Invisible bars: Barriers to women's health during and after incarceration

The United States has over two million Americans incarcerated. Unfortunately, the State of California has 177,100 people in correctional facilities designed to hold 130,000. In July 2006, the entire California Prison Medical System was seized by a federal court judge due to reports of medical neglect and malpractice resulting in one inmate death per week. Many of these causalities were women indicating a critical need for appropriate access to medical care and timely treatment while incarcerated. Additionally, the majority of these women have children that are directly or indirectly affected by not having the benefits of a healthy mother. To better understand the complexity and magnitude of problems and barriers women encounter while retained by the California prison walls, an extensive study was designed and implemented by a formerly incarcerated woman who has successfully reintegrated into society. The authors used community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods to collect qualitative and quantitative data to identify the perceptions of prison environment, barriers to accessing resources and services, and needs for prevention of recidivism. Qualitative data was collected from 61 inmates in a California Institution for Women (CIW) utilizing focus group interviews. Face-to-face quantitative surveying consisted of 152 formerly incarcerated women in the County of San Bernardino. In this paper, the authors will present study findings related to issues, barriers, and access to health, as well as, the need for healthcare services of women both in and out of prison.