NCJ Number
187977
Date Published
2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on the initial findings of a research project that examined the life experiences of women in Southeast Queensland prisons (Australia), both prior to prison and during their imprisonment.
Abstract
One hundred women completed questionnaires that solicited their views and feelings about their sentence, their children, their family concerns, their living arrangements before prison, educational experiences, employment status, financial survival prior to prison, circumstances that led to imprisonment, recidivism, their views on what would help them not to re-offend, aspects that prison has and has not changed, support received in prison, their experience of bullying in prison, drug and alcohol use prior to prison and while in prison, their relationships with prison staff, experiences of abuse throughout their lives, suicide and self-harm experiences, and their comments to prison and corrections policymakers and managers. The women who participated in the study had been incarcerated from 3 months to 16 years, and their average sentence was 26 months. Overall, the women's prison experiences are negative, and they continue to self-medicate their previous abuse experiences and the present abuses in prison through continued drug use and self-harm. The women continue to share needles that expose them to serious medical conditions that are detrimental to their health. The women's experience with prison staff is negative. Women feel powerless within prison processes, especially in relation to sentence management practices. These women consider that prison is but one more experience of abuse, rather than a vehicle for confronting and receiving treatment for the trauma and negative coping behaviors that led to their offending.