Starting over: Women emerging from prison face formidable challenges to resuming their lives

By SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON
Associated Press/Report for America

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — More than 190,000 women are currently being held in some kind of confinement in the United States — a number that’s been growing rapidly since at least 1980. But experts say programs aimed at helping them stay out of prison haven’t kept pace. It’s taken decades for the rehabilitation world to start paying attention to the nearly 75,000 women per year who are released from prisons. Reentry services are often created with only men in mind, even though women face unique challenges on top of those they share with their male counterparts.