Final answer:
Ignoring issues affecting women in jails, like testimonial injustice and coerced participation, raises risks of litigation and liability for prisons. The influence of societal issues like race and poverty further complicates this exposure to legal challenges.
Step-by-step explanation:
Not addressing problems relating to women in jail does increase a jail's exposure to litigation and liability. Issues such as testimonial injustice, where women's accounts might be taken less seriously than men's, can lead to unfair treatment and potential legal challenges. If the systemic issues are not addressed, the prison is at a higher risk for lawsuits. Moreover, activist views, like those of Davis, which highlight the influence of race and poverty on incarceration rates, as well as societal and institutional tendencies to use incarceration as a primary response to social issues, underscore the complex background against which injustices against women in jail may occur.
It's essential to consider that female inmates might encounter coercive situations where they cannot comfortably refuse participation in programs, feeling pressured to accept offered benefits, thus potentially leading to human rights violations. This coercion can also become a ground for legal actions against the prison system. Thereby, addressing these problems is not only ethically imperative but also serves as a means to reduce susceptibility to lawsuits.