Gender and Programming.

The current study examines U.S. prison programming availability and participation by gender on a national level. The authors build upon previous literature by using national-level data, something that has been done in very limited cases previously. The main concern of this study is gender and its effects on programming availability and participation. The U.S. corrections field has undergone major changes in regard to population trends, fiscal constraints, policies, and research over the last few decades without a large-scale examination of the effects of these changes on programming across the United States. In this study, multiple types of programming areas were examined and results indicated that often female prisons (i.e., prisons housing only females) were more likely to offer programs (e.g., mental health options) and women were more likely to participate in many programming options compared with male prisons and men, respectively. We discuss the possible reasons for this and implications for future research.