Women Doing Time on the Rise

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 16, 2008 at 7:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

For the first time in history, one in 100 American adults is behind bars. That's close to 2.38 million people. Women represent the fastest growing segment of the prison population. We'll talk about

Tom Fudge : Susan Lankford spent two and a half years at the Las Colinas Detention Facility in San Diego county. But she wasn't convicted of a crime. She was a photojournalist who wanted to paint a picture of the lives of women in jails in California. The population of female prisoners has increased at a very fast clip over the past 20 years. Much faster than the populations of incarcerated men.

The Las Colinas jail is a way station for women accused of crimes that may send them to prison. It's also a place where women who commit minor crimes like shop lifting, prostitution, and drug possession are locked up. Many of the latter group belong to San Diego's population of street people.

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Guests

Susan Lankford , local photojournalist who spent over two years documenting women behind bars in California. Her new book is "Maggots in My Sweet Potatoes: Women Doing Time."
Karen Miller , former drug addict and prostitute who spent more than 15 years in and out of California's jails and prisons.