In Tennessee:
-About 1,200 women are incarcerated: 760 at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville (TPFW), and 436 at the Mark Luttrell Reception Center (MLRC) in Memphis.*
-While women repesent only about 9% of the total prison population in TN, the rate of incarceration for females has increased 219% since 1994.*
-Average age of TPFW inmate is 36. 68% are white, 30% black, 2% other. (TDOC 2006 Annual Report).
-According to a 2007 TDOC survey, almost 18,500 children under 18 have an incarcerated parent, and grandparents are the most likely caregivers when mothers are in prison. On average, kids must travel 300+ miles to visit their mother.
*TDOC website
Nationwide:
-More than 70% of all women in state prisons are serving sentences for nonviolent offenses. Women account for approximately 14% of violent offenders nationwide.**
-67% of women in state prisons have at least one family member who has been incarcerated. (U.S. Department of Justice 1997 survey).
-About 65% of women in state prisons have young children, and an estimated 1.3 million minor children have mothers under supervision by the U.S. criminal justice system.**
-57% of female inmates report having been physically or sexually abused in the past.**
-Incarcerated women are twice as likely as women in the general population to have grown up in a single-parent household.**
**Bureau of Justice Statistics Report on Women Offenders 1999