1. In prison, about 93.2% of inmates are male while 6.8% are female (Clear et al., 2016). However, there are many differences between male and female institutions. When comparing prisons for men, those for women are usually fewer and smaller; also (1) women’s prisons are generally located farther from friends and families, making visits from children, other family members, and friends more difficult, particularly for the poor; (2) the relatively small number of women in prison and jails is used to “justify” the lack of diverse educational, vocational, and other programs available to incarcerated women; (3) the relatively small number of women in prison and jail is used to “justify” low levels of specialization in treatment and failure to segregate the more-serious and mentally ill offenders from the less-serious offenders (as it is done in male prisons and jails) (Clear et al., 2016). Typically, women do have shorter sentences than men, but there comes an issue with security. Men’s prison populations are divided by security levels, but most women serve time in facilities where the entire population is mixed (Clear et al., 2016). Also, there is a huge difference between men and women prisons that specifically has to do with interpersonal relationships. Men typically fend and act for themselves only while women have close ties to existing small groups that are similar to families (Clear et al., 2016).
Correctional managers are resolving these concerns through values and characteristics of the inmate cultures and major concerns of men and women. Acknowledging the major differences between male and female institutions is important, especially in this case. As an example, a huge concern was loose security in women’s facilities. However recent years have seen a trend to upgrade security for women’s prisons by adding razor wire, higher fences, and other devices (Clear et al., 2016). Correctional managers are responsible for listening and responding to concerns. “…management enhances communication between staff and inmates, maintains regularity for employees and inmates alike, empowers decision-making at the front-line level, and increases direct supervision and monitoring of offenders” (Edwards, n.d.). Regardless of the fact, there still are quite a few differences between male and female institutions, some being questionable and unequal in certain ways.

2. When I picture a male institution, I picture hard macho headed men that are willing to kill anyone that looks at them the wrong way. I see gangs and distrust. When I picture female institutions, I picture badass women that will do anything to survive another day. Based on my findings from the textbook, “Men tend to segregate themselves by race; this is less true for women” It was also then mentioned that, “Men rarely form intimate relationships with prison staff, but many women share personal information with their keepers.” Women are more likely to express their feelings because they haven’t been told by society that having feelings is a bad thing. Where as opposed to men, they are taught to suppress their feelings. Men fend for themselves in these institutions because they know they can only trust themselves whereas women can be more enabled to trust others out of compassion. Men want to be seen as strong and fearless. Those that may be involved in the gay community shy away from expressing such feelings because they could potentially be seen as a target. Kimberly Greer came across research that mentions women institutions are less violent in their nature. “…involve less gang activity, and do not have the racial tensions found in men’s prisons’ ‘ (Clear & Reisig Cole 2016). Women can be known to manipulate each other for what they want and the same goes for men as well but it is seen as more common in women’s prisons because they know how to play on the feelings of other women. Women are more open about their sexuality in these institutions because it’s seen as “voluntary.
Correctional managers are fixing these issues by one not allowing “opposite-sex officers from viewing and searching inmates’ bodies”(Clear & Reisig, Cole 2016). Lawsuits have been brought on that inmates have felt inapporoatly touched by the opposite sex during body searches. To fix issues with mental health with the institutions, each facility offers educational programs so inmates can become literate and earn general equivalency diplomas(GEDs)” (Clear & Reisig, Cole 2016). This is a great resource for those that want to better their life and actually have one when and if they are released. Medical services are also offered to tailor to the needs of the man and the woman.
This isn’t mentioned in the textbook but there has been a show on A&E called “60 Days In” and the synopsis of it is that individuals volunteer to be admitted into jail for 2 months to gain insider knowledge on the gangs, politics, potential illegal activities, and more. The individuals are subjected to harsh treatment from the rest of the inmates and have to learn to adapt to the jail population. It is a make or break situation for some but it is a great idea to figure out what really happens behind bars and the ways to improve it.

3. Men and women function and think differently, Women tend to internalize stress, which may explain why female inmates engage in self-harming behavior such as cutting, carving and burning; women have more frequent suicide attempts and use medical and mental health services at more than twice the rate of male inmates. Males may bond as teams, which can manifest as gang activity formal.

Correctional counselors manage the daily living concerns of inmates, ensure programs are delivered as intended, and provide input on unit activities. Correctional officers complete security checks, communicate with inmates, maintain inmate supplies, and routinely make rounds.

4. There are many gender similarities and differences in male and female institutions. To begin, it is said that “men and women function and think differently, and inmates are no exception” (Bedard, 2008). Hence, the major difference between male and female inmates’ mental health services in which “women have more frequent suicide attempts and use medical and mental health services at more than twice the rate of male inmates” (Bedard, 2008). On the other hand, “Men tend to externalize stress, which in prison produces more physical aggression and combative behavior” (Bedard, 2008). These emotional needs differences contribute to the institutions from which they are managed and controlled. Specifically, Warden Arnold claims that “female inmates find out who they are for the first time in their life because they are not being abused; they do not have a john or a pimp lurking around the corner waiting to use or abuse them” (Bedard, 2008). On the other hand, institutions where they are male only experience more violence, drugs, and gangs in their inmates (Bedard, 2008). Therefore, these key behavior differences in male and female institutions depict important issues from which correctional managers can resolve.
Now, these changes consist of evidence provided by Assistant Warden Shawn Gillis that is explained that “unlike most male inmates, the majority of female inmates are very receptive to rehabilitation programs” (Bedard, 2008). In a similar way, “Gillis also remarked that male inmates are generally very reluctant to volunteer for programs that are rehabilitative in nature…the male population operates based on peer pressure, male ego, and reputation” (Bedard, 2008). In the end, through researching and experiencing both gender institutions enables Wardens to better understand cross-gender supervision and learn from this experience. Also, the characteristics of inmate culture such as gangs, drug usage, violence, emotional instability, etc. are major concerns and differences of men and women inmates.

5. When it comes to the differences between Male and Female institutions there are vastly different. For female institutions there are a major difference when it comes to the use of mental health resources with females using them more than men. Also male institutions tend to create become involved in gangs much more frequently than females. Another difference between the two different institutions is that males usually get divide it up by security level putting the more harder in serious offenders with other harder and series defenders while the female population because it’s much smaller than the male population when it comes to being in prison and jail tends to get mixed up and a sense of security isn’t really there. The way correctional managers are fixing these issues is by first off dodging that they actually exist that’s the first step in making a significant change and that’s knowing that there are problems. Another way they’re fixing these problems is by upgrading the prisons and adding more measures for security.