Incarcerated Women Essay

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Incarcerated women are more vulnerable to mental health disorders and drug and alcohol use. The majority of incarcerated women receive minimal, if any, mental health care or substance abuse treatment (Curry, 2001). The drug rehabilitation programs offered in prison are normally focused on choosing new networks of social support systems, which consist of mentors, role models, healthy peers, supportive family members and so on. Unfortunately, a large number of women do not have healthy social support systems. Many of them, report history of drug use and abuse in their families. Without social support systems many women are left with halfway houses or unstable transitional housing as their only options. As a result of this, drug problems remain after their release. Without proper care and support, almost 60% will be rearrested, 38% will be convicted again and 30-45% will return to prison within 3 years (Cloyes, Wong, Latimer, …show more content…

Despite of this, it is important to note that there are programs, very few of them, that indeed help women transition successfully from prison into communities. Community collaboration is an essential part of this success. Programs that offer approaches focused on the needs of this vulnerable population and address issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, mental health problems, education and healthcare services before and after their release from prison are the most successful (Blitz, Wolff, Pan, & Pogorzelski, 2005). In point of fact, minimizing the obstacles that recently released women face decreases the likelihood that they will reoffend again. Therefore it is important to emphasize that the effective utilization of resources available, communication and collaboration amongst correctional facilities and communities is vital to successfully help women

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