By Yair Oded, Fair Planet, January 13, 2020
Women are the fastest growing prison population in the United States. Other than constituting yet another indication of how deeply flawed the American criminal justice system is, this fact has brought to light the incompetence of federal and private prisons in providing female inmates (particularly pregnant ones) proper medical care and protection from the rampant physical and sexual abuse they are subject to in detention.
A Change.org petition launched by Pamela Winn, a victim herself of gross mistreatment and abuse behind bars, galvanises support for the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act - a piece of legislation currently making its way through Congress that would provide better trauma-informed care and health services for women in prison, facilitate and strengthen their communication with their families and children and help them reintegrate into their communities once released.
Winn, a registered nurse and a single mother of two sons, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for a white-collar crime. Winn was also six months pregnant at the time she began serving her prison sentence.
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