'Close your eyes and envision a criminal. Who do you see?': How everyone can relate to factors that lead some women to prison

Kamilah Newton
Updated ·9-min read

It’s not like I hadn’t spoken in the presence of large crowds about my many trials and tribulations before. I’ve been an activist ever since 2018, speaking at events including The March for Black Women/ March for Survivors in 2018 where I was the co-chair and to major networks like CNN. But sharing my experience with incarceration earlier this month at the 2020 MAKERS Conference — which aims to ignite change and advance the women’s movement in corporate America — was different somehow.

While prepping this speech, I experienced many emotions, from anxiety to fear, but the most overwhelming one was triumph. It would be the first time I was able to speak to a room full of people who were all affiliated with the corporate world in one way or another. These people were by no means more valuable than my other audiences, but I knew this would be a powerful opportunity to reach the gatekeepers of ever-disproportionate wealth.

It was important to share my testimony about the power of offering employment to justice-involved women for a number of reasons — starting with the fact that I am one myself, and have many stories to tell about how my life has been impacted by the system. But I also wanted to remind the audience about how their stories have connections to my own — something confirmed to me after my talk, when many people came up to me, some in tears.

While I am appreciative of all the praise I’ve received, nothing warms my heart more than to know that my message was recognized and will be utilized to create change for people like myself. I hope my words have the power to launch people into action. And so, for the purpose of driving it home: If there is anything that anybody listening or reading should walk away with, I would like it to be these five points:

1. WOMEN IN PRISON REPRESENT A GROWING POPULATION

The women’s prison population is growing exponentially. Since 1980, the number of women in U.S. prisons has increased by more than 700 percent and has outpaced men by more than 50 percent.

This spike can be attributed to a number of factors, including local policy changes, gender-based biases and gender-exclusive resources. State policies continue to single out women by criminalizing women’s responses to gender-based abuse and discrimination. This includes laws that punish survival efforts — like women fighting back against abusers and young girls running away. Additionally, discrimination against the sex-work industry has given women rap sheets for what are literally called “victimless crimes.”

To make matters worse, studies have shown that while they are incarcerated, women are disciplined disproportionately when compared to their male counterparts. This may greatly impact a woman’s sentencing time and chances of parole. Furthermore, there are fewer diversion programs available to women. For example, while some states offer boot camp programs in lieu of prison sentences, some of these states exclude women from participating. Fortunately, organizations like the Women’s Prison Association (WPA) — which helped me — offer alternatives to incarceration exclusively to women to help bridge the gap.

2. WOMEN’S RISK FACTORS FOR CRIME

For women, the pathways to criminal justice involvement are different from that of their male counterparts. The highest risk factors linked to women’s incarceration are pains many of us share: abuse, depression, housing stability and parental stress. For many of us, these are struggles that were experienced in a causative fashion, but started long before we could make decisions on our own. Nobody chooses their formative years or can predict where the foundation built during that time may lead them. Studies have shown that the criminal experiences of women are often best understood in the context of unhealthy relationships and that at least half and as many as 98 percent of justice-involved women report experiencing some kind of physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime.

Because of the high incidence of abuse, trauma and neglect, women like myself experience hardships when attempting to seek out healthier relationships, oftentimes contributing to the impacts of parental stress. This mainly plagues mothers, because while men are less likely to serve as the primary caretaker of their children, two-thirds of women in state prisons have a minor child — and they are more likely to be the primary caregiver of their children both before and after incarceration.

In my case, it was important to acknowledge my grandmother and mother during my speech because a lot of what led me down this particular path can be attributed to transgenerational trauma 一 also defined as “a traumatic event that began years prior to the current generation and has impacted the ways in which individuals within a family understand, cope with, and heal from trauma.” It was imperative to nod to both where we’ve come from and how much we’d survived. Along with being a first-generation West Indian born in America, like myself, comes intense cultural pressure to surpass the accomplishments of our ancestors. And much of doing that effectively starts with the courage and capacity to break these cycles.

3. TRANSITION TO COMMUNITY

When a woman is released from prison, she has more needs than men typically do. This is because they experience more poverty and lower employment rates both before and after serving time, and have fewer safe housing options than men do immediately after incarceration. In my experience, there is almost always a woman waiting for a man to be released, whether it be his mother or his wife, but that trend isn’t commonly reciprocated. This is especially alarming considering how much poverty can contribute to recidivism.

Studies have shown that most incarcerated women were previously employed in entry-level positions, with two-thirds earning a maximum wage of $6.50 per hour. Additional studies have found that for these women, the primary source of income was a legitimate job less than 40 percent of the time, with nearly 22 percent saying their primary source was public assistance and an additional 16 percent reporting that selling drugs was their way of providing for themselves and their children. It’s no secret that financially supporting a child is challenging, so how realistic is it for us to socially punish women who’ve prioritized that responsibility by any means necessary, when the statistics are so dismal? Instead, the onus must be on those in positions of power to provide resources to these women— starting with, but not limited to employment.

4. RESPECTABILITY POLITICS, OR WHY WE ARE SO QUICK TO JUDGE

In my speech, I mention the need to do away with respectability politics. I recognize that for some, this may be an unfamiliar term, but many of us still engage with this culture without knowing it. A concept first articulated by author and professor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, she defined it as “what happens when marginalized groups are told (or teach themselves) that in order to receive better treatment from the group in power, they must behave better.” It is the reason we assume that people who’ve been arrested are less deserving of privacy and decency, why we value those who’ve had more academic success or why we are quick to judge people based on harmless expressions of individuality like tattoos, piercings or style of dress.

Respectability politics are dangerous because the responsibility to create change is taken from the people and institutions who contribute to systemic discrimination — and given to the people who already suffer from the effects of it. It also gives a false sense of security and superiority to those who do subscribe to this rhetoric and promotes victim-blaming against those who get hurt.

One of the most common ways respectability politics is pushed in corporate spaces is the inherent gender-based expectations around appearance. Most employers have no problem demanding that an employee “look the part,” but they do not account for the costs incurred from said maintenance — this is called the “grooming gap.” The call for female employees to conform to social norms is largely unspoken, but the effects are tangible. Studies have found that physically attractive workers have higher incomes than average-looking workers, partially because better-paying jobs are more likely to hire them — and that “this relationship is eliminated when controlling for grooming in women.” In other words, the sociologists say, “if you purchase the right clothes, makeup and haircut, higher wages are more within reach. It’s true that men need to abide by certain grooming rules, too, but they are less complex, less expensive and less time consuming.” Nobody should be judged based on something as arbitrary as their appearance and if they must be, they deserve to be compensated for the expenses incurred.

5. PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS

Lastly, close your eyes and envision a “criminal.” Do you picture anyone who looks like yourself? Many of us were only one bad childhood circumstance or relationship away from an arrest. Many of us have made decisions that we now regret and many of us have acted out of desperation. When you imagine a criminal, think of someone like yourself who just happened not to be as fortunate as you were, and remember that most people are victims before they’re ever offenders. If you’re in a position to welcome criminal justice impacted women back into society and assist with their transition into their homes or workplaces, in any capacity, please find it in your heart to do so. There are plenty of us who just need a second chance, a little assistance and access to people and programs who care.

As tennis pioneer Althea Gibson once said, “I always wanted to be somebody. If I made it, it’s half because I was game enough to take a lot of punishment along the way and half because there were a lot of people who cared enough to help me.”

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