Report: Female prison population growing faster than male

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The number of women in prison in Kansas is growing far faster than the number of men, outpacing national trends, according to a new report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Kansas News Service reports that from 2000 to 2019, the women’s prison population in Kansas rose by 60% while the men’s rose by 14%.

It’s not clear why Kansas’ female prison population grew more than other states’ populations, but policy changes intended to reduce the number of people in prison likely have had different effects on men and women.

Gloria Geither, warden of the Topeka Correctional Facility, the state’s only women’s prison, said the prison is trying to manage overcrowding and improve inmates’ lives. As of Feb. 26, it was six inmates over capacity at 909 inmates.

“We also struggle with space and resources here and we’re trying to address that,” she said.

Last year, 77% of women who entered Kansas prisons did so because they violated probation or parole, compared to 65% of men. According to an unpublished paper co-authored by George Ebo Brown, a senior research analyst at the Kansas Sentencing Commission, the number of women prisoners grew after a 2013 state law that changed probation.

That law introduced “graduated sanctions” for people on probation. Instead of using discretion, judges now must use prescribed flowcharts for sanctioning probation violators. The punishments can range from a couple days in jail to serving out the full sentence for the original crime. That means judges can no longer make exceptions in cases such as single mothers needed to care for their children.

Across the country, the population of women in state prisons rose by 26% from 2000 to 2016, while the men’s population rose by 8%.

In the Topeka women’s prison, a few inmates are staying in a dayroom that’s supposed to be reserved for recreation. Others spend weeks in the initial intake unit while they wait for another place to stay.

“It’s a short-term solution for the growth,” Geither said. “We just don’t have anywhere to put the women.”