Maltreatment of women in prison

Maltreatment of Women in Prison When we talk about crime in America, and when we talk about prisons, we are talking about power and powerlessness. We are talking about hopelessness and helplessness. The one thing prisons do very well is punish prisoners, especially women prisoners. Prisons strip them of their dignity, their health, and whatever self-esteem they once might have had (Watterson 12). There are over 90,000 women in prison today. The majority are in prison for …

…of women’s equality, even good laws on women’s rights can be ignored, revoked, or overruled. Women have the same human rights as men and these rights need to be enforced. As quoted by a woman in the New York House of Detention, “We humbly seek your support and help. We who are your fellow human beings need you, the public, to help us in our struggle to eliminate these injustices” (qtd. in Watterson 353).