Talk:Incarceration of women in the United States

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 October 2018 and 7 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Briellebudroe.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:55, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 January 2019 and 2 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Zinger598. Peer reviewers: Heyoreo.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:55, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 August 2019 and 15 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Nicolekoonce. Peer reviewers: Cl115, Ddegenhart.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:55, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

healthcare section needs to be totally revised
I tried reading the Healthcare section of this article and found the grammar to be somewhat lacking. I'm also not sure whether I believe all of the content. There are only two references (one of which is used 26 times) supporting a robust array of statements. Some of the section struck me as opinionated, but that may just be my opinion. In any case, it is undeniably difficult to read. If somebody has the time and interest, it could probably use a rewrite.

Thanks, Ragbash (talk) 02:47, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
 * I don't notice any opinionated content in this article. Which parts of the article need improvement, specifically? Jarble (talk) 22:52, 24 September 2014 (UTC)


 * I fully agree with your opinions on that section. Stylistically it's repetitive and simplistic; content-wise, questionable. But I suspect that trying to change it is stepping into the lion's den… — tooki (talk) 22:30, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

The entire healthcare section needs to be rewritten. It has substantial POV issues, and lacks authoritative primary source citation. It uses a single reference as a punctuation mark. There is a significant body of research available on the subject which is neglected. In addition, it reads as a sensational argument, not as an encyclopedic description. While there are significant political and ethical issues regarding the care of the incarcerated, Wikipedia is not the vehicle for pushing a particular agenda. The issues need to be described, not proselytized.

Moreover, the citation used as the basis for nearly every sentence is a review, not a primary source. The individual who wrote the section has an obligation to provide original sources, so that the veracity of what is stated can be assessed. While some, or even much, of what is stated may be true, the style of writing, ignoring Wikipedia's community standards, as well as failure to provide proper references, casts a shamdow over what would otherwise be an important contribution. The section is so obviously biased it makes one doubt if any of it is factual.75.73.1.89 (talk) 14:44, 16 June 2017 (UTC)

Interest in creating page on Shackling Pregnant Women
Hi, my name is Katherine Cai. As part of a class assignment, I am interested in writing a new article on the topic of "Shackling Pregnant Women," in which the following would be examined: the context and use of shackles on women and pregnant women in prison, the health implications, and relevant legal and policy frameworks. Please let me know your thoughts, concerns, advice and any other feedback related to this topic and the creation of a new page.Katcai02 (talk) 01:02, 3 October 2014 (UTC)
 * A section about shackling pregnant women already exists, so we should expand this section instead of creating a new article. Jarble (talk) 20:54, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Sentence removed
"In general, unlike male inmates’ whose children might remain in the custody of their wives, girlfriends, and mothers, women prisoners experience a high chance of losing their children to the State."

"High chance" is subjective - going by the figures in the article it's less than 1 in 200. We do not have the figures for men.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 15:53, 2 November 2015 (UTC).

sexual assault
It would be great for the section on sexual assault to explore prisoner-on-prisoner issues rather than focussing purely on activities involving guards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.7.57.172 (talk) 22:35, 19 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Figures can be found here. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 20:28, 14 December 2015 (UTC).

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Incarceration of women in the United States. Please take a moment to review my edit. You may add after the link to keep me from modifying it, if I keep adding bad data, but formatting bugs should be reported instead. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether, but should be used as a last resort. I made the following changes:
 * Attempted to fix sourcing for http://www.amnestyusa.org/women/pdf/womeninprison.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 11:55, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

In lieu of barriers?
In the "Differences between Men and Women" section, the following is quoted: "if they will be able to maintain long-lasting bonds with their children in lieu of these barriers."

If that's an actual quote, than it needs a [sic] added. "In lieu of" means "as an alternative to". In context, this quotation obviously means "In spite of" or "Despite". For example:

In lieu of incarceration, many women receive probation. As an alternative to incarceration, many women receive probation. In spite of their incarceration, many women remain close to their children. Despite their incarceration, many women remain close to their children.

If it's an accurate quotation than it can't really be changed, but at least the grammatical error can be noted. Or possibly it could be corrected with "spite" in brackets instead of "lieu", i.e. "if they will be able to maintain long-lasting bonds with their children in [spite] of these barriers." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.110.25.15 (talk) 05:24, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

The Gender of Staff or Guards
Hi, I think that this article is pretty accurate and for the most part well-written. Although, I would suggest that you do some more research and find sources that have updated information about the sexual demographics among staff and guards in women prisons. The information you have is from 2007 and that is now 11 years ago. Meganpoole1212 (talk) 18:53, 6 February 2018 (UTC) Megan.

sentence removal
The last sentence in the section titled 'Mental Health Issues' "It is said that prison food of many developed countries is adequate to maintain health and dieting." The sentence structure was poor and the link did not work anymore. Also upon further investigation I found the link to the website the article was posted from and it also wasn't up to par on what a reliable source looks like. Here is the link I found: http://www.foodreference.com/html/british-prison-cuisine-2.html Malikc (talk) 20:13, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

Sections added
Hello. I have added and plan to add more information under Pregnancy and prenatal care in US prisons. I touch on the current treatment of pregnant inmates. I am also adding a larger section about the constitutional rights of pregnant inmates. I believe there are several notable lawsuits and court cases that help protect and maintain pregnant inmates' constitutional rights. (Lsal7 (talk) 15:15, 31 July 2018 (UTC))

