treatment of women offenders the term paper
Excerpt from Term Paper:
CAEFS usually takes the position that ladies with mental health problems usually do not belong in prisons and the treatment, support and assistance they need must be provided to them in the community, rather than in prison.
Suggestion #2)
These statement clearly outlines central problem areas which should be the focus of investigation. While this research and others focus on, women who enter in prison with mental concerns and problems require extensive support. However , this is currently not the case and lots of women criminals who suffer from mental problems are not afforded the mandatory support and adequate intense therapy. Some critics as well suggest that alternatives be looked at for women with mental concerns. “… The general public need for seen retribution may well deter government from looking at alternatives to sentencing individuals with mental disabilities to imprisonment. inch www.elizabethfry.ca/submissn/dawn/17.htm” (ibid)
Another element which relates to mental and psychological problems is that females experience pressure by being restricted in an organization with largely male authority structures. 1 issue which includes only been recently studied is post-traumatic pressure within prisons. A woman getting into prison may well experience serious states of stress which will lead to further more psychological problems. “A female’s first indications of post-traumatic stress syndrome can be encountered in this article, something not really considered pertaining to either love-making until recently, and then incorrectly thought to be limited to combat veterans. “
Ross and Lawrence)
Women with prior challenges
Many women whom enter jail bring with them different problems that are actually exacerbated inside prison and may lead to treatment problems. The statistics are alarming in this regard… “most women happen to be in prison as a immediate result of drug and alcohol addiction. ” (Schwartz, C. ) and “the range of women under correctional direction has increased by 71. 8%; and medication offenders had been the largest source of growth. (ibid)
Another factor is that lots of women who enter prison have been subjected to preceding physical or perhaps sexual mistreatment. This in turn boosts problems connected with entering the prison program. Recent studies of woman inmates inside the U. S i9000. reveal which a significant volume of women have got a history of prior physical and/or lovemaking abuse. (RETALIATION AGAINST LADIES in THE STATE OF MICHIGAN STATE PRISONS) Statistics as well show that prior physical and lovemaking abuse is usually high for many women entering prison.
Nearly 6 in 10 girls in State prisons got experienced physical or sex abuse before; just over a third of jailed women have been abused by an intimate in past times; and just within quarter reported prior violations by a family member. (Women Offenders: Bureau of Justice exceptional report)
Mainly because these and other research point out, the main aspect for those suffering from the consequences of sexual physical abuse within an environment which can be conducive towards the process of internal healing. Girls with these histories of abuse might also suffer from post-traumatic stress and self-esteem problems. The lovemaking abuse generally encountered inside prison provides only to raise the suffering of those women with prior chronicles. As one study clearly claims:
It is difficult enough for a girl with no history of abuse to deal with sexual invasion. It is probably devastating for any woman using a history of mistreatment to be abused again. For ladies with or without a history of abuse, to become punished pertaining to reporting the abuse is to be made acutely aware of one’s powerlessness and vulnerability. Several of the ladies we interviewed had endured serious mental harm as a result of having been mistreated in penitentiary.
In a recent survey of the problems facing women getting into correctional services Amnesty International states that “the government should create an request into mental health services for women in jails and prisons, such as use of psychotropic medications. inch (Ketcham M. ) a report also gives that mistreated women inmates often exhibit histories of long duration involving multiple episodes as a result of fathers, husbands, boyfriends and strangers, which abuse is normally directly from the offenses that they find themselves in jail.
Ross and Lawrence)
Mothers and pregnant women
Several studies mention, “one of the very serious aches and pains of imprisonment for a mother is to be separated from her children. Regardless if her interactions with her children were less than best when she was in the city, she might develop impractical memories of this time. “
Morton and Williams, p. 98)
This is an especially worrying area while mothers are incarcerated they will leave many problems and concerns outside of the prison wall space, which may include a negative influence on the prisoners’ mental and emotional point out. The situation is often even worse intended for pregnant women who are admitted to jail. Interestingly it had been found that allowing females have their children in jail, many of the complications associated with parting anxiety were reduced. It was the case in 1890 when ever Mattie Jeff was sentenced to the Missouri State Penitentiary. The judge allowed her to take her four-month year old baby to jail with her. “The administration observed a difference inside the other females convicts following being exposed to this child; they will became very much calmer and gentler and fewer likely to break the rules. Even the most aggresive women melted perceptibly using a baby in their midst. inches (MISSOURI DIVISION of CORRECTIONS) the issue of parting may be disturbing for women and increases instability and tension within the institution.
Mothers who also are main caregivers also form a high statistic and this makes serious complications not only intended for the mom on entering prison but in addition for the children with lost their very own caregiver. Therefore exacerbates ladies prisoners’ anxiousness and psychological trauma.
Many mothers were the primary caregivers just prior to criminal arrest, ” says Dee Ann Newell, executive director of Centers for Youth and Families in Little Mountain, Ark., making rising incarceration rates among women even more scary. The number of women in penitentiary has increased 106% since 1990, doubling the amount of children with mothers in prison. According to Newell, the 685 women housed in the Ronald McPherson Correctional Facility for ladies in Illinois have an overall total of nearly 1, 500 children who have are minors.
Bilchik, Seymour and Kreisher)
The situation where mothers keep their children can be strongly related towards the issue of mental health insurance and most studies find a unfavorable correlation on this factor. For example , there have been a assessed increase in depressive disorder and anxiety attacks among moms over time. Anxiety disorders predominated between incarcerated mothers and grew proportionately as time passes. “A substantial prevalence of depression was found amongst… mothers… “
Ross and Lawrence)
Furthermore incarceration may well mean that moms have extreme difficulty in retaining a romance with their kids.
The most common issues voiced simply by mothers in prison revolve around what is happening with their children when they are removed. More than 56, 000 children have moms in penitentiary. (2) These children not meet their mothers and possess difficulty understanding why they can not be with them.
Morton and Williams)
The issue of the treatment of pregnant women has also been featured in a variety of studies. A study by simply Amnesty Foreign found that for example , pregnant inmates really should not be handcuffed and shackled when in labor as is common practice in the U. S. The use of leg shackles especially poses a threat to the woman plus the child by simply restricting motion and, if the correctional expert be away from delivery room, there is no way to take away the restraints in case there is an emergency.
Ketchum, L. )
7. Medical
The Non prosequitur International report also illustrates the issue of medical care for women getting into prison. The report declares clearly that “incarcerated girls do not get adequate mental and physical health solutions; most usually do not receive schedule medical examinations at the time of incarceration despite the fact that many of them experience significant health problems. inches (ibid)
The void of health care for women is also associated with the increase in women prisoners over the last 10 years and to the truth that this embrace numbers has not been reflected within an increase in medical care provision and facilities for females. A study simply by Ross and Lawrence signifies that the focus on treatment concerns of women in prison must be on well being. “… The true change in give attention to women is definitely associated with the effect on correctional systems of increasing and intensified demand for specialized medical services formerly not sent on a mass in prisons and prisons. “
Ross and Lawrence)
These medical care issues are the high frequency of HIV / HELPS and high-risk pregnancies that are not, in accordance to many reports, adequately catered for. The problem is more serious with regard to females inmates from urban hispanics who have the “highest costs of HIV infection and associated tuberculosis (TB), considerably exceeding rates for male offenders. In New York, fatality among incarcerated women continues to be more than twice that of ladies in the same age group in the neighborhood. “
Ross and Lawrence)
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