States – about 219,000.

And female offenders are more likely to have mental health issues compared to men. In the UK, almost half have anxiety or depression, 25% report psychosis symptoms and the majority have substance abuse issues, often in addition to other mental illness. In the US, 66% of women reported a previous mental health condition.

The majority of women are serving short sentences for non-violent crimes

Female offenders are also more likely to be first-time offenders, and less likely to reoffend, compared to men, 2015 statistics from the UK show. The majority of women (84%) are serving short sentences for non-violent crimes. This means only 16% are sentenced for violent crimes compared to 29% for men.

Many of the issues that contribute to imprisonment are interlinked. Like Joanne, for example, a high proportion of these women have been victims of crime themselves – more than half of those given prison time in the UK in 2017, which may even be an underestimate. There was a similar trend in the US. This has led some researchers to call out that imprisoning these women is “victimising the victimised”, especially considering that in many cases, the crimes against them were worse than what they were sent to prison for.

Often, the women have experienced domestic abuse, child abuse – or both, including physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Victims of abuse are more likely to suffer from mental health issues. The evidence also shows that victims of childhood abuse are more likely to end up in abusive relationships later in life, which can exacerbate or even cause mental illness. Such a situation can lead to substance abuse as a ‘coping mechanism’ – which can have other knock-on effects, such as homelessness.

. . .

[Read the rest of the original article]

Melissa Hogenboom is the Editor of BBC Reel at BBC Global News Limited

Travis Hiland, ReFraming Justice