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Some women's prisons are taking a step forward in rehabilitation by setting up beauty programs for their inmates. While this is a positive move, there are still problems inside the prison system that need to be addressed.
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00:02Across the country, hundreds of thousands of women are facing a new reality.
00:07If a girl's performing sexual favors, he would bring her in colored pencils, lip gloss.
00:13Where they are forced to navigate worlds of sexual bartering, manipulation, and abuse, while finding ways to survive.
00:21They'll definitely use your needs against you, sexually, physically, emotionally.
00:25They will break you down any way they can.
00:27Over the last few decades, women have been making gains in representation in almost every field and industry.
00:35Yet there's one part of society where the number of women has exploded, but they're still fighting for basic rights.
00:44Prison.
00:49Since the 1980s, the number of incarcerated women has skyrocketed by 700%.
00:55Women have become the fastest growing population entering the criminal justice system.
01:01It's a $173 billion industry, making it bigger than Target, Uber, and Netflix.
01:09Just outside of Portland, Oregon, Coffee Creek Correctional Facility has found a unique way to ease its overpopulation problems.
01:21Providing beauty behind bars through its cosmetology program.
01:26I have to admit, I was skeptical.
01:29I knew that beauty had the power to transform, but could it really change how women do time?
01:36We went to see who these women were, and what they had to say.
01:45The cosmetology program here started in 2002, when Coffee Creek saw a need for female-focused programming and decided to
01:53do something about it.
01:54What are you wanting to do today?
01:55Just a trim.
01:56The program has become so popular, that it recently doubled in size.
02:01Fellow inmates make up most of the clients who come in for services provided by the students.
02:06How's that?
02:07Yeah.
02:08Everything from hair and makeup, to gels, and even eyelash extensions.
02:13I think it looks really good. You did a very good job.
02:16The program itself is highly competitive to get into.
02:18To even be considered, inmates must have a track record of good behavior and a desire to change.
02:25If anything I'm good at, it will be makeup.
02:28It's certainly true for 34-year-old Candace Altman, a repeat offender at Coffee Creek on drug charges.
02:34Some of us made more than one bad decision, but a majority of us are just here, like, feeling bad
02:41about the things that we did.
02:42We want to get out and be good moms and have careers and to be reintegrated. Like, we want that.
02:48The majority of women coming into prison are like Candace.
02:51In for a non-violent offense and the primary caretaker of a child under 18.
02:56It doesn't look like much now, but it's going to be nice when it's done.
03:00They're also predominantly women of color.
03:02This is my third time in prison.
03:04And so, every other time, it's just been hopeless, like, wasted time.
03:08For the first time, I feel like I just have this goal, like, this just something to, some kind of
03:15purpose.
03:16Why is beauty especially important for women who are in prison?
03:21You kind of lose your femininity.
03:23We all wear men's jeans and these terribly fitting blue t-shirts.
03:28They take away, kind of, all your individuality.
03:31They just take away everything like that.
03:32So, I think you taking care of yourself and doing your makeup and fixing your hair,
03:36it just helps your whole attitude about being here.
03:39It's all affected by that, I think.
03:41Someone might say that women in prison don't necessarily deserve access to beauty products.
03:47What would you say to that?
03:49Maybe it's not a matter of deserving these things.
03:52It's a matter of rehabilitating people or giving them hope and keeping them from continuing the same cycles and coming
03:59back.
04:01We have a lot of women that are here that we find have co-occurring disorders.
04:06So, both mental health issues and alcohol and drug treatment needs.
04:11And they find themselves on this path that they don't really have a lot of control in.
04:21Christine views the success of the cosmetology program as proof that an approach tailored towards women works.
04:27These women, a number of them, repeat bad relationships.
04:32And the notion of their own sense of worth and value is not something they have a great grasp on.
04:41Certainly, the programs help the practice.
04:43They help the sense of, I can do this, I know how to do this.
04:47And supporting them in that manner is crucial.
04:52Many of the women here at Coffee Creek and across the country
04:55come into prison with a history of mental health issues, domestic violence, and sexual abuse
05:01that makes their rehabilitation that much more complicated.
05:06Programs like this not only provide women with an access point to beauty and self-care,
05:11but help to bridge the gap of mental health, drug, and social services that are underfunded.
