美国国家公共电台 NPR In Iowa, A Commitment To Make Prison Work Better For Women

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

All this week, we've shown you how women in prison are more likely than men to be disciplined for minor¹ violations³ of prison rules. We end our investigation⁴ with a look at leadership - prison reform created by women for women. NPR's Joseph Shapiro explains.

JOSEPH SHAPIRO, BYLINE⁵: Jennifer Sprafke is assistant superintendent⁶ of the women's prison in Vermont. She started her career as a corrections officer, a guard, 18 years ago. And she got a quick reminder⁷ about how prisons are a world dominated by men.

JENNIFER SPRAFKE: I was first told that we'd get women's uniforms only to find out there were no women's uniforms. There were only men's sizes, and I had never worn men's clothes. I had no idea what size pants I was supposed to get.

J. SHAPIRO: A woman making a career in corrections likely has stories of facing resistance or hostility⁸ from her male co-workers and bosses. But as women slowly moved up the ranks, they've helped spark a movement called gender-responsive corrections.

SPRAFKE: OK. So let's get started. So I'm going to ask the first tough question

J. SHAPIRO: In a crowded classroom, Sprafke trains the most recently hired corrections officers in Vermont.

SPRAFKE: You guys have been taught you're supposed to treat offenders⁹ how?

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Equally, fairly.

SPRAFKE: Equally, fairly, consistent, right? So then tell me why do you have one unit on working with women?

J. SHAPIRO: These new officers get five weeks of training but just the four hours Sprafke teaches on how to deal with women prisoners.

SPRAFKE: If everyone's the same, we're supposed to treat everyone the same for fair and consistent, why is there a unit on working with women offenders?

J. SHAPIRO: Across the country, some 15 states are teaching new ways of treating women prisoners. Gender-responsive corrections is built around the understanding that women prisoners are different. They're less likely to come to prison for violent crimes. In prison, they're less likely than men to be violent. But the discipline system in prison is set up to control violent men, so those rules can treat women more harshly, more unfairly. It's an insight that came out of decades of academic research from feminist¹⁰ historians, sociologists and other academics, from women consultants¹¹ who specialize in prisons and from that minority of women who've made a career in corrections, like Maggie Burke. She was the warden¹² of a women's prison in Illinois. But she too started as a corrections officer at a men's prison.

MAGGIE BURKE: You do firearms your very first week of training, and then that screens everybody out. If you can't pass with a weapon, then you can't do the job. And I'm going to tell you that, you know, 29 years in the department and I've never had to use my gun.

J. SHAPIRO: The second thing she says corrections officers learn - how to use handcuffs.

BURKE: And so that kind of sets people up with an expectation that the work we're doing is physical, is aggressive, is law and order, is paramilitary. But the work we're doing is talking to people and changing lives. And you don't do that by barking orders. You don't do that by forcing people to do something.

J. SHAPIRO: About 75 to 90 percent of women in prison have been victims of sexual or physical violence. When a corrections officer, especially if it's a man, yells or barks an order, the woman's reaction is often defensive¹³. She might just shut down, or she might yell back, and that can result in a ticket. She gets disciplined.

BURKE: Typically, when you tell a man to do something, a male inmate¹⁴, he's either going to do it or he's not going to do it. But he's not going to lip off to you. He's not going to talk back. There isn't a whole lot of emotion to it.

J. SHAPIRO: Burke worked in men's and women's prisons.

BURKE: Whereas with women, emotion is in there.

J. SHAPIRO: This sounds like a generalization¹⁵, but we heard it over and over from experts on women's prisons.

BURKE: And when she's just like, go ahead, write me a ticket, it just fuels the fire. And so then it's an emotional ticket.

J. SHAPIRO: Prison guards are trained to keep inmates¹⁶ under control. Women in our society in general are expected to be compliant¹⁷. And if they push back, which in prison they do more than men, officers use that tool they have for control. They hand out punishment.

