Report: NH female inmates not treated same as men

Article here. Excerpt:

'CONCORD, N.H.—New Hampshire may be violating the civil rights of its female prisoners by not giving them access to the same programs as male inmates, according to a two-year study released Monday.

The New Hampshire Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said in its report that the inexcusable disparities warrant action by New Hampshire to end the unequal treatment of female inmates. A spokesman for the Department of Corrections said the agency supports the committee's findings.

Committee Chairman Jordan Budd said the group lacks enforcement power to ensure that happens and hopes New Hampshire will act because it is morally and legally bound by the U.S. Constitution to ensure that women and men are treated equally and to correct an intolerable situation.

The report concludes that the state's failure to address the deficient conditions "reflects on the state's acquiescence in the kind of sex stereotyping that has long consigned women to an inferior place in the American workplace and economy."'

For contrast: California: Male prisoners must drink unsafe water while female prisoners get bottled water -- Posted on MANN -- 2008-12-29