05:17Despite the fact that for every taxpayer dollars spent on services, up to five more are saved in recidivism.
05:28Coffee Creek gave me a glimpse into what a prison at the forefront of responding to the influx of incarcerated
05:34women looks like.
05:36But I wanted to know, how were other prisons across the country responding?
05:42I went to visit another program in another prison with a very different environment.
05:49Lowell Correctional Facility is one of the largest women's prisons in the country.
05:54The officers are underpaid and stretched thin, often at the expense of the inmates.
06:00But there's a bright spot, the cosmetology program.
06:05As soon as I walked in, I met Carrie, who after serving almost three years for multiple charges,
06:10was coming in for a haircut before being released the next day.
06:14Why was it important for you to come in today before you get out tomorrow?
06:18I mean, it just means everything to have your hair done and walk out and feel good about yourself as
06:24you're re-entering society.
06:25When those little things are taken away, you don't realize how important they are until you don't have them.
06:33It makes sense. For many women, including myself, beauty has been ingrained in us by society as an integral part
06:41of how we understand who we are.
06:43And in prison, where so much is stripped away from you, makeup becomes a lifeline to hold onto.
06:49It was clear that this program was doing a lot for these women.
06:53But even in this little sanctuary, they couldn't entirely escape what was allegedly going on beyond these walls.
07:00There's a lot of things in here that you'll see that you don't want to see, that you have no
07:03choice of privilege.
07:05It's what you have to live with since you're in prison.
07:11The problem is the whole structure of the prison is set up in a way that sort of invites abuse.
07:16When guards have so much power and inmates are so powerless, it's just a corrupting situation, really.
07:2827-year-old Amanda Hunter was sentenced to a year and a day for resisting and battery of a law
07:33enforcement officer.
07:34She was released in December of 2016.
07:37I told the officers, I made a promise, I'm coming for heads. I'm telling everything.
07:42The abuse, you know, sexually, you know, physically, emotionally, you know, they will break you down any way they can.
07:50What would happen if you saw and reported an officer?
07:55Anything. I mean, they'll take you to lock for it. They'll threaten your life.
08:01I've heard the stories, you know, of people who overdose on blood pressure medicine.
08:08You know, but these people were fearing for their lives and were riding home telling their families, you know, I'm
08:15afraid they're going to kill me and then you end up dead.
08:17Amanda was referring to the case of Latondra Ellington, an inmate who in 2014 was found dead in her confinement
08:24cell at just 36 years old.
08:27The autopsy ruled it a natural death, even though toxicology reports found levels of blood pressure medication seven to eight
08:34times the normal amount.
08:37Just ten days before, Latondra allegedly witnessed an officer having sex with an inmate.
08:43Latondra said that when she threatened to report it, the officer threatened her life.
08:49The mysterious conditions surrounding Latondra's death set off a series of investigations that came out in the Miami Herald.
08:57The reports revealed a culture of abuse by officers, including sexual bartering with inmates for things like cigarettes, sanitary pads
09:05or even makeup.
09:0740-year-old Natalie Hall witnessed firsthand how the conditions at Lowell opened the door for exploitation.
09:14I'm not going to project like I was some perfect model inmate because I wasn't.
09:19Natalie was sentenced to five and a half years for armed robbery.
09:23She told us that she's been clean since her release in March of 2017, blaming her heroin habit for putting
09:29her in the wrong place with the wrong people.
09:32So these are colored pencils.
09:35They're contraband, which means you can't have them, but we still get them.
09:40And you like dip it in water and it just comes right off.
09:44We would do our eyes with them.
09:46Where did you get them?
09:47Usually, like if a girl's performing sexual favors for an officer, he would bring her in colored pencils, lip gloss,
09:56things like that that she could use for makeup or to sell.
09:59She revealed to us that this kind of sexual bartering for makeup was just the tip of the iceberg.
10:05You would have to sit at the window and basically flirt with a male officer for a good 20, 30
10:10minutes just to get just enough toilet paper to use the restroom.
10:15They'll definitely use your needs against you.
10:17You know, the things that they keep from us, you know, toilet paper, pads, you didn't get tampons unless you
10:23bought them.
10:23But see, as inmates, you know, we find a way.
