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| Number of incarcerated females on the rise |
| By Texarkana Gazette |
| Published: 01/05/2004 |
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While the prison inmate population is generally increasing nationwide, one particular segment of inmates is also starting to increase. Because of the continuing illegal narcotics trade, more women are being arrested for crimes such as burglaries, thefts and robberies - mostly related to the manufacture, sale, transport, purchase and trade of methamphetamine, said Bowie County (Texas) Chief Deputy James Manning. For the last 20 years, the female inmate population has increased locally about four fold, said officials from with both the Miller and Bowie County Sheriff's Office. When he started working for the sheriff's office more than 20 years ago, Bowie County Services Division Sgt. Stanley Cowley said the county rarely housed more than 10 to 12 females. After briefly housing female inmates in the Bowie County Correctional Center in 1995, the county started housing females in its jail annex earlier this year. Most of the 51 spaces, designated for female inmates in the Bi-State Justice Building, are filled. Recent weeks have shown the county's female inmate population rise to and exceed 53 every so often. Even when the county's Bi-State female inmate population hovers back down to about 30, the county is presently holding as many as 24 federal female inmates in its Correctional Center. Capt. Larry Arnold, Bowie County Patrol Division commander, said not only are more females involved in burglaries, felony thefts and robberies, but also in paper crimes like forgeries, identity theft, credit card theft, counterfeiting and hot check writing. The new 300-bed Miller County Correctional Center, which opened last year, has room for up to 52 female inmates. Currently the county averages about 35 , said Miller County Chief Deputy Toby Giles. Prior to opening their new lockup on U.S. Highway 71 this time last year, the sheriff's office held inmates in its 63-year-old lock-up atop the Miller County Courthouse when they moved back there in 1991 - after being headquartered in the Bi-State about five years. The old jail had a maximum inmate capacity of about 108 with only eight spaces being designated for females. However, the department sometimes had to pack as many as 33 females in one or two cell rooms, Giles said. "I remember we had to move about 33 females the day we moved out of our old jail," he said. Like in Bowie County, Giles attributes the rise in the female inmate population during the last 10 to 12 years to both direct and indirect participation in illegal drug sales - usually in related financial transactions involving forgery, counterfeiting, credit card theft and hot check writing. Giles said while their jail has the room for holding female inmates from other counties, Miller County offenders get jail space priority. |
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