Women Incarcerated in Rural Southern Prisons in the United States: A Review of Existing Multidisciplinary Literature and Suggestions for Future Directions

Authors

  • Susan Dewey Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, The University of Alabama
  • Brittany VandeBerg Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, The University of Alabama
  • Ariane Prohaska Department of Gender and Race Studies, The University of Alabama
  • Lauren Yearout Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, The University of Alabama

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18061/ijrc.v7i3.8909

Abstract

Prisons in the Southern United States are a particularly unique kind of rural institutions not only because of their geographic locations, social climates informed by the rural cultures of staff and prisoners, and, for many older Southern prisons, their roots in plantation agriculture. Despite these realities, rural criminology has yet to systematically synthesize and explore what existing research indicates about the everyday lives of over 30,000 women currently serving time in state prisons throughout the Southern United States. The present study attempts to fill this gap in the literature by synthesizing all the available literature on women incarcerated in rural Southern prisons and identifying four prevailing themes in this body of work: regional culture in historical context, relationships and social dynamics, victimization and wellbeing, and journeys through the system from sentencing to reentry. 

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Published

2023-03-28

How to Cite

Dewey, S., VandeBerg, B., Prohaska, A., & Yearout, L. (2023). Women Incarcerated in Rural Southern Prisons in the United States: A Review of Existing Multidisciplinary Literature and Suggestions for Future Directions. International Journal of Rural Criminology, 7(3), 386–414. https://doi.org/10.18061/ijrc.v7i3.8909

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