10:27When those necessities aren't met and taken care of, it becomes your primary goal, you know, to always see that
10:36these things are taken care of.
10:38This is your prison tampon.
10:40Even if you'll get in trouble for it, you have to get it.
10:43You will find a way to get it.
10:45On Lowell's main unit, there's not even walls in between shower heads.
10:50So here's the officer station.
10:53Here's a wall that's maybe four feet.
10:55And here's six shower heads where six women shower next to each other.
11:00And believe me, the officers watch the whole thing.
11:02Did they ever make comments?
11:03Oh, yeah.
11:04I even have text messages.
11:06I miss turning around and seeing those things.
11:09You in the shower.
11:11Ha, ha, ha.
11:11You know you got extra toilet paper that day.
11:14Officers have reached out to you since you've been out?
11:16Yes.
11:17At least four.
11:18Would you be willing to show us those texts?
11:23Sure.
11:24I don't care.
11:26He was like, that's good.
11:27I still talked about you after you left.
11:30Always turning around and seeing you and those things in the shower because of you being taller than the door
11:35and wall.
11:36Boy, I miss that.
11:38LOL.
11:39And Jacksonville isn't too far from me.
11:41Maybe 40 minutes at the most.
11:43Could we meet up?
11:44What does he mean by those things?
11:47My breasts.
11:48I really thought he was just like checking in on me.
11:51And I think this is when it hit me.
11:53All they wanted was sex.
11:55It's a situation of power.
11:57How many tampons you get, if any.
11:59How many pads you get.
12:00Whether you get to your shower or not.
12:02Those decisions are all made by guards.
12:04So you can see how if you get somebody in there who's mean or vindictive or wants something from you,
12:11it's easy for them to make that happen.
12:16If a guard wants sex from you, what do you do?
12:20You could say no, but they have control over every aspect of your life.
12:26While the allegations we heard about LOL illustrates an extreme version of what can happen when a prison systematically fails
12:34the inmates it's responsible for, this type of exploitation and abuse is pervasive across the country.
12:42Even Coffee Creek has had issues.
12:46The fact is, until the criminal justice system overhauls the way it treats women behind bars, no prison is immune
12:53to these problems.
12:55Billions of dollars are being spent in the name of mass incarceration.
12:59But what happens once the inmates are in the system?
13:02Without safe conditions to serve their time and the programs to address the underlying issues, women find themselves trapped by
13:10bad circumstances and bad choices.
13:15Sometimes we just have to get them out of the scenario that they're in or the situation that they're in.
13:19They find that they're stronger and smarter than they ever knew they were.
13:22Do the women who participate in an educational or vocational program tend to have a lower chance of returning to
13:30prison?
13:31Participation in programming in general greatly impacts recidivism rates.
13:35It is something that the women have just really thrived in.
13:38I didn't know how to take care of myself, so I always went back into use drugs and committing crime
13:44to support myself.
13:46Has your experience this time been different from the other because of this program?
13:50Every day I build more and more confidence.
13:53This program really is helping me to be able to build that foundation.
13:56Not have to depend on nobody to provide what I'm supposed to provide for my kids.
14:04It's clear that programs like this provide the means to restore women's dignity and self-respect amid the harshest conditions.
14:12Beauty is just one small piece of a complex puzzle, but it's one that can change lives.
14:18Prison is supposed to be punishment. It's also supposed to be rehabilitation.
14:24I needed rehab, not a prison where men degraded me and put me down and abused people.
14:32Nobody deserves what I went through. Nobody.
14:37Somebody says that I'm not getting necessities that I need to live life normally.
14:44That's not a punishment. That's abuse.
14:47If you did that to a child, you're going to lose your child. You're going to go to jail.
14:51So why is it okay to do that to an adult?
14:55There's no quick fix for a system overwhelmed with problems.
14:58But one thing is clear. No one can rehabilitate when they're fighting for basic needs of survival.
15:05And until then, the criminal justice system will continue to funnel predominantly nonviolent offenders into a world that leaves these
15:13women worse off than when they went in.
15:19They've been a part of the family.
15:34But they must be a place to live life.
15:34They've been a person who has seen the criminal justice system that has experienced a lot of电arrise about their sin
15:36cloud,
15:36You