Women in Jail

Abstract The jail population of women in the United States is growing at a greater rate than the population of men. Jails are short-term confinement facilities and many inmates will be released after a short period of time, only to be recycled again through the jail system. To reduce the level of recidivism for female inmates, interventions to address deficits in employability skills and attitudes should be a priority. This article examines the level of employability skills for a small sample (n = 52) of female jail inmates. Specifically, we examine basic “soft skills” in the three domains: basic skills (reading and math), interpersonal skills, and personal characteristics and attitudes. We find that female inmates have deficits in all three soft skills domains. Additionally, this sample had serious barriers to employment including a high level of substance abuse addiction, a lack of basic necessities, and emotional and physical illness. Recommendations are made for addressing these shortfalls with the goal of improving employability prospects for this population.