Women in Prison

Abstract

The issues and needs of addicted women are for the most part invisible in the criminal justice system. Historically, treatment, research and recovery have been based on men's lives, often neglecting women's experience. While statistics indicate that for women there is a high correlation between drug abuse and incarceration and parole/probation violations, a comprehensive continuum of care is missing. This article presents a relational model of treatment which incorporates the multiple issues in women's recovery and is based on the integration of three theoretical perspectives–addiction, trauma and women's psychological development. The strengths and limitations of Twelve Step programs for women are also discussed.     

Women in Prison

No abstract available for this article.     

The Experiences of Women in Prison

Summary

Women in prison represent a neglected population. The facilities and the services offered to female inmates are based primarily on models derived from male inmates. The need for this approach to change is increasingly recognized because the number of women in the correctional system is increasing at an alarming rate, the criminal profile of female inmates is distinct, and independently because the racial and ethnic composition of the female prisoners is shifting. In the present study, the needs of women prisoners were studied from a variety of theoretical perspectives: relational, diversity, and developmental. Focus groups and questionnaires were conducted with 54 women incarcerated in a minimum security correctional facility for men and women in a Northeastern state. The women's developmental histories reflected high-risk conditions and early trauma. From the ease with which these women responded to questions about their main relationships (i.e., closeness and mutuality) with visitors and other inmates, it is clear that they are struggling but maintaining a relational context in their lives despite being incarcerated. Most women had children, and retained custody of their children, which has strong implications for their children's development. The findings suggested a number of important policy and service implications which differed for ethnic/racial groups.     

Difficulties Experienced by Women in Prison

This article assembles data that identify some problems experienced by women incarcerated in prisons in the United States. Inequalities in occupational and educational programs offered in women's prisons in comparison with those offered in prisons for men are discussed. The impact of inadequate health and mental health services on the lives of these women is explored, and separation problems encountered by the woman prisoner and her family are examined. Some recommendations for change are suggested.     

Immigrant Women and Counseling: The Invisible Others

The number of women immigrating to the United States is growing because of current global changes (A. J. Marsella & E. Ring, 2003). Understanding and serving the mental health needs of this population is a new challenge for American counselors and counseling scholars. In this article, an ecological model (U. Bronfenbrenner, 1979) is used to describe the mental health needs of immigrant women, outline various counseling strategies and interventions, and systematically explore the sociocultural variables influencing immigrant women's experiences in the U.S.     

African American Muslim Women: An Invisible Group

Little is written about Islam and African American women or men from a psychosocial perspective. Most of the literature is on the historical and political development of the Nation of Islam, and the differences among the male leaders. This focus obscures the fact that the majority of African Americans Muslims belong to traditional Islamic groups. Drawing upon a variety of literatures, this paper seeks to explore some background information about Islam and the African American community, and to understand the appeal of Islam to African American women.     

A Feminist Examination of Boot Camp Prison Programs for Women

Abstract

Penal law in the United States reflects a strict moral ideology. This moral philosophy has dictated the laws that govern women and the punishments that they receive. Therefore, correctional programming for women has been focused on punishment and has not addressed the needs and problems of women inmates. Boot camp programs (shock incarceration), a low-cost, short-term alternative to traditional prison programming, are one example of such programming. Correctional boot camps teach discipline and responsibility by “breaking down and building up” inmates so that they will no longer commit crimes. However, the assumption that female offenders commit crimes because they are lacking in discipline and responsibility has not been substantiated by research. In addition, feminist therapy theory is not consistent with some boot camp practices. This paper will examine the social context of female criminality and the resulting implications for prison programming for women, and boot camp practices will be examined in the context of feminist therapy practices.     

Physical and Sexual Victimization Predicts Suicidality among Women in Prison: Understanding Ethnic and Trauma-Specific Domains of Risk

Few studies have addressed the association between specific forms of trauma and suicidality among incarcerated women. This study examined domains of trauma as predictors of suicidality, and also evaluated ethnicity as a moderator of the association between physical and sexual victimization and suicidality. Participants were 224 treatment-seeking incarcerated women who completed self-report measures of trauma exposure, suicidal behavior, and ethnicity. Women in this sample reported significant histories of trauma exposure and suicidal behavior, and physical and sexual victimization significantly predicted suicidality. Ethnicity moderated this association such that there was a significant positive association between victimization and suicidality for European-American women; however, this association was not statistically significant for ethnic minority women. These findings demonstrate the specific risk conferred by physical and sexual victimization and European-American ethnicity among women in prison.     

