Women and offending Flashcards
What sentences do women get?
Women are more likely than men to be serving short prison sentences. In 2018, 77% of prison sentences given to women were for less than 12 months.
What are the differences between women and men in prison?
- Length of the sentence (shorter for women)
- 48% of women in prison committed their offence to support someone else’s drug use, compared to 22%of men
- 82% of women’s prison sentences were for non-violent offences, compared to 67% of men.’s
- 28% of women’s offences were financially motivated, compared to 20% of men’s.
- Women are more likely to to be identified as suffering from anxiety and depression in prison, 49% to 23%.
- More women report having attempted suicide at some point in their life, 46% to 21%.
- More women need help supporting a drug problem on entry to prison, 39% to 28%.
- More women say they have a problem with alcohol on arrival to prison, 24% to 18%.
- More women are in prison for their first offence
Self-harm of women in prison.
- 20% higher between 2017 and 2018 (Ministry of Justice, 2019)
- Women 5 times more likely to self-harm than men
Children
- Average of 600 pregnant women are imprisoned each year
- 9/10 kids have to leave home due to mother’s imprisonment
Homes
- 5% of women are released into homelessness
- 40% of women leave prison without settled accommodations
Are women back in prison often?
Yep, around 58% are back in prison within 1 year
Challanges of women in prison
Resistance to change – Collusion of the regime
Trauma and re-experiencing trauma
Pathology as defence
Struggle to perspective take
Rigidity
Not wanting to get out of CJS because it is safer for them (they have food, no drugs, a “roof over their head”) = lack of infrastructure for them to thrive outside of prison = lack of motivation = it is easier to stay in prison that they know instead of trying to fit in outside where all people see is their prison sentence = hard to get a job
Drug and alcohol misuse
Histories of abuse
Poor attachment histories
Traumatic experiences (early and late childhood)
Deprived social circumstances
Poor educational histories
Failure to attend court-ordered appointments (reason to go back to prison)
Why is it important to acknowledge the challanges of women in prisons?
Women prisoners’ needs are complex and demand gender-aware care in view of women’s vulnerability and histories of trauma
Women in prisons numbers are increasing (at least doubled worldwide since 2000) (Walmsley, 2015)
There are only 12 all women’s prisons in England and 0 in Wales = they have to travel far and they don’t get a lot of visits from family + with the growing number of women in prisons some women my not have an option to get to all women’s prison = more abuse in men’s prison
Prison’s principle
To ensure that prisoners have “access to the same quality and range of health care services as the general public receives from the NHS” (HM Prison Service & NHS Executive, 1999)
Issues with the prison’s principle
- Widely established higher levels of MH issues in prison (Hassan et al, 2011;) vs. the general population = require more resources
- Prison environment cannot provide other factors necessary to promote good mental health …family support, work and liberty (Niveau, 2007)
- Being in custody is detrimental for mental health (Birmingham, 2018)
What is relational security
“Relational security is the knowledge and understanding staff have of a patient and of the environment, and the translation of that information into appropriate responses and care.”
The staff knows the inmates and can use this in the way they handle the inmates, more humane, less ‘object-like’ treatment - a lower barrier between guards-inmates
What is the role of a psychologist working in prisons?
Assessment, formulation, treatment Risk assessment Team formulation Reflective practice Consultancy Service development
What types of mental health disorders are present among women in prison
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Eating disorders
- Psychotic disorders
- Personality disorders
- Attachment disorders
- Communication difficulties
- Trauma and complex trauma
- Dissociative disorders
Case-control study of women in prison trauma
Grella et al., 2013
Aim: Studies if there are differential relationships among trauma exposure, familial risk and protective factors, substance abuse, and (PTSD) among incarcerated and non-incarcerated women
Methods: 100 incarcerated women and 100 from the general population.
Findings: Incarcerated women had a significantly higher risk of trauma exposure as compared with controls.
When the group was controlled, exposure to sexual or physical trauma significantly increased the odds of PTSD, as did substance use in response to traumatic distress
> The findings suggest that incarcerated women are at high risk for PTSD given their high rates of trauma exposure and apparent lack of appropriate coping mechanisms supporting trauma-specific interventions.
A cross-sectional study of women in prison
Völlm and Dolan, 2009
Rationale: Psychiatric morbidity and suicide rates in prisoners are high. The detection of mental illness and its associated risks in prison are low
Aim: To estimate psychiatric symptomatology, needs and self-harming behaviour among UK female prisoners and to identify differences between individuals with and without a history of self-harm.
Methods: Cross-sectional study on over 600 female inmates. Self-harm and needs were self-reported in the questionnaire.
Findings: 45.9% had a history of self-harm. An average of 8.5 needs was identified with more than half of those needs classified as unmet.
> Confirmed high prevalence of psychiatric symptomatology and self-harm in female UK prisoners
> Individuals at risk of self-harming behaviour may be identified using screening questionnaires.
