Chapter 11
Women Prisoners
Chapter Overview
While far fewer women than men are in custody throughout the U.S., the proportion of prisoners that is female has risen over recent decades. This chapter examines legal and policy considerations related to women in custody, including case law about equal access to programming, and reproductive issues such as shackling during labor.
Featured Opinions
- Nelson v. Correctional Medical Services, 583 F.3d 522 (8th Cir. 2009)
- Roe v. Crawford, 514 F.3d 789 (8th Cir. 2008)
- Southerland v. Thigpen, 784 F.2d 713 (5th Cir. 1986)
- Women Prisoners of D.C. Dept. of Corrections v. District of Columbia, 93 F. 3d 910 (D.C. Cir. 1996)
Featured, Cited, and Supplemental Litigation Documents
- Women Prisoners of D.C. Dept. of Corrections v. District of Columbia, 1:93-cv-02052-JLG (D.D.C.)
- Litigation summary and documents
- District court opinion, 877 F.Supp. 634 (D.D.C. Dec. 13, 1994)
- Additional opinion relating to remedy, 899 F.Supp. 659 (D.D.C. Aug. 14, 1995)
- California Coalition for Women Prisoners v. United States Bureau of Prisons, No. 4:23-cv-04155 (N.D. Cal. filed Aug. 16, 2023)
- Complaint
- More Information
- Consent Decree (Feb. 27, 2025)
Statutes, Treaties, and Regulations
- UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (The Bangkok Rules), A/C.3/65/L.5 (2010)
Excerpted Sources & Supplemental Documents
- Interview with Brenda V. Smith, Co-Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs in Women Prisoners of D.C. (2019)
- Elizabeth Chuck, Prison Nurseries Give Incarcerated Women a Chance to Raise Their Babies—Behind Bars, NBC News (Aug. 4, 2018)
- Michele Deitch & Colleagues, Advisory Committee to the Travis County (TX) Sheriff’s Office, Designing and Planning a New Women’s Jail Facility for Travis County: A Roadmap for Reform (Dec. 2018)
- Andrea James, Ending the Incarceration of Women and Girls, 128 Yale L.J. Forum 772 (2019)
Lived Experiences
Data & Figures
Additional Reading
General Information
- Advocacy and Research Reproductive Wellness of Incarcerated People, Anti-Shackling, Pregnancy, and Incarceration State Laws (2025)
- American Medical Association, An “Act to Prohibit the Shackling of Pregnant Prisoners” Model State Legislation (2015)
- Kerry Blakinger, Can We Build a Better Women’s Prison? Washington Post Magazine (Oct. 28, 2019)
- John Caniglia, Growing Up Behind Bars: How 11 States Handle Prison Nurseries, Cleveland Plain Dealer (Mar. 4, 2018)
- Jessica A. Clarke, They, Them, and Theirs, 132 Harv. L. Rev. 894 (2019)
- Kelsey Dodson, What It’s Like to Have Your Period in Prison, Prison Journalism Project (Sept. 2025)
- Zoe Greenberg, In Jail, Pads and Tampons as Bargaining Chips, The New York Times (Apr. 2017)
- Lorie S. Goshin et al., Perinatal Nurses’ Experiences with and Knowledge of the Care of Incarcerated Women During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period, 48 J. Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing 27 (2019)
- Rosemary Herbert, Women’s Prisons: An Equal Protection Evaluation, 94 Yale L.J. 1182 (1985)
- Alex Ronan, Menstruation Can Become Humiliation in Prisons, The Cut (Jun. 2015)
- K. Thomas et al., Anti-Shackling Legislation and Resource Table (Jan. 2024)
- Priscilla A. Ocen, Unshackling Intersectionality, 10 Du Bois Rev. 471 (2013)
- Priscilla A. Ocen, Punishing Pregnancy: Race, Incarceration and the Shackling of Pregnant Women, 100 Calif. L. Rev. 1239 (2012)
- Note, The Sexual Segregation of American Prisons, 82 Yale L.J. 1229 (1973)
- Carolyn Sufrin et al., Pregnancy Outcomes in U.S. Prisons, 2016–2017, 109 Am. J. Pub. Health 799 (May 2019)
- Survivors of Sexual Abuse at FCI Dublin, Rights Behind Bars (Mar. 8, 2024)
- UK Aid & Penal Reform International, Short Guide: UN Bangkok Rules on women offenders and prisoners (2013)
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Handbook on Women and Imprisonment, 2d ed. (2013)
- U.S. Att’y’s Office, N.D. Cal., Press Release, Ninth and Tenth FCI Dublin Correctional Officers Charged with Sexual Abuse of Female Inmates (Jun. 25, 2025)
Statistics
- Jennifer Bronson & E. Ann Carson, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Prisoners in 2017 (Apr. 2019)
- Council on Criminal Justice, Women’s Justice: By the Numbers (Jun. 30, 2025)
- Derek Mueller, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Just. Stat., Preliminary Data Release—Prisons, 2023 (Dec. 2024)
- U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bur. of Justice Stats., National Former Prisoner Survey 2008 (May 2012)
- Wendy Sawyer, Prison Policy Initiative, The Gender Divide: Tracking Women’s State Prison Growth (Jan. 9, 2018)
- Zhen Zeng, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Just. Stat., Jail Inmates 2023—Statistical Tables (Mar. 2025)