Women in Texas Prisons Denied Same Academic, Job Training Opportunities as Incarcerated Men

"Black holes of inattention" lead to stark gender disparities in the Texas prison system, according to a new report.

Men serving prison sentences in Texas can earn up to a master’s degree behind bars, but the educational glass ceiling for women incarcerated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice remains an associate’s degree plan.

The same gulf exists between job certification programs offered to men and women in Texas prisons, according to a new report by the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. Men, who can choose from a list of 21 professions, have the option of walking out of prison a certified welder, cabinet maker or computer technologist. Incarcerated women only get two career options: “office administration” and “culinary arts/hospitality management.”

Lindsey Linder, a policy attorney with the criminal justice group, said the disparity shows how a male-dominated criminal justice system ignores the needs of incarcerated women, who just so happen to be the country’s fastest-growing population behind bars. As I’ve written before, even as Texas has closed prisons and reduced the overall inmate population in recent years, the state prison system actually grew by more than 500 women between 2009 and 2016; during that same time, Texas prisons shed about 8,500 men, who comprise 91 percent of the state inmate population.

Linder said she encountered several “black holes of inattention” in her research into prison conditions for Texas women, which included a detailed survey of more than 400 women incarcerated in the state. “It’s clear that in so many areas of the system, we just haven’t thought at all about women,” Linder told the Observer.

For instance, more than half of the women who responded to Linder’s survey said they don’t always have access to tampons and menstrual pads when they need them. Linder even conducted a “blue ink” test to show how much worse the prison-issued feminine hygiene fare compared to popular store-bought brands. While more than 10,000 of the 12,500 women imprisoned in Texas have children waiting for them at home, Linder says the majority of women who responded to her survey rarely if ever saw their children while in lockup. In addition to limited job certification and college degree programs, incarcerated women also have access to fewer technical education courses and rehab programs compared to men, according to Linder’s research.

“It’s clear that in so many areas of the system, we just haven’t thought at all about women.”

“[The Texas Department of Criminal Justice] has expanded female programming and continues striving to expand female access to programs,” TDCJ spokesman Jeremy Desel said in response to the report’s findings. “We’re even creating a position to oversee female programs. Part of the issue is, the small number of female units makes a specific challenge in offering the same range of programming as male offenders have, because there’s so many more male-only institutions.” Desel also disputed the list of job certification programs available to women in TCJC’s report and said the department is currently compiling an updated one.

Beyond giving incarcerated women equal access to job and educational opportunities, Linder is also urging Texas officials to invest in other programs that address the kind of trauma women experience before entering lockup. The majority of women who responded to her survey reported being abused by an intimate partner. More than half of them reported having been sexually assaulted as children, while a quarter said they traded sex for food and shelter before prison.

“There are significant issues facing women who are incarcerated in Texas prisons and jails,” Linder said. “Not only are these women unsupported by the current system, but they are continually being re-victimized by policies and practices that fail to account for their needs.”

<br /> <a href=”https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4444663/TCJC-Womens-Report-Part-2.pdf”>TCJC Womens Report Part 2 (PDF)</a><br /> <br /> <a href=”https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4444663/TCJC-Womens-Report-Part-2.txt”>TCJC Womens Report Part 2 (Text)</a><br />

UPDATE: A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice responded to our questions after the initial version of this story was published. His comments have been added.