Two new reports from the Council on Criminal Justice challenge the economic logic of incarcerating women, a population that has grown over 600% in the U.
S. since 1980.
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Imprisoning women costs 75% more than incarcerating men, according to the nonpartisan think tank's analysis.
Annual costs per woman range from $87,000 to $122,000, compared to $70,000 for men, driven by specialized healthcare needs like pregnancy care and smaller populations.
Cost Savings and Public Safety
Researchers found that cutting women's prison time by half could save Illinois up to $94.1 million and North Carolina up to $102.7 million.
These figures likely underestimate total savings, as they exclude the unpaid labor of caregiving and household work that must be replaced when a woman is incarcerated—valued at $2.8 billion annually nationwide.
Public safety impacts would be minimal.
Early release projections show increases in annual arrests of just 0.3% in Illinois and 0.2% in North Carolina, with nine out of ten new arrests for nonviolent offenses.
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“Incarceration for women is very expensive, and we are using this very expensive tool, prison, on what is, on average, a relatively low-risk group compared to men,” said Dr. Stephanie Kennedy, the council’s policy director.
Formerly incarcerated women like Colette Payne of Chicago, who served time for “survival crimes” including retail theft and drug offenses, say the findings reflect reality.
“We are primary caregivers and we leave small children behind,” said Payne, now director of the Reclamation Project.
Kennedy noted that most incarceration discussions focus on men, ignoring the broader costs.
“When you pull a man out of a home and send him to prison, his children stay with their mother,” she said.
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But removing a woman destabilizes entire families, creating an even steeper price.
