Female Offender Treatment and Employment Program - Article Example

158792   Given that quite a large proportion of female offenders have been victims of abuse any program designed to help stop the cycle of re-offending should look at the reasons why these women have become victims of abuse in order to change the cycle. Some female offenders have been raised in family situations were domestic violence is part of every day life. Those that have witnessed their mother being beaten by their father are more likely to end up in similar relationships when they get married. They see violence as a part of life and do not expect to be treated any differently to how their mother was treated. Those who are regularly beaten by their partners or their parents are often told by the perpetrators that it is their own fault that they have been beaten. They are led to believe that it is their own actions that enraged their partner or parent and that the person doing the beating is therefore justified in meting out such punishments as they deserve to be punished. This leads to low self esteem and a feeling of negativity towards themselves. In an effort to avoid further beatings they attempt to do everything they can to avoid enraging their partner or parent and often demean themselves in front of their abuser in the hope of appeasing them. Some of the abusers resent the women for not fighting back and this can lead to further assaults on their partner for being weak. Emphasis is placed on the victim of the abuse that they are worthless and useless and often their abusers degrade them in public, making comments about their appearance, their idleness or their clumsiness. Often the abusers emphasise their clumsiness so that they can pretend their partner has had a fall or accident on occasions where they have beaten the victim. Research shows that many victims of domestic violence are poorly educated and often have given up work to raise the children. The abuser works on isolating the victim from family and friends but does so subtly by attempting to convince the victim that they do not want to isolate them from their family and friends but that they love them so much they cannot bear to be apart from them for any length of time. Often the abusers have come from families where they have been abused themselves or where they have witnessed their fathers abusing their mothers. The abusers are usually very insecure emotionally and need to feel in control to be able to cope with life. Over time the abuser comes to realise that they can control their partner with fear, whilst despising themselves for causing their partner such harm. Their frustration at their wife allowing herself to become a victim perpetuates a vicious circle whereby the abuser begins abusing the victim for not trying to stop them from attacking them. Having analysed how women become victims of domestic violence and identified those who are more likely to enter into a relationship where domestic violence is the norm it is possible to formulate programmes to help to break the cycle of abuse. As one of the key issues that was identified was poor educational skills and lack of employment both these could be tackled by providing better services for those who have been incarcerated such as teaching them to become numerate and literate and assisting those with little or no educational qualifications to take up courses whilst in prison to get them the qualifications they need to be able to gain employment when released. Coupled with this they also need some form of counselling whilst they are incarcerated to re-educate them into recognising that they do not have to remain in a violent home situation. In order to prevent these women from returning back to the abuser upon release they need to understand that they have a right not to be attacked in their own home and that they do not have to return to a violent household. This can only be achieved by assisting those about to be released to find accommodation away from where the abuser might be. Most victims of domestic violence are directed towards hostels for battered wives. This for many victims can lead them to choose to return to the abuser as the conditions in these hostels are not ideal for women without children and are totally unsuitable for women with children. Many victims believe their abusers when they promise that they won’t hit them ever again and they refuse to listen to the advice given by the police and other professionals not to accept these promises. Victims can often see patterns in other domestic violence victim’s lives but are unable to see or accept that their life is the same as others they point the finger at. Someone who is a victim of domestic violence may easily be able to identify others who are being abused and might attempt to warn them to escape the violent relationship, but in their own lives they continue to make excuses for their partner and fail to accept that they too are victims of domestic violence. Other areas of abuse that are present in the lives of female offenders revolve around the supply and use of illegal drugs. They often find themselves in a spiral where they cannot start the day without their ‘fix’ and in order to ensure that they can get their fix have to resort to shoptheft or prostitution to fund their habit. This increases their chances of getting arrested for a criminal offence and being sent to prison on a custodial sentence. For those that are mothers of small children, child care issues may be a problem especially if they do not have any close family that is willing to care for the children whilst the women serves her sentence. This can have the knock-on effect on the children who often in such circumstances would have to be placed in local authority care. Some of