McDougal discusses prison life, urges better treatment of women

Tuesday, March 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(San Antonio-AP) -- Susan McDougal is free after spending 18 months in prison for refusing to cooperate with independent counsel Kenneth Starr in the Whitewater real estate fraud case.

Now that she's free, she says female inmates are people too --and deserve better living conditions while serving time.

The 45-year-old McDougal discussed her experiences yesterday to a crowd of about 200 students and others at the University of Texas at San Antonio as part of Women's History Month.

She says prison overcrowding needs to be eliminated. She also wants authorities to stop locking up the mentally ill with the general population. She says more programs like Alcoholics Anonymous needed to be made available to women inmates.

McDougal also told the audience to get involved and question officials about how inmates are treated.