ipl-logo

Incarcerated Women In Erin George's A Woman Doing Life

526 Words3 Pages

“A Woman Doing Life” is a unique book that describes and understands the experiences of incarcerated women. The author, Erin George, herself got arrested with charge of murder of her husband and was sentenced to prison for 603 years. She portrayed the true picture of how women, especially those with no criminal backgrounds, seek their identity in this ‘no exit’ place and find ways to adapt harsh painful circumstances in female correctional setting. It is a common misconception that officers of such institutions are always taking advantage of incarcerated women for the satisfaction of their own sexual desires. But, the real picture is not as bad as it is perceived. The system of prison is based on cooperation between inmates and the officers. Both support each other for smoother environment. Since females demand cigarettes and other drugs, so they exchange favors with officers. Sometimes the workers also target emotionally weak girls and may assault them but this is not a routine activity.
In fact there are many types of workers in women correctional …show more content…

As she was a middle class mom, who was arrested and charged with her husband’s brother, she consciously did not mention her crime because this may divert the attention of readers and they may start focusing on other details that are rather unimportant. Another reason for not discussing her own circumstances may be that it may make the opinion of readers biased towards her. So whether she was innocent or not, but her purpose of writing was to focus on the lives of those women who are forgotten by society as well the policy makers. Erin George made a fair attempt to make higher officials think about improvements in correctional system for women and highlighted the areas which need many improvements and can be improved if higher authorities consider them

Show More
Related

  • Dougherty County Jail Case Study

    521 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inmates are also utilized in other areas of the jail, such as

    Read More

  • Jail Is Sinking Families

    304 Words  | 2 Pages

    The article “Jail Is Sinking Families into Poverty, and Women Pay the Most” discusses the situation of Carla Gonzales, who is a part of a study of 300 families who are dealing with the crippling debt associated with their loved ones’ criminal convictions and incarcerations, and her family after the incarceration of her brother. Many of these families, especially the women, go into extreme debt trying to pay for lawyer fees, court fees, costs of prison visitations, and basic necessities (commissary items and phone calls) for the individual incarcerated. This debt also affects inmates after they are released as they often rely on their families, who are themselves sometimes evicted or denied housing, to find work and housing. Alicia Walters,

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of The United States Correctional System

    709 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the United States of America, there are many systems throughout the government. There is the Department of Health, Department of education, and many more to be listed. One system that often causes controversy is the Department of Correction, this department always raises the question; does our jail/correction system work? The correctional system has flaws and gives some result, however, there are more cases than not that prove the correctional system needs a great deal of improvement. Due to the living conditions and the activity inside of the United States prisons the prison system is looked at as dysfunctional.

    Read More

  • Imprisonment In The Yellow Wallpaper

    1414 Words  | 6 Pages

    Domestic Imprisonment in The Yellow Wallpaper The Yellow Wallpaper is an epistolary short story written in 1892 using conventions of the psychological Gothic horror to critique the position of women in the domestic circle within a Victorian society by prominent American feminist and social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman who lived from 1860 to 1935. This work of fiction is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century towards women’s health, both physical and mental. In this essay, I will be discussing the portrayal of imprisonment within the domestic sphere in The Yellow Wallpaper with close commentary on space and setting primarily, as well as supporting references to other

    Read More

  • Aileen Wuornos Attachment Theory

    611 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most sexual offenders are male, and nearly all known serial killers are also male. Aileen Wuornos is one of history’s highest-profile female serial murderers. She was imprisoned and sentenced to death for the murder of six men. During her childhood, Wuornos was exposed to abandonment by her biological parents, seclusion and physical and emotional abuse from her grandparents. The conspicuous lack of attention and communication from her caregivers along with the violent and toxic environment she endured forged a pattern for Aileen’s early-on criminal nature and violent behavior.

    Read More

  • Black Women In Prison Essay

    1435 Words  | 6 Pages

    Women of color are the most targeted, prosecuted, and imprisoned women in the country and rapidly increasing their population within the prison systems. According to Nicholas Freudenberg, 11 out of every 1000 women will end up incarcerated in their lifetime, the average age being 35, while only five of them are white, 15 are Latinas, and 36 are black. These two groups alone make up 70 percent of women in prison, an astonishing rate compared to the low percentage comprise of within the entire female population in the country (1895). Most of their offenses are non-violent, but drug related, and often these women come from oppressive and violent backgrounds, where many of their struggles occurred directly within the home and from their own family.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Treatment Of Jodi Arias And Female Offenders In The Media

