Helping Women Offenders Move Forward

2002 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Issues surrounding the correctional system

The Task Force
We have often said that the women inside have the understanding to help themselves, that all is required is the right kind of resources, support and help. The money spent on studies would be much better spent on family visits, on culturally appropriate help, on reducing our powerlessness to heal ourselves. But the reality is that prison conditions grow worse. We cry out for a meaningful healing process that will have real impact on our lives, but the objectives and implementation of this healing process must be premised on our need, the need to heal and walk in balance (L. Fox and F. Sugar)
Commissioning the Task Force was an essential part of change that was necessary in order to implement a better, more structured, and rehabilitative environment for incercerated women (Solicitor General Canada, 1990).
Extreme problems within the system when dealing with sentenced women was the cause of having to commission the task force. Problems were occurring not only within facilities, but once the women were released, they did not receive adequate programming in order for them to be successful when released back into the community. Prior to the task force, an issue within prisons for women was that it was over-secure. With the general population of women who are incarcerated serving time requiring minimum or medium amounts of security but getting maximum security amounts resulting in them being treated as if they were men (Solicitor General Canada, 1990).
In order for inmates, regardless of sex, to be able to heal and learn how to achieve a crime-free lifestyle, programming is required and prior to the Task Force, programming for women inmates was poor. Women were not presented with the same opportunities for programming t...

... middle of paper ...

...ved from website: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/prgrm/fsw/fsw37/fsw37-eng.shtml
Covington, S., (2001). From prison to home. The Effect of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities, Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/prison2home02/covington.htm
Fortin, D. (2004). Program strategy for women offenders. Retrieved from http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/prgrm/fsw/fsw18/fsw18_e.pdf
Public, W., & Government Services, C. (1996). Commission of inquiry into certain events at the prison for women in kingston (Commission of Inquiry into certain events at the Prison for Women in Kingston). Retrieved from Solicitor General Canada website: http://www.justicebehindthewalls.net/resources/arbour_report/arbour_rpt.htm
Solicitor General Canada. Correctional Service Canada, (1990). Creating choices: The report of the task force on federally sentenced women. Canada:

Show More
Related

  • RNR Model Analysis

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    These women have been increasingly going to jail for longer periods of time for minor crimes, the most frequent crimes that are being convicted are mostly related to drug and alcohol related crimes as well as theft (Mental Health Coordinating Council, 2010). A survey conducted in New South Wales of female inmates had concluded that; 80% are current smokers, 78% have used an illicit drug(s), 67% were unemployed in the six months prior to incarceration, and 66% of these women had also been in a violent/abusive relationship (Mental Health Coordinating Council, 2010). It has been argued that the risk factors for offenders are derived from that of genetic theories of crime and that they are an adequate guide for correctional supervision and treatment-planning decisions for females, however others argue that this approach is highly flawed and does not take into account gender differences (Rettinger & Andrews 2010). This is an issue in the CJS and its importance cannot be undervalued, the assessment for the risk and need has implications for the assignment of female offenders to a correction option that is the least restrictive, the assignment to an appropriate intervention dosage, appropriate targeting of criminogenic needs, and an understanding of female offending (Rettinger & Andrews 2010). Due to the increasingly large number

    Read More

  • The Ratio Of Male Offenders To Men By Frank Schmalleger

    1482 Words  | 3 Pages

    The next big show that everyone seems to be talking about nowadays is “Orange is the new black.” A show that is centered on what citizens think a day in the life in a women’s prison is. But in all reality a women’s prison isn’t something to joke around about. Prison is defined as a correctional facility designed for confinement that is primarily ran by the state. Women serve their sentences in women’s prisons where men serve theirs in men’s prisons. According to Ashley Dugger an online introduction to criminal justice professor there is about 4,500 prisons in the United States alone. Of those 4,500 only 170 of them are solely women’s prisons.

    Read More

  • America's War on Drugs - The Prison Industrial Complex

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    Murray, J. (2005). The effects of imprisonment on families and children of prisoners Retrieved from http://www2.bgsu.edu/downloads/cas/file77089.pdf

    Read More

  • Beyond Bars

    2133 Words  | 5 Pages

    The book titled Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society After Prison offers invaluable lessons of how both men and women may successfully depart prison and return to society. The book was written by Jeffrey Ross and Stephen Richards, both of whom are college professors and criminal justice experts. The population of prisons across the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades despite overall crime rates decreasing during the same time period. Approximately seven million American people are in some form of correctional custody. Between the years1980 and 2000, America’s prison population increased by 500 percent. During the same time period, the number of prisons grew by 300 percent (Ross and Richards, xii). Close to 50 percent of people admitted to confinement have previously served time, exemplifying that the criminal justice system “recycles” inmates through the system again and again (Ross and Richards, xi). Unfortunately, many convicts simply do not remember how to or are ill-equipped to return to society once their sentence ends. Ross and Richards, through their valuable lessons within their book, seek to lessen the problems that ex-prisoners may face when released from prison.