Adding to Sexual Abuse within this Page
Hi! I added some more current statistics for the sexual abuse section on this page. Please let me know if there's anything I need to change or take out! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zinger598 (talk • contribs) 19:32, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Zinger598 (talk) 06:11, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

the reference section isn't right
I spent at least an hour trying to figure out and fix the formating for this article. However, " In many cases, incarcerated women who committed acts of violence are for self-defense against their abusive partners" has citation "Kirk, Gwyn; Margo Okazawa-Rey (1998). "Women's lives: Multicultural perspectives;" however, currently july 25, 2019, that is listed as reference [120]. So, when i click [120] it takes me to the reference section that lists [120] as "Cecil, Dawn K (2007). "Looking beyond caged heat: Media images of women in prison"." So, inline, the citation and reference popup for different paraphrases is correct; however, when clicked it doesn't give the right article reference in the reference section. Again, i tried figuring out why it does that, but i couldn't figure it out. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ap4lmtree2 (talk • contribs) 25 July 2019 (UTC)

Rise of women's incarceration from 1980
I found this resource: https://eji.org/news/female-incarceration-growing-twice-as-fast-as-male-incarceration WhisperToMe (talk) 00:23, 12 August 2019 (UTC)


 * That chart is in the public domain. As is the source chart from the Sentencing Project.


 * See Commons:Threshold of originality in the charts section. Someone can upload the chart to the Commons, and add the license to it. And then add the chart here. -- Timeshifter (talk) 12:59, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
 * That's excellent news! WhisperToMe (talk) 14:00, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
 *   is the correct public domain image license template to use now.
 * See: Commons:Template:PD-chart. -- Timeshifter (talk) 20:42, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

Plans to update and add to article
Hi everyone, I am planning to work on this article as part of a project for a class at Rice University. I would like to update some of the sources as they are a bit out of date, condense and reorganize a bit of the information so the article flows better, and add a few sections primarily to the health section, for example on birth in prison, menstruation in prison, care of older women in prison, and also the current relevant policy discussions on this issue. My goal is to ultimately submit the article for review so it can be given a good article status! Please let me know if you have any suggestions or criticisms of these plans. You can also viewed a more detail breakdown of my plans in my sandbox on my user page. Thanks Nicolekoonce (talk) 21:52, 26 September 2019 (UTC)


 * I saw your message on my talk page. I suggest adding charts. We have a great new tool now. See Commons:Template:PD-chart and follow its links for more info. See also:
 * Commons:Category:Correctional population statistics for the United States
 * Commons:Category:Imprisonment and detention rates in the United States


 * Also, please see WP:NOTPAPER. Please make articles longer, not shorter! :) Create sub-articles and related articles as needed. Thanks for your efforts! -- Timeshifter (talk) 21:08, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

Peer Review
Great job with the article! I learned so much about the incarceration of women in the United States. I was completely unaware of the various healthcare challenges and deprivations women faced in carceral systems and the unique challenges women face because of gender norms and family structures. I enjoyed the smooth transitions between sections and the subtle weaving of sources and statistics into the sections. I can clearly tell how much research and time you spent on improving this article. I think that the article could be stronger if there were more images to give readers a visual aid in understanding the issue, so photographs, maps, or charts. I think the most important thing is to double check the neutrality and add to the lead so that it provides a better overview of the article.Cl115 (talk) 04:06, 31 October 2019 (UTC)

Peer Review
Nicolekoonce,

Your revision to this article brings a great contribution to the topic by expanding upon some critical issues facing incarcerated women. In my opinion, the most significant highlight is your continued use of neutral, data-driven language, ensuring adherence to Wikipedia standards. Through this data, readers will be able to digest the various findings surrounding American women’s incarceration. Not only is there more information on healthcare overall, but it is also well structured and provides specific considerations, such as elderly care. As far as suggestions for improvement are concerned, a general one is the use of passive language, which adds length to your article. Strategies such as possessive nouns, -ing verbs, and other active writing methods may lead to a more concise article. I additionally recommend adding more information to the article lead in order to do more justice to your meaningful contribution. Currently, the lead briefly touches upon the incarceration rate but does not indicate the various issues revolving around women’s incarceration. Lastly, I will make a couple of organization suggestions: while not within your scope of work, the sections prison and jail population and history may benefit from a swap, providing more chronological development. Additionally, I recommend creating the paragraphs right before Healthcare, referring to reform, into their own subtopic on attempts at reform. Overall, great contribution and I look forward to seeing your revisions! -Ddegenhart (talk) 05:44, 31 October 2019 (UTC)

Written like an essay
"Because we live in a patriarchal society, women are viewed as objects for intercourse, and their issues are not taken as severely as we would that of males." This is entirely inappropriate for Wikipedia per WP:NOTESSAY and WP:NOTOPINION. Can we clean this up? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.204.212.145 (talk) 03:21, 16 February 2020 (UTC)

Is the final sentence written objectively?
"Because we live in a patriarchal society, women are viewed as objects for intercourse, and their issues are not taken as severely as we would that of males."

I am going to edit this to make it appear less biased. I am not sure if it should be taken completely or edited to be more objective. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wmpetro (talk • contribs) 18:47, 9 May 2020 (UTC)

Transgender women
given how built out this page is already, seems like there would be space (and necessity) to add information about trans women Likeanechointheforest (talk) 18:13, 16 September 2021 (UTC)

Menstrual Health Black Women (Racial Disparities) and Transgender Women
While the article discusses the impacts of incarceration on racial minorities, there is not a discussion on how this infringes on menstrual health. Arguably, this is one of the biggest issues that menstrual equity activists are fighting to improve access for, and a reflection of this importance may be able to be found in an expansion of that section. I plan on working on this, but would this be best as an expansion of the current section, or an entirely new parent article? I agree with Likeanechointheforest, in that the unique struggles of transgender women also need to be addressed in this article. Homedpo (talk) 21:11, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

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