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THE GENDERED PENAL SYSTEM
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THE GENDERED PENAL SYSTEMIn her critiques of the current justice system, Angela Davis focuses upon race and gender as important aspects in the punishment process. She persuasively argues that women, and specifically minority women, face unique problems in the penal system. Her analysis on the role that race and gender play illustrates a larger process that is occurring in the US. As Davis writes, “The deeply gendered character of punishment both reflects and further entrenches the gendered structure of the larger society.” Thus, understanding Davis’s critique of the penal system can be essential to recognizing the gendered structure of and its effects on society. Female prisoners have historically been treated very differently than male prisoners. This differential treatment is partly due to the smaller size of the female prison population, but also to the sexist beliefs still prevalent in US society. To begin with, Angela Davis argues that female prisoners are viewed differently than male prisoners are. She notes that masculine criminality has always been treated as more normal than female criminality, with a significant number of female criminals being labeled as insane. For example, females are far more likely to be committed to mental institutions than men, illustrating that men are viewed as criminals whereas women are treated as insane. This continues today, with female inmates being much more likely to receive psychiatric drugs than their male counterparts. Angela Davis points out that when prisons first became popularized as modes of rehabilitation, women were not housed in private facilities. Rather, there were kept in large communal cells in male prisons. These women were viewed as “fallen” and it was not believed they could reform themselves (it was expected that men could). As a result, the women were housed in large cells, and suffered from neglect and sexual abuse. When separate prisons were first developed for women, they were drastically different than the institutions designed to house men. Instead of cells, cottages and rooms were built to provide a sense of domesticity; the women in the prison were taught homemaking courses, such as sewing and cooking, in an attempt to prepare them for their lives of motherhood. Angela Davis argues that this system both reinforced societal norms of femininity, while also training poor women for lives of domestic service. Many of the female prisoners, once they were released, used the skills they had learned to become cooks, washerwomen, and maids for more affluent families. Davis further points out that this more lenient cottage system was truly only open to the white female prisoners; black prisoners were still overwhelming forced to serve their time in male prisons. This is an example of how issues of race have complicated gender problems, according to Davis. The prison system sentenced white women to domesticity training, while denying the femininity of minority women and placing them within chain gangs. In the twentieth century, the use of reformatories for women was abolished. A new approach, referred to as ‘separate but equal’, arose that focused on making female prisons the same as male prisons. This “separate but equal approach” has, ironically, made conditions in female prisons more repressive in order to bring them to the same level as the male prisons. Angela Davis argues that this policy of “separate but equal” is inherently unjust because it accepts the male prison as the norm, thus female prisons are unable to take into account the special situations that many female prisoners face. One example of this is that Alabama decided in 1996 to begin a female chain gang, in order to ensure equality with the men who were already serving on them. This same logic is also employed to deny women the extra healthcare that females often require. Thus, instead of attempting to solve for the unique problems females face, such as pregnancy and health concerns in prisons, government officials have turned a blind eye under the mantra of “separate but equal.” Angela Davis also identifies sexual abuse as a continuing problem in female prisons. She points out that male prison guards often trade sex with inmates for special treatment, or demand sexual favors under the threat of physical harm. The perpetrators of these crimes are rarely punished because the female inmates possess little recourse. Angela Davis even argues that the sexual abuse is accepted because female criminals have been hypersexualized to a point that sexual assault is expected. For example, the chief medical officer at a California prison argued that the female prisoners enjoyed getting superfluous gynecological exams because they enjoyed male contact. Though later fired for this comment, the chief medical officer voiced a belief held by many across the United States. Female criminals are hypersexualized, thus the sexual abuse occurring within prisons is viewed as normal, even justified. The analysis that Angela Davis offers of the conditions of women’s prisons is quite eye-opening. She describes the sexist and racist ideologies that helped to form the current system, and the ongoing abuse that women are forced to endure. Unfortunately, these prison practices not only affect the women sentenced for a crime, but they imprint the society as a whole. The differential treatment women of color receive as opposed to white women, as well as the hypersexuality attributed to female prisoners, affects societal relationships with racism and sexuality. Thus, Angela Davis identifies prison abolition as one of the most important reforms needed in the United States. IMPLICATIONS FOR DEBATEAngela Davis will be a useful source of information for numerous debate rounds. Her criticisms on the institutionalized racism in the United States will be helpful in numerous ways. First, an understanding of the lingering effects of slavery on our society will enable you to evaluate the actions of the United States government. In a debate round, you can listen critically to the plan of action outlined your opponent, and seek to identify whether they would further complicate the issues of racism. Furthermore, Davis’s analysis on the prison industrial complex can be key in teaching you to identify the profit incentives of governmental actions. Ultimately, her critiques will challenge your beliefs on the workings and altruism of the US government, and force you to examine in depth the true situation in the United States. Furthermore, Davis’ analysis about economic racism and social programs will be helpful in any economic debate. Her arguments about the necessity of welfare programs can provide fertile ground for case ideas, and her criticisms of the capitalist system will enable you to develop unique alternatives to the current economic system. Finally, Angela Davis’s analysis of women in prison is an important source of information on the intersections of race, gender, and class. She points out that the prison system is both shaped by and reinforces traditional gender and racial expectations, thus her analysis will be useful in any debate you have about race or gender. The revealing information she provides about sexual abuse in US prisons can also be a strong argument to use whenever you are debating social injustices or governmental failures. 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