The involvement of women in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics has been on the increase in recent years. This move is a positive phenomenon given that such technical fields have been historically dominated by men (Zoukis, 2018). The technological advancements have exponentially grown thereby impact virtually any field of operation from communication, travel, education, security to mention but a few. Given that adult women prisoners form a smaller proportion of just over 10% of all prisoners in the United States, rehabilitation programs more so in the technological fields have preferentially focused on male inmates for quite a period of time. However, in the recent past rehabilitation programs that empower women technologically have proven to be successful instruments that prepare the women inmates for life after prison.
The training in coding program implemented with partnership with the Girl Develop It (GDI) in women prisons has been a largely successful rehabilitation program. It suffices to mention that the GDI is a non-profit organization that focuses on empowering women to learn computer science thereby learning how to code and develop software. In 2017, the GDI implemented a program of teaching female inmates how to code and develop software at a correctional centre in the US. The program, which was initially conducted at the Baylor’s Women Correctional Institution in New Castle, Delaware aimed to empower the inmates with important skills to help them find their niche in the technologically-savvy environment they would meet once they got out of prison.
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The three-week course on coding and software development has been a huge success in rehabilitation of female inmates. According to Zoukis (2018), the program in its first phase involved twelve inmates taking the course. Upon completion, the class was a success evident by 100% of the participants reporting increase in confidence and a desire to continue learning the skill once they had finished their terms. One inmate had plans of pursuing a culinary career upon leaving the correction centre and therefore was eager to build a website for her future eatery. Another still aimed to use the skill to equip her CV in order to place her at a better vintage point of getting a better job once she left prison. As such, the program of teaching female inmates how to code and develop software has been a successful rehabilitation program.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Programs
The cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an intervention that has been proven to be effective in rehabilitation of inmates in preparing them for life after prison. In particular, for female inmates, CBT has been shown through several programs to be useful in impacting the female offenders positively. Case in point, The Moving On program implemented at the Minnesota Correctional Facility is evidence of the successful nature of CBT in rehabilitating incarcerated women. Moving On is a curriculum-based, gender-responsive intervention created to address the different cognitive–behavioral needs of incarcerated women (The National Institute of Justice [NIJ], 2016). In essence, the program seeks to achieve specific goals through using cognitive interventions to modify the behavior of women offenders. The goals of the program include improving the communication skills of women, fostering relationship building and teaching healthy ways of expressing emotions. In addition, Moving On helps the women to develop attributes of goal setting and self-reflection.
The Moving On program is curriculum based and offered in 26 sessions that are spread over the course of 12 weeks. Typically, each session lasts approximately 2 hours with generally small sizes of 5 to 10 participants. During the sessions, which are either one-on-one or group sessions, participants are involved in activities such as self-assessments, writing exercises, and role playing. The success of the program has been shown through its effect in significantly reducing the recidivism as measured by rearrests and reconvictions (NIJ, 2016). As such, the program ensures that most of the participants in the program are not rearrested and thereby engaging in meaningful self-development activities.
Drug and Substance Abuse Programs
Drug and substance use is an important aspect that needs to be addressed with regard to rehabilitation of incarcerated women. Notably, this has been an important factor that has contributed to an upsurge of female offenders in the last two decades and currently up to 74% of all female inmates have a history of substance abuse (Grace, 2017). Accordingly, a myriad of programs with varied successes have been formulated with an aim of helping female offenders to reform before being integrated into the community upon release. One successful program in this regard has been the Forever Free that has been implemented at the California Institution for Women. The Forever Free was the first comprehensive prison-based substance abuse treatment program in the United States for incarcerated women.
