Female prisoners get more attention

The big increase in the number of women in prison in Missouri has forced some major changes in the state corrections system. The biggest change is at the new women’s prison in Vandalia, forced by the doubling of women inmates in the last 8 years. Missouri now has 2,000 women in the state prison system. Corrections spokesman Tim Kniest says more programming, especially non-traditional programming, has been created for women prisoners. Vocational education has been boosted for women, including some non-traditional fields such as electronics training, and building and industrial technology programs.