these children are too young to fully understand why their mother has been sent to prison and this separation from their mother can cause anxiety and cause the child to react either violently towards any foster carer that might have been appointed to look after them or to emulate their mother’s actions and resort to a similar life of crime when they are older. Programmes to assist those who are intending to start a new life away from their old lifestyle should be considered for any programme designed to assist them. For those with drug dependency they would have to show a desire to be clean from drugs and be prepared to head towards complete withdrawal from all drugs over an agreed period of time. They should also be willing to stop their association with any other drug users and show positive moves towards distancing themselves from any possibility of being offered further drugs. Research has shown that the criminal justice is badly equipped to deal with female prisoners in California the Family Violence Law Center noted that approximately 40% of female inmates in the federal prison system were victims of physical and /or sexual abuse prior to incarceration according to the statistics from the US Department of Justice in 1999. To address this issue the FVLC has implemented a program of domestic violence support groups for women incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin California. Within the groups they have discussions and activities as well as allowing those involved to share their stories and support each other. the aim of the program is to educate the women so that they can understand the violence they have been subjected to and improve their self-esteem. The hope of this is that when they are released they will look towards developing a relationship were they are not the victims of domestic violence. One of the biggest problems faced by women prisoners who have been victims of domestic violence find when leaving prison is in being able to secure accommodation. Under federal law, public housing authorities have the right to adopt policies that exclude individuals with criminal records from eligibility for housing and many do so for as long as a decade or more post-conviction. The situation is even bleaker for individuals with drug convictions. Under federal law, PHAs must reject applicants who they believe to be current drug users. In practice, this means that individuals with drug convictions who cannot demonstrate sufficient proof of rehabilitation are assumed to be drug users and denied housing. This often leads them to return to abusive partners as they have no other alternative. The American Civil Liberties Union would like to see a change to the present regime so that women leaving prison are offered suitable accommodation. Some inmates due to be released from Suffolk County expressed their fears that they may be forced back into a life of crime and may recommence substance abuse. The South Bay House of Correction has developed a program to assist such offenders and is specifically gears for dealing with female offenders whose needs are often overlooked by prison officials because they make up a minority segment of the prison population. "Traditionally, women simply have been plugged into a male model of re entry," said Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral . "This really is designed to get at the very things that we know create issues for women both before they commit crimes and the things that lead to them relapse." Re entry programs for male inmates usually focus on how to find housing and a job. Female inmates, however, are more likely than men to express more complicated problems, Cabral said. A majority of female inmates report they were abused physically or sexually at some point in their lives. Julie White assistant superintendent of program services noted that women tend to become more anxious then men about lapsing into substance abuse and also have concerns about being able to secure employment and care for any children they might have. "All that shame and guilt comes back to them of how they parented," White said. "The regular concerns of parents are just amplified." Part of the program includes parenting classes and substance abuse treatment plans. It also offers regular support groups for women who were abused. In the first two phases of the program, the womens educational and criminal backgrounds are assessed, and they begin meeting in workshops that address addiction recovery, re entry, domestic violence, and anger management. In the third phase of the program, inmates receive individual attention from professionals. Christina Ruccio , director of Womens Programming stated that “What we focus on is letting them realize that the important thing is taking care of themselves," A similar program was initiated 10 years ago at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, which developed a gender-specific re entry program. These programs are still rare but are becoming more vital as the number of women being incarcerated is growing. The YW NewStart Program at the Tennessee Prison for Women includes in-depth focus on assessment, treatment, employment and re-entry services as well as family reunification and connection to community resources. YW Prison PreRelease program helps women learn life skills and obtain jobs in preparation for parole Last year, YW Job Readiness and Career Development offered job training and counseling to 1692 individuals from the community and the Tennessee Prison for Women, helping them overcome serious barriers to economic self-sufficiency. The Family and Community Services (Federal) and Department of Corrective Services fund the Womens’ Transition Program. This program works with women about to be released back into