Women's Prison Association: Supporting Women Offenders and Their Families

• NCJ Number: 172858
• Author(s): C Conly
• Date Published: December 1998
• Length: 23 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Program Focus
• Agencies: NIJ

Annotation

This is an in-depth look at the Women's Prison Association (WPA) in New York City.

Abstract

The WPA is an incorporated nonprofit agency offering a broad array of institution- and community-based services to women in prisons and jails, women on probation and parole, and ex-offenders. Its programs include individualized case management to help women offenders set and achieve goals; skills-development workshops and exercises; peer support and development of peer networks; formal recognition of participant achievement; and ongoing attention to building community support. The Association is working to demonstrate program effectiveness by creating new mechanisms to track individual clients and measure their ability to maintain liberty in the community, maintain or improve housing, and maintain or improve their family situations. The WPA disseminates information on women offenders and actively recruits the community-at-large in responding to the needs of women in the criminal justice system. Notes