Female Inmate Report Released

Sophie’s Choice: An incarcerated mother at Elmwood Correctional Facility in Santa Clara
signs a contract that transfers legal guardianship of her newborn, circa 2004.
Photo by Luke Thomas

By Laura Dudnick

May 9, 2008

A report to better understand the lives of female inmates in Santa Clara County was released Thursday by the county’s Office of Women’s Policy.

Knowing the issues of female inmates can help lower jail population as well as improve areas of the Child Welfare System, because many of the incarcerated women are mothers, according to the report.

Three out of four women at Elmwood Correctional Center for Women are mothers, and more than a third reportedly have a child under the age of 5, the report stated.

Elmwood Correctional Facility, Santa Clara.

The 16-month collaboration among the County of Santa Clara Department of Correction, the Office of Women’s Policy and the Commission on the Status of Women included analysis of current programs and services, and gender responsive strategies to improve outcomes for female offenders.

“There is much that is unknown about the needs of female offenders and their complex needs and life situations,” Santa Clara County Correction Chief Edward Flores said in a prepared statement. “This report will help us… target our programs and services to better meet their needs.”

The study also found that approximately 85 percent of female inmates in Santa Clara County are victims of domestic violence.

“There is something terribly wrong when we spend more money locking up women than rehabilitating them,” County of Santa Clara Supervisor Blanca Alvarado said in a prepared statement. “Poverty, violence and addiction converge in our local jail system and result in a cycle that is almost impossible to break.”

The study was financed through a $173,258 Bureau of Justice Assistance grant and is considered a vital tool in the County of Santa Clara’s Department of Correction’s efforts to remain among the best in county jail systems in California, according to officials from the Office of Women’s Policy

FCJ Editor

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