When Janice Hutt, a New Hampshire nurse, went to prison to serve a 10-year sentence for stealing someone’s identity and cash, she probably didn’t realize that in addition to this prison term, she was effectively being sentenced to a lifetime of poverty and unemployment.

Because of her felony conviction, Janice will almost certainly never be allowed to work as a nurse again, so she needs some kind of vocational training to prepare her for an alternate career when she is released. But as a female prisoner in the state of New Hampshire, vocational training and other vital services like drug treatment and mental healthcare for women prisoners are little more than a joke.

Janice is one of four female prisoners who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit that was recently filed against the state claiming unequal treatment of incarcerated women compared to their male counterparts. The suit, which is seeking certification as a class action lawsuit on behalf of all women prisoners in the state, alleges that the state has failed to comply with a 1992 court order to provide services to women prisoners on parity with their male counterparts.

Discrimination against women in prison keeps them going back | Sadhbh Walshe | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.