Women: Ways To Organise and Maintain Effective Networks Pilot Programs (From Women in Corrections: Staff and Clients, P 1-10, 2000, Australian Institute of Criminology -- See NCJ-187936)

• NCJ Number: 187956
• Author(s): Antoinette Allegritti
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Paper presented at the Women in Corrections: Staff and Clients Conference held in Adelaide, Australia, October 31-November 1, 2000. Downloaded March 21, 2001

Annotation

This paper profiles the planning and operations of a pilot program in Victoria (Australia) designed to help women offenders build and use networks to assist them in dealing with their various problems.

Abstract

The Public Correctional Enterprise (CORE) in Victoria engaged in a research and consultation process in order to learn more about the issues impacting women offenders and their ability to complete their sentences satisfactorily. Among the research findings were the following: a disproportionate number of women inmates are drug addicts who have committed property crimes related to their drug abuse; many women inmates are victims of abuse, sexual or physical, by male partners or relatives; many women inmates have children and family that are of great concern to them; many suffer from some form of mental illness and poor physical health; and women are more likely to have been unemployed before imprisonment. In addition to identifying the needs of women offenders, the research and consultation process determined the key elements of "best practice" in the delivery of correctional services to women offenders. Twenty-one of these "best practices" are listed in this paper. The pilot program, called WOMEN -- Ways to Organize and Maintain Effective Networks, is a 9-week program that is attached as a special condition to a woman's community-based or parole order. Program components are a small group process; individual counseling; outreach, referral, and support services; and on-site child care. The program evaluation design is also described in this paper.