the community and supports the women, their children and families through this process. This transition period is high need for women. In the last 12-month period 9 women have died just after their release back into the community from either drug overdoses, suicide or from a domestic violence situation. This pilot project aims to reduce the deaths, recidivism and provides support for the women; their children and families through this transition period. By giving women prisoners equal opportunities to access education, skills training and work programmes as part of their prison regime it is possible to prevent them from returning to their old lifestyle and going back into a violent home situation. This would be best achieved by consulting with the female prisoners to establish what programmes they feel would be most useful to them. By giving women prisoners the opportunity to learn new skills and seek further education this could prevent them from having to return to a violent relationship. Often domestic violence victims are forced to return to the family home upon release as they have no skills or lack sufficient education to be able to find themselves a job and not have to rely on their abusive partner for financial support. Very little importance is also given to the resettlement of female prisoners upon release. In recent times the Prison Service has started to redesign a resettlement programme that was originally tailored for male short-term prisoners to address the needs of female offenders. Most women prisoners are preoccupied with supporting their children whilst they are in prison and finding a home for themselves and their children when released. As a result of this it is difficult to encourage female prisoners to attend vocational training as they are too centred on worrying about how they will provide for their children upon release. Recommendations for improvement have been suggested in respect of giving the female prisoners basic advice on the care of their children whilst they are in prison and providing guidance on childcare and benefits that are available to them when they are released as well as discussing with them about the entitlement to housing and assisting them with finding suitable accommodation upon release. When devising a program to help female prisoners the work should centre on building their self confidence, providing them with skills to be able to gain employment upon release and counselling them. They need to realise that they do not have to be in an abusive relationship and that they can support themselves and their children without having to return to an abusive environment. By assisting them with the completion of social security forms and housing related matters as well as giving them assistance in finding affordable child care the female prisoners should come to accept that there is an alternative to having to return to an abusive environment and will gain a greater degree of self confidence to realise that they do not need the support of their partner financially or emotionally to be able to manage on their own. In California this has been addressed by the Female Offender Treatment and Employment Program. This program serves women from Los Angeles County who are paroling from state prisons, have substance abuse and trauma issues and may be interested in reunifying with their children. The focus of the program is on issues specific to needs of female offenders; trauma, relationships, communication, parenting, relapse prevention, development of pro-social behaviour, the exploration of issues which drive substance abuse and criminal behaviour and educational and vocational preparation.  Women with mental health issues receive therapy on site and referrals for medication evaluation at the local Parole Outpatient Clinic. Education and vocational preparation are provided.  Women with literacy issues and those who do not have GEDs attend school.  Job readiness skills, vocational training programs and job placement services are provided.  Additionally, case management is available to help clients locate both permanent and transitional housing.  The goal of this program is to improve individual and family functioning and help women to successfully re-integrate back into their communities.  Evidence suggests that effective correctional treatment programs follow a number of general principles. Among the most important are risks, need, and responsivity (Andrews & Bonta, 1998; Andrews, Bonta, & Hoge, 1990; Andrews, Dowden, & Rettinger, 2001; Bonta, 1997; Gendreau, 1996). The responsivity principle deals fundamentally with the cognitive behaviour treatment program that has been discussed above. As the research seems to suggest that such activities reduce the risk of re-offending it seems obvious that any such programs should include these elements to reduce the rate of recidivism. Bibliography Andrews, D. A., Bonta, J., & Hoge, R. (1990). Classification for effective rehabilitation: Rediscovering psychology. Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 17, 19-52 Andrews, D. A., Dowden, C., & Rettinger, L. J. (2001). Special populations within corrections. In J. Winterdyk (Ed.), Corrections in Canada: Social reaction to crime (pp. 238-263). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Prentice Hall. Andrews, D., Bonta, J. and Hoge, R.D. (1990) Classification for effective rehabilitation: rediscovering psychology, Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 17, 19-52. Bonta, J. (1997). Offender rehabilitation: From research to practice (R-01). Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Solicitor General of Canada. Gendreau, P. (1996). Offender rehabilitation: What we know and what needs to be done. 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