    Read More

  • Children of Incarcerated Parents

    1829 Words  | 4 Pages

    Travis, Jeremy & Waul, Michelle. (2003). Prisoners Once Removed: The Impact of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities. The Urban Institute Press: Washington, D.C.

    Read More

  • Flaws of the Criminal Justice System

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    Looking beyond women's issues and questioning basic humanity, we find a deceptive, unstable yet somehow egotistical governmental department. With an organization like this in control, there is no hope of rehabilitation for the prisoners as was discovered throughout the inquiry performed on Correctional Services Canada.

    Read More

  • Gender Politics in the US Criminal Justice System

    1723 Words  | 4 Pages

    14 Nicole Hahn Rafter, Partial Justice: Women in State Prisons 1800-1935 (Boston: New England University Press, 1985)

    Read More

  • Stereotyping of Female Offenders in the Criminal Justice System

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anderson, E. A. (1976). The "Chivalrous" Treatment of the Female Offender in the Arms of the Criminal Justice System: A Review of the Literature. Social Problems, 23(3), 350-357

    Read More

  • The Application of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Within a Prison Setting

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sacks, J. Y., McKendrick, K., & Hamilton, Z. (2012). A randomized clinical trial of a therapeutic community treatment for female inmates: Outcomes at 6 and 12 months after prison release. Journal Of Addictive Diseases, 31(3), 258-269. doi:10.1080/10550887.2012.694601

    Read More

  • Alternatives to Incarceration

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is undeniable that mass incarceration devastates families, and disproportionately affects those which are poor. When examining the crimes that bring individuals into the prison system, it is clear that there is often a pre-existing pattern of hardship, addiction, or mental illness in offenders’ lives. The children of the incarcerated are then victimized by the removal of those who care for them and a system which plants more obstacles than imaginable on the path to responsible rehabilitation. Sometimes, those returned to the community are “worse off” after a period of confinement than when they entered. For county jails, the problem of cost and recidivism are exacerbated by budgetary constraints and various state mandates. Due to the inability of incarceration to satisfy long-term criminal justice objectives and the very high expenditures associated with the sanction, policy makers at various levels of government have sought to identify appropriate alternatives(Luna-Firebaugh, 2003, p.51-66).

    Read More

  • Crime in Canada

    1672 Words  | 4 Pages

    Welsh, B., & Irving, M. (2005). Crime and punishment in Canada, 1981-1999. Crime and Justice, 33, 247-294. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2063/stable/3488337?&Search=yes&searchText=canada&searchText=crime&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dcrime%2Bin%2Bcanada%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=18&ttl=33894&returnArticleService=showFullText

    Read More

  • Canada Should Focus More on Rehabilitation and Less on Retribution

    3232 Words  | 7 Pages

    Canada is a country where rehabilitation has been a formal part of sentencing and correctional policies for an extended period of time (Andrews & Bonta, 2010). Furthermore, a group of Canadian researchers have examined the methodology and effectiveness of rehabilitation, and are principal figures in the correctional rehabilitation field (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). However, despite rehabilitation being a central aspect of Canadian identity, there has been a shift in the justice system’s objectives. The rise of the Conservative government and their omnibus bill C-10, Safe Streets and Communities Act, has created a move towards retribution. Bill C-10 was passed on March 12, 2012 (Government of Canada, 2013) and was a proposal to make fundamental changes to almost every component of Canada’s criminal justice system. Law changes included new and increased mandatory minimum sentencin...

    Read More

  • Mass Incarceration Essay

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is a plethora of data within the last 10-15 years that repeatedly show family, friends, and entire communities or neighborhoods being drastically affected by the consequences of mass incarceration as well. The data focus primarily on the effects on the partners, children, families, friends, and caregivers of those incarcerated; particularly the economic, emotional, and personal relationships between incarcerated individuals and those the data also

    Read More

  • Why the Death Penalty Should Be Abolished

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mauer, Marc. "The Race to Incarcerate." The Case For Penal Abolition. Ed. W. Gordon West and Ruth Morris. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars? Press, 2000. 89-99.

    Read More

  • Imprisonment is Ineffective as Punishment

    1773 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Prison Reform Trust. (2013) Prison: the facts Bromley Briefings Summer. Available from: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Prisonthefacts.pdf [Accessed 01 January 2014].

    Read More

More about Helping Women Offenders Move Forward

Open Document