Making the Invisible Victims of Violence Against Women Visible Through University/Community Partnerships

Summary

The absence of scientifically credible information about the nature and extent of children exposed to abuse of their mothers is an impediment to effective intervention and prevention efforts. This article proposes a research agenda based upon guiding principles of a public health surveillance model. Three major principles are presented and applied to this social problem. Additionally, a concrete example of the application of these principles is drawn from an ongoing university/community partnership in Philadelphia.     

A Stark Examination of Prison Culture and Prison Ministry

Abstract : This article offers an insightful examination of prison ministry from the inside, from someone who has been involved with this ministry for over forty‐five years. The author discusses four major issues that are particularly costly, both in terms of personal human costs and also financial costs. First, society's misconceptions about prison violence, and the complex, varied ways prisoners experience violence. Second, the false sense of security the current practices of institutionalization create, and the consequences they have on the inmates. Third, the risk factors that can predispose children to ending up in prison, and the lack of care and attention those children often receive. And fourth, the way in which the criminalization of drug abuse has exacerbated many problems with the current prison system. The author concludes his article with some suggestions for reforming the prison system.     

An Analysis of the Impact of Prison on Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Summary

The prevalence of child abuse histories among incarcerated women has fundamental implications for understanding women's well-being during incarceration. This review of the literature on child sexual abuse and women in prison suggests that incarcerated survivors are likely to be frequently reexposed to the powerful traumatizing processes associated with their early abuse, including traumatic sexualization, powerlessness, stigmatization, and betrayal (Finkelhor & Browne, 1985). Reexposure to these traumagenic dynamics has the potential to trigger traumatic reJivings of imprisoned survivors' pasts, to which survivors respond with a variety of coping strategies often seen in prison, including substance abuse, violence, self-injury, and suicide. The implications of these dynamics and women's responses to them for those who work with incarcerated women, for prison policy, and for research are discussed.     

Assessing the Effectiveness of a Trauma-Oriented Approach to Treating Prostituted Women in a Prison and a Community Exiting Program

Women who have been prostitutes are social work clients in many clinical, correctional, and community settings. Unique programming that addresses the high levels of trauma symptoms reported by prostituted women has yet to be explored. The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of a group trauma and abuse intervention for prostituted women from two settings, prison and a community exiting program. A quasi-experimental research design was used. Twenty-nine women participated in a 12-week psychoeducational trauma and abuse intervention program called Esuba. All participants reported decreases in trauma symptoms, but the prison group showed a greater number of significant changes in trauma symptomology than the community group. Implications for practice and future research implications are discussed.     

Invisible touch

The controversy surrounding violence by female partners to intimate males has been reviewed from a diverse range of literature and disciplines. Historical and case evidence is presented against a background of the controversy surrounding the findings of studies, using the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), which show ample evidence of assaults by women on male partners. This evidence is discussed and interpreted against the background of social representations and stereotypical images of male and female to show that the “battered husband syndrome” is a reality and is comparable to the battered wife scenario. Implications for the discussion of intimate violence within academia and elsewhere are drawn and the reasons for the suppression of data and the existence of a controversy on this topic made evident. It is concluded that academic controversy is unnecessary and counter-productive.     

Solution-Focused Therapy in Prison

This is a report on a combined therapy and research project conducted with a seriously criminal population in Swedish prisons and using a Solution-Focused Brief Therapy approach with a focus on networks. Recidivism was significantly lower and less serious among experimental group participants. A case study is included.     

The Invisible Foole

I review the classic skeptical challenges of Foole in Leviathan and the Lydian Shepherd in Republic against the prudential rationality of justice. Attempts to meet these challenges contribute to the reconciliation project (Kavka in Hobbesian moral and political theory, 1986) that tries to establish that morality is compatible with rational prudence. I present a new Invisible Foole challenge against the prudential rationality of justice. Like the Lydian Shepherd, the Invisible Foole can violate justice offensively (Kavka, Hobbesian moral and political theory, 1986; Law and Philosophy, 14:5–34, 1995) without harming his reputation for justice. And like the Foole, the Invisible Foole dismisses the possibility that being just preserves goods intrinsic to justice, and will be just only if he fears that others will punish his injustice by withholding the external goods like labor and material goods that he would otherwise receive for their performance in covenants. I argue that given a plausible folk-theorem interpretation, Hobbes’ response to the Foole’s challenge is inconclusive, and depends crucially upon common knowledge assumptions that may or may not obtain in actual societies. I present two analogous folk-theorem arguments in response to the Invisible Foole’s challenge, one using the idea that the Invisible Foole’s power of concealment might be transitory, and the other using the idea that members of society might stop performing in covenants with anyone, thus punishing the Invisible Foole indirectly, if the Invisible Foole commits sufficiently many injustices.