Federal report says women in prison receive harsher punishments than men Wednesday, February 26, 2020
MPR News
Women in prison, when compared with incarcerated men, often receive disproportionately harsh punishments for minor violations of prison rules, according to a report released Wednesday by a federal fact-finding agency.
The report from the United States Commission on Civil Rights comes after public hearings in 2019 and a yearlong investigation. The commission's findings reflect and cite stories by NPR that looked at why prison discipline policies often punish women more harshly than men.
"What we saw was that women themselves are substantially more likely [than men] to be subject to disciplinary practices for minor infractions," says Catherine Lhamon, the commission's chair. Those minor offenses include "being what's called insolent, or disobeying an order, or swearing."
Read more at: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/02/26/npr-federal-report-says-women-in-prison-receive-harsher-punishments-than-men