    819 Words  | 4 Pages

    The purpose of this writing is to examine the treatment of Jodi Arias, and female offenders in general, in the media and to understand how this treatment fits into theories used by bio-social criminologists to analyze female offending, such as strain theory, and more specifically, objective strain. (Agnew, 2001) Background and Case Summary Jodi Arias was convicted of killing her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander in June of 2013. (Kouri, 2015) She is a 26 year old high school dropout, trying to support herself with a job as a waitress, when she learns about a company that sells legal plans for profit.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Life Behind Bars In America By Michael G. Santos

    1081 Words  | 5 Pages

    Michael G. Santos did not write this book to just past time in prison, but also wrote this book to teach people what life is like in prison. Living in prison, Santos describes as invasive and dehumanizing. Santos also describes living in prison like being a machine, where the prisoner is the robotic machine, and the correctional offciers, who Santos says doesn’t do very much correcting, is the person in charge of keeping the robot in routine and constantly on schedule. Not only does Santos describe what life is like in prison, but Santos also describes what goes on in prison. Santos states that some female correctional officer serve as prostitutes to inmates, such as Lion, the leader of prison gang who used female correctional officers as toys for his pleasure.

    Read More

  • The Judge's Wife Analysis

    1542 Words  | 7 Pages

    The major connection that can be assembled in this story is that this undermined, dependent, and fragile woman is the only person that can stand up against the most feared criminal in the region. Allende’s feminism breaks through this story to prove that women are

    Read More

  • Angela Davis Are Prisons Obsolete Analysis

    1191 Words  | 5 Pages

    Davis specifies that the lack of accountability for inappropriate behavior is caused by faulty administrative action as she explains, “Grievance or investigatory procedures, where they exist, are often ineffectual...” (78). Since women’s prisons were established, sexual abuse has been used as a form of punishment, although this is not formally acknowledged by prison officials, it is undeniable that women’s prison staff more than oftentimes engage in sexual

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Just Mercy: A Story Of Justice And Redemption

    902 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poor living conditions in prisons emerged because judges were inclined to send more people to prison than the space that was provided. Therefore, prisons became over crowed and hard to handle. Living spaces in prisons got smaller and more prisoners has to share their place with someone else. Security at the prisons also fell downhill, as male guards saw the women and young children as prey for rape. Most prisoners were either brutally assaulted and/or rape while in

    Read More

  • Equal Treatment Hypothesis

    1313 Words  | 6 Pages

    Women may receive more assistant and help post prison compared to men since women typically are not as psychologically as stable compared to men. Men should also be offered this same options as the women are instead of being stereotyped into one category as everyone being the same as one another. People believe that more women are offered more assistance after being released from jail compared to men because men typically want to play the “tough man” role to prove that they do not need any help compared to women once being released from jail. Another factor to as why women receive more options compared to men is that women are usually more targeted by those who they may have gotten to know in jail or even prior to being in jail and also tend to be a victim rather than being a recurring

    Read More

  • Should Prisoners Deserve To Be Victimized Essay

    681 Words  | 3 Pages

    They often will find themselves victimized by the other inmates. Whether or not criminals deserve to become victims while in the penitentiary is up to debate. There is a belief that prisoners are put in jail for a reason and they deserve to be harmed by other criminals while locked up. In a prison, both female and male, inmates will attack and harm one another.

    Read More

  • Issues In Orange Is The New Black By Piper Chapman

    1019 Words  | 5 Pages

    Women in prison are vulnerable and often took place as weak with rise hormones which makes them sexually frustrated and they tend to take those matters into their own hands by flirting with security guards. Many prisoners get sexually assaulted in prison than out of prison. Mendez is a crooked security guard that breaks the rules of the prison often. He smuggles in illegal substances to take advantage of the female prisoners he’s responsible for keeping safe, he lets them have oral sex and other kinds of sexual activities in order to please their drug addiction. It is a crime to smuggle drugs and Mendez soon faces an issue when he forces a teen heroin addict to give drugs to the other inmates.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech: Life After Prison

    1252 Words  | 6 Pages

    Specific Purpose Statement: To invite my audience to see the different viewpoints involved with life after prison in the U.S. Thesis: Those who were once in incarceration live with the title of being a former convict the rest of their life. I wish to explore their lives after incarceration and I hope to find the differing opinions some of you may have on those that have re-joined our community. Pattern of Organization: Multiple Perspective Pattern Introduction [Attention-Getter] How would you feel knowing you were standing behind a convict in line at a grocery store?

    Read More

More about Incarcerated Women In Erin George's A Woman Doing Life

Open Document