BURKE: Now she's got some insolence¹⁸ because she's talking back at me, and maybe she said something that I can perceive as threatening, and I'm going to write, you know, that she threatened me.

J. SHAPIRO: NPR and the Medill School of Journalism¹⁹ at Northwestern University collected data on prison discipline from 15 states. We estimated rates of punishment for men and women. And our numbers show that women typically get disciplined at higher rates for the more minor violations of prison rules - often at twice or three times the rate for men for those smaller things like disobeying a corrections officer or cursing or...

LUCINDA GILLAM: Talking back (laughter).

J. SHAPIRO: Lucinda Gillam is a prisoner at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women, serving time for robbery. She remembers when not that long ago she'd get into a lot of trouble for talking back. Once, a corrections officer made an announcement on the overhead speaker for the women to be quiet, but Gillam says she was on another part of the cellblock and didn't hear it.

GILLAM: While I was coming from upstairs, and I caught the end of it and I said, what was that? And he said, hey, I said no talking or whatever. And I was like, well, you don't have to yell. I wasn't down here. And he made a comment, and I was like, well, this is America. I can say what I want (laughter). And he wrote me up for it. So my response was smart alecky (ph) and I got a major report.

J. SHAPIRO: Typically, when women prisoners violate rules - even a lesser²⁰ violation² - they can lose privileges, like getting visits or using the phone. They can go to solitary²¹ confinement²² or have days added to their time in prison. Now the prison in Iowa trains officers that if it's not a security issue, let's some of those things go. De-escalate situations that lead to tickets.

GILLAM: Because the officers, the new ones that I've noticed, they talk to us more. They interact with us more. They ask us how we doing - not trying to be our friend but realize that we're people although we've made mistakes to get ourselves here. You know, they - they're kinder.

J. SHAPIRO: And Gillam says that change in the way corrections officers responded to her helped her mature. She's been taking college classes, and when she leaves prison next year, she wants to complete her degree and get a job counseling people recovering from substance abuse. As states start implementing²³ these new ways of treating women, there's a small amount of research that shows women like Lucinda Gillam then do better when they leave prison. So are there lessons in this women's reform to make prison work better for men, too? Becki Ney thinks so.

BECKI NEY: Women lead the way - yes.

J. SHAPIRO: She's a pioneer of gender-responsive corrections. She started the National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women.

NEY: Men probably have trauma²⁴ in their lives. Men probably have been victimized in their lives. Men have lots of discipline issues.

J. SHAPIRO: And men make up 93 percent of people in prison.

NEY: So maybe we will find some opportunities to take the work we know about trauma and give it a male spin and have that be very helpful to them as well.

J. SHAPIRO: Just like women's prisons learned from studying what's specific about the trauma of women, Ney says men's prisons can learn by studying what's specific about the lives of men. She says there's already an example. More men's prisons are training corrections officers how to de-escalate conflict to figure out what it is about men that causes them to act up and to use that gender-based knowledge to avoid situations that lead to getting disciplined for violating prison rules. Joseph Shapiro, NPR News.

1 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

2 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

3 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

7 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

8 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

9 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

10 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

11 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

12 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。

13 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

14 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

15 generalization   

n.普遍性，一般性，概括

参考例句：

• This sweeping generalization is the law of conservation of energy.这一透彻的概括就是能量守恒定律。
• The evaluation of conduct involves some amount of generalization.对操行的评价会含有一些泛泛之论。

16 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 compliant   

adj.服从的，顺从的

参考例句：

• I don't respect people who are too compliant.我看不起那种唯命是从，唯唯诺诺的人。
• For years I had tried to be a compliant and dutiful wife.几年来，我努力做一名顺从和尽职尽职的妻子。

18 insolence   

n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度

参考例句：

• I've had enough of your insolence, and I'm having no more. 我受够了你的侮辱，不能再容忍了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• How can you suffer such insolence? 你怎么能容忍这种蛮横的态度？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

20 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

21 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

22 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

23 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

24 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。