The presence of female offenders in the correctional population within the nations criminal justice system has been expanding at a rate that far outweighs their male counterparts. Historically, correctional institutions are designed to serve the predominately male offender populations and agencies in the community have not addressed the multifaceted problems that form the context for women’s criminal behavior. Women are released from correctional supervision without the tools to help them live responsibly in the community. Like their male counterparts, most female offenders are poor, under-educated, unemployed and unskilled. However, women enter the criminal justice system with unique needs that distinguishes them from male offenders.  Addiction, poverty, unemployment, physical and mental illness, sexual abuse and violence often traps women in a cycle of hopelessness and crime. Additionally, the separation caused by incarceration has a damaging effect on children of female prisoners, who often become the innocent victims of the criminal justice system.

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