EBENSBURG, Pa. – When Kelly Callihan first started as an assistant district attorney in southwestern Pennsylvania back in 1996, it was rare to see female defendants. Now she sees an increasing number of young women facing charges.

In 2015, Cambria County, where Callihan still works, housed 157 female inmates in the county prison, accounting for 13.8 percent of the prison population. To date in 2016, the prison has housed 236 women or 21.6 percent of inmate commitments. Last year, the prison housed 91 female inmates at one point, and currently has nearly 80 in a block meant to hold 62.

On a national level the number of women in prison has increased more than 700 percent in the past 35 years, according to the Sentencing Project. In 1980 there were just over 26,000 women incarcerated and in 2014 there were over 215,000 women incarcerated.

Oklahoma has the highest rate of incarceration with 114 out of every 100,000 women in prison in 2014, which compares to the national level of 65 per 100,000 women in prison. Rhode Island had the lowest rate with 12 out of every 100,000 women in prison in 2014.

“It just keeps going up,” Cambria County Prison Warden Christian Smith said.

Most female offenders are imprisoned for drug charges, said Callihan, now a district attorney. “For whatever reason, these young girls are turning to drugs.”

According to the Sentencing Project, women in state prisons are more likely to be incarcerated on a drug offense than men — 24 percent of female prisoners compared to 15 percent of male prisoners. Additionally, the number of women incarcerated on drug offenses has doubled since 1986, when it was 12 percent of women compared to 24 percent in 2014.

Many young women have been abused earlier in life and turn to drugs to cope, Callihan said, while some are attracted to the “bad boy” types that participate in drug activity.

Male drug dealers using women to carry out sales is a growing trend, Callihan said. Women receive drugs, money, sex and gifts in exchange for their cooperation. Some dealers who are convicted felons often use their female companions to purchase firearms for them, she added.

Since the ‘War on Drugs’ began in 1982 the number of drug offense incarcerations has increased over 900 percent at the state level nationwide. In 1980 there were 19,000 prisoners incarcerated on drug offenses at the state level and in 2014 there were 208,000.

No fear of prison

In April a joint law enforcement effort in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, conducted by the state attorney general’s office, ended with 33 charged in a $2.7M heroin ring – and 15 of the suspects were women.

According to the grand jury report, Curtis Harper of Pittsburgh led the operation that included his mother, Denise Harper, and Stephanie Clemm, with whom he has a child. Police said Harper and Clemm stored large amounts of heroin at two addresses in Pittsburgh.

The grand jury report said Clemm “received college tuition, jewelry and other personal items from Harper.”

“Before they know it, they can’t break out,” Callihan said. “A lot of them don’t realize they’re being used.”

While the deterrent for crime used to be the fear of jail, Callihan said some women don’t seem to be scared of those consequences anymore.

“If you’re not afraid to go to jail, what fear is out there for committing a crime?” she said. 

Meth and heroin

In the past six months, the female inmate population at the Bedford County, Pennsylvania Jail has doubled. A majority of those came in after a local drug raid in March dubbed “Operation Shamrock Shackles.”

“It is unfortunate in that we’ve seen a rise in that in recent years – more women getting in trouble with the law, getting involved with drugs, more young women really,” said Bedford County District Attorney Bill Higgins. “We’re seeing more and more young girls who get hooked up with the wrong guys, get involved with the wrong people and get involved in this type of behavior.”

On a national scale, “the rate of growth for female imprisonment has outpaced men by more than 50 percent between 1980 and 2014,” according to the Sentencing Project.

Higgins said Bedford County is trying to address the issue by offering drug treatment and rehabilitation programs for those who show an interest in getting that type of help.

“But unfortunately, (for) those who don’t want the help, there’s not much more we can do other than incarcerate them until they realize they need to get cleaned up,” he said.

Of the 21 “Shamrock” arrest warrants issued for alleged drug dealers in the Bedford area, seven were for women. All were charged with selling drugs spanning from prescription pills to marijuana to heroin to methamphetamine.

“The drug problem is bursting at all seams,” Callihan said.

Brumbaugh is a reporter at The (Johnstown, Pennsylvania) Tribune-Democrat.