as other mistreatments. Now authorities are relying more and more on administrative segregation were inmates are kept physically separated in small and most often windowless cells. This ads to the mental anguish that the prisoners will suffer. Personally, I believe that criminals should be made to pay for their crimes. If that means being locked away from society for a period of time, so be it! I don’t expect them to be coddled or catered to while they are paying their debts to society! What we have to realize though is that by not addressing these issues we only turn a blind eye to a problem that will come back to bite us again. Meaning that if we don’t do something to improve these conditions we are only re-enforcing a negative behavior on these men many of whom will once again be returned to our society. Women face an especially difficult set of circumstances when they are imprisoned. First, women are mothers. In fact over 78 percent of all women incarcerated have children. This can be especially difficult for not only the women but the children they leave behind. Second, women tend to be more emotional and therefore will have a more difficult time dealing with their incarceration. This can leave them very vulnerable to abuses at the hands of other inmates and guards. These abuses can range from physical sexual assaults to verbal harassment. Sexual abuse is probably the most common and most serious problem faced by women inmates. Prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assault is fairly common. Especially on the younger inmates who are basically helpless until they gain more experience in the institution. In the United States we allow male custodians to watch over female prisoners. At times there is not adequate training for these guards to refrain from sexually abusing prisoners. Thereby we have numerous cases of misconduct by male prison guards against their female inmates. There are actually states that off...
