Women Incarceration in the State of Oklahoma: Facts and Solutions

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

In a roundtable setting, three of us will discuss why Oklahoma has the highest female incarceration rates in the United States and solutions to lower the incarceration rate. A few of the pathways that have led women to prison include: drug abuse, physical and emotional abuse as a child, and living with or being around other criminal activity. Criminal convictions of women in Oklahoma are mainly due to non-violent offenses which far outnumber the violent offenses. In Oklahoma, 3 percent of children have at least one parent in prison. This may lead to a non-stop cycle of generations of offenders. One way to halt the increase of female incarceration rates in Oklahoma is to provide reasonable solutions, which includes various programs that provide assistance to the women offenders and their children. For example, Oklahoma has a diversion program which called Women in Recovery. This program is a form of recovery to break the cycle of substance abuse by treating nonviolent women before they are convicted and go to prison, where they may not get adequate drug treatment.

Sub Unit

• Area VIII: Roundtables

Participants

• Victoria Tjahjo, University of Central Oklahoma

• JessicaRose Hammack, University of Central Oklahoma