Women helping women make better decisions . . .

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. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Report on Women Offenders 1999).
• 67% of women in state prison 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. (BJS Report on Women Offenders 1999).
• 57% of female inmates report having been physically or sexually abused in the past. (BJS Report on Women Offenders 1999).
• Incarcerated women are twice as likely as women in the general population to have grown up in a single-parent household. (BJS Report on Women Offenders 1999).

In Tennessee:

• The Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) supervises about 20,000 inmates who occupy 16 state prisons. The state pays over $1 million per day to house inmates. (TDOC 2006 Annual Report).
• About 1,140 women are incarcerated in two facilities: about 740 at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville (TPW), and 400 at the Mark Luttrell Reception Center in Memphis. (TDOC website).
• TPW demographics: Average age is 36, and the racial breakdown is 68% white, 30% black, 2% other. (TDOC 2006 Annual Report).