Discuss how and why there are differences between female and male inmate cultures? How do these differences influence adjustment to prison life?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Like their male counterparts the typical female inmate is young, a member of a minority group, unmarried, uneducated, and either unemployed or underemployed. In addition, they may have health problems, a history of abuse, and be a mother to small children. Incarcerated women usually have also had a troubled family life and many of them were at-risk children, products of broken homes and the welfare system. It should come as no surprise that many female inmates feel strain and conflict, which are psychological conditions related to violent episodes. Daily life in women's prisons differs somewhat from that in male institutions in that unlike male inmates, women do not present immediate physical danger to staff and fellow inmates. Few female inmates experience the violent atmosphere and incidents of inmate-initiated sexual aggression. The rigid antiauthority inmate social code found in male institutions does not exist in female institutions. Confinement for women may, however, produce anger and separation from families and loved ones and an inability to function in normal female roles. They may also turn to self-destructive acts that are not usually seen in their male counterparts.