NCJ Number
183060
Date Published
1999
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This chapter explores the postrelease experiences of Australian women prisoners and notes that these women are situated on a continuum of control and neglect that ensures women's disempowerment, whether they are inside or outside of prison.
Abstract
As inmate profiles have long shown, women who go to prison are among society's most disadvantaged. They tend to come from backgrounds of poverty, to have low levels of education, to have few skills to equip them for employment, and to be single mothers. The majority have prior histories of sexual and physical abuse, and most have been or are drug dependent. While women are in prison, their lives are disrupted, and they are further disempowered. In 1991 a chaplain for women prisoners in Victoria (Australia), interviewed 12 women about their postrelease experiences. Of these only three had not returned to prison. These three women had a number of things in common. All had left prison with adequate identification and had secured their initial and subsequent Social Security payments without difficulty. All had managed to secure accommodation, had made no contact with other ex-prisoners, and had at least one or two people on whom they could rely for support. In addition, they were all well integrated into local community services. Most women who currently leave prison have difficulty in availing themselves of such resources, however; consequently, they are likely to become recidivists. 36 notes and 15 references