The overarching objectives of the program include to reduce the rates of occurrences of drug abuse, the number of disciplinary actions related to drug abuse while in prison and to reduce recidivism after release. The Forever Free program engages participants in a number of activities that target to achieve the aforementioned objectives. Notably, the program is divided in two parts with the first part involving a six-month program for women nearing the end of their incarceration period while the second part is community based. The in-prison sessions which typically are 8-hour long per day involve activities such as individual substance abuse counseling, special workshops, educational seminars, 12-step programs, parole planning and urine testing and counseling. This program is largely successful as reported through three outcome variables namely arrests and reincarceration, drug usage after release, and employment post-release. According to NIJ (2011), Forever Free participants registered fewer rates of recidivism, they reported less rates of refractory drug use post release and they had higher rates of employment compared to the offenders who did not take part in the program. The above findings are clear evidence of the success of the program.
Mental Health Programs
Mental health is a major concern for female inmates as 25% of female offenders have an history of mental illness. As such, a number of programs have put in place in order to offer female inmates with coping strategies for mental illness in order for them to have successful reentry into the community. One such program is the Seeking Safety program for the incarcerated women. According to the National Institute of Justice, crime solutions, the Seeking Safety program is a manualized cognitive–behavioral intervention for incarcerated women with co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders. The objective of the program is to handle the mental health aspects of incarcerated women which may deter their full recovery and successful reentry into the program. In this regard the overall goal for the program is to seek to improve PTSD, depression, interpersonal skills, and coping strategies for incarcerated women.
The program is a 12-week program with two sessions every week, each lasting 2 hours. During the sessions, several approaches are used which include psychoeducation, cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal topics, and teachings on specific coping skills (Lynch et al., 2012). Overall, the program is structured into 25 topics that collectively help the incarcerated women to handle depression and PTSD and therefore avoid self-harming activities upon reentry into the community. The program is a success based on the two variable outcomes of PTSD scores and Depression scores. According to Lynch et al. (2012), Seeking Safety showed significantly greater decreases in their PTSD scores compared with women in the wait-list control condition while at the same time it showed significantly greater decreases in their depression scores than women in the wait-list control condition.
Academic Education Programs
Educational needs compound the requirements for female inmates in correctional centers. Statistics indicate that 64% of all female inmates have not graduated from high school and an even lesser proportion have college degrees. Given the competitive nature of the community to which the offenders are released after they have completed their jail terms, it is necessary to provide them with opportunities to advance their education. One such program that has been successfully implemented is the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP). GPEP is a program that is implemented from a partnership between Maryland Correctional Institute for Women and Goucher College, a private university located in the north of Baltimore, Maryland.
The overall goal of the GPEP at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women is to provide the inmates at the facility with standard college academic program in a number of fields such as American studies, sociology, history and philosophy. The program involves the faculty at Goucher college providing on-site college training to female offenders at the facility. The program has been successful thus far and 130 inmates have successful gone through the program (Goucher College, 2018). In addition to the college degree, participants have reported an improvement in other spheres of life from the program. The areas include improvement in self-esteem, coping with addiction, and overall improvement in self-confidence. All these features equip the offenders with the requisite tactics for survival once they are integrated into the community showing just how successful the program is.
References
Goucher College (2018) Goucher Prison Education Partnership. Retrieved from https://www.goucher.edu/learn/goucher-prison-education-partnership/
Grace, S. (2017) Effective interventions for drug using women offenders: A narrative literature review. Journal of Substance Use, 22 , (6): 664-67.
Lynch, S. M., Heath, N., Matthews, C. and Galatia J. C. (2012). Seeking Safety: An Intervention for Trauma-Exposed Incarcerated Women ? Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 13: 88–101.
The National Institute of Justice. (2011). Forever Free. NIJ. Retrieved from https://www.crimesolutions.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?ID=40
The National Institute of Justice. (2016). Moving On (Minnesota) – NIJ. Retrieved from https://www.crimesolutions.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?ID=476
Zoukis. C. (2018). Female Prisoners Learn How to Code – Prison Education.com Retrieved from https://prisoneducation.com/prison-education-news/female-prisoners-learn-how-to-code/
