ABSTRACT
How does a woman “make it” when she is released from prison? Given the dramatic rise of women being incarcerated in this country, primarily as a result of the “War on Drugs,” this question is gaining increased importance. By midyear 1999, 87,199 women were in state or federal prisons, 6.5 percent of all prison inmates (up from 5.7 percent in 1990). Since 1990, the female proportion of those incarcerated has increased by an average of 8.4 percent per year as compared to the 6.5 percent average annual increase of incarcerated men (Beck, 2000).
