Women Behind Bars

Fault Lines investigates the rapid growth of America’s female prison population.

Women are the fastest growing population in the criminal justice system. Low level drugs offenses and crimes associated with poverty have swept in hundreds of thousands of women across the US. Many have spent years behind bars for non-violent offenses.

In California, after promises of prison reform, women continue to face some of the highest levels of overcrowding. And while the state boasts of significantly reducing the female prison population, county jails have disproportionately filled up with women who are still being swept in for the lowest-level crimes.

Fault Lines travels to California to look inside the criminal justice system and asks why so many women are behind bars.