Women in Prison Around the World

In the article, "Women's Prisons -A Global State of Crisis" Anzia(2008)suggests that women's prisons all around the world are not in proper order."The strategy used in women’s prisons now is one of humiliation rather than rehabilitation," said Jane Evelyn Atwood in her 2007 Amnesty International video documentary.Women in prisons all over the globe are being subjected to "Conditions of improper touching by persons of authority, sanctioned sexual harassment, unnecessary strip searches, lack of proper medical attention or proper food exists in numerous global prison locations" In addition to this, "psychological coercion and/or threats of sexual assault by persons in authority create a constant, unending and intense universal pressure on many incarcerated women".Many American don't even realize what goes on in other parts of the world, let alone the state of women imprisoned in other countries.

In prisons in Afghanistan, women have been put into jail for violating moral norms.According to the article, on the Independent World website the two most common accusations for women in Afghanistan are "escaping from home" & "illegal sexual relations". With the first having a sentence of 10 years, and the sexual relations sentence at 20 years. Even though 2/3 of the women in the prisons are convicted of illegal sexual relations they are actually in prison for being rape victims. The article notes how, "The system does not distinguish between those who have been attacked and those who have chosen to run off with a man". When I read the article I thought of how even though the criminal justice system in America is not running like it was intended to,we still have rights that are granted to us. However the women in Afghanistan have basically no rights. They have to wear burkas and cover themselves. They basically cannot do anything unless their husbands or athers allow them to.If a woman is raped, beside the shame of being raped she has to be ridicled by her government.One of the women Zirdana was shown with a wound most likely infected with flies on it. just reading the description of the image gave me chills, which made me think how can people be so cruel? The article ended with one of the prisoners named Dorma pleading, "Please, please take our words somewhere where people will be kind and help us." This treatment is inhumane is no one should every receive this type cruel and unusual punishment ,unless they are pedophiles who rape and abuse children,rapists, and cold hearted killers who kill people because they like the satisfaction in doing so.


There are three prisons that house female inmates in Iraq.At the Kadhmiya prison in Bagdad, a grandmother is imprisoned with her 8 month old granddaughter. The woman's daughter was killed by be hanged at a lamppost.And the rest of her grandaughter's family are slain. So because the girl was a orphan, she is staying with her grandmother because there is no one to care for her. A complaint at the prison is, "No legal representation, unfair trials".

On the otherhand, we also see countries that are trying to make improvements for their incarcerated women. Taking for example the Siberian region of Russia.In Russia prisons for women, there are beauty pageants that the women can participate in. BBC reported on Beauty pageants in Russia's women's prisons.At UF 91/9 an all women's correctoinal facilitiy 20 miles away from the capital, Novosibirsk. "We wanted to find ways to occupy convicts' free time," says Natalya Baulina, the prison's administrative head. The pageant first started in 1990. It has been quite the news, that even local news stations broadcast the pageant.According to the BBC,When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, the economy collapsed almost overnight and many unemployed women turned to crime. There are 35 womens prisons in Russia.Former inmate Natasha Patalakhova, 29, who served eight years for armed assault, directed the pageant when she was in prison and her involvement helped her secure an early release.What I found interesting about the article was that corrections officials in Siberia region of Russia were doing something productive with the inmates, I also researched the topic and found that Mexico also has women's beauty pageants held for the inmates.

Despite Thailand's bad rept for their state of corrections, especially with the tretament of women prisoners, I have read of the good deeds being doneon behalf of Thailand's Princess."Kamlangjai" means inspire in Thai, and it is also the name of a foundation for Thailand's female inmates.The princess of Thailand,Princess Bajrakitiyabha initated thisproject. This funding for the project getsresources from the government and private sources, and it generates publiunderstanding and much-needed acceptance for offenders.According to the article, Princess Bajrakitiyabha,noted how, "The quality of justice has nothing to do with arresting and throwing them into a cell. It has everything to do with making them better people, as everyone must eventually come back to society". This specific project help Thailand's female inmates by offering counseling,"as well as special health, pregnancy and child care normally unavailable in prison".In addition there are various vocational, and employment programs which provide these women with the skills they can use to find work once released.

From the cruel and inhumane conditions affecting women prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistand I can see hope for women inmates in areas like Thialand and Siberia.Even though there are women around the world who commit crimes and need to be punished, there are also women imprisoned for unjust reasons. I hope that issues like these can be looked into and help the women who are going through unjust treatment.

SOURCES:
www.youtube.com

"The Afghan Women Jailed for Being Victims if Rape" August 2008, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-afghan-women-jailed-for-being-victims-of-rape-900658.html

Anzia, Lys, "Women's Prisons- A Global State of Crisis" Sept. 2008, Womens News Network

Maria Yatskova March 11, 2008 "Siberian women's beauty pageant" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/7281761.stm

Hill, Gary, "Thai Princess Comes to the Aid Of Female Inmates" Corrections Compendium, 2009. Vol. 34, Iss. 2, p. 32-33

Damon,Arwa, "Gloom , Despair on Display at Iraqi Women’s Prison" May 2007 http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/10/damon.iraqprison/index.html

Females and Reentry after Incarceration

According to www.prisons.org, "There are 12,000 women on parole with 1,000 bed(openings) available for drug treatment as an alternative to re-incarceration for petty drug use or possession parole violations. Drug treatment could cut recidivism by 80%.Only 20% of parolees are in any kind of program assisting them in any way"
(2010).How can we as the public truthfully say that parolees can make a change if they try,but the communities we live in lack the services to help them succesfully reintegrate into the communities we live in?

According to the article, "Supervision Strategies and Approaches for Female Parolees" there are important needs that female parolees are just not receiving. One might remark: Well why should these people who have violated the law get special treatment? Female parolees face special issues upon release. Heilbrum,DeMatteo,Fretz,Erickson,Gerardi,&Halper(2006) note that,"Research on the female parolee population is important to gain insight into the needs of this population and the availability of genderresponsive approaches for addressing these needs"(p.451).A study was conducted of 452 female parolees. Some important topics covered included:housing transition, family reunification,education & job programs,substance abuse & treatment. What I found most interesting about the article was that how ,"Becoming financially self-sufficient is a critical need for female offenders. Without needed education and job skills programming, female parolees are at an increased risk of recidivating while under community supervision".It is hard enough being a single parent or not having enough income to support your family, however it would be much more stressful with the criminal record attached to the woman trying to support her family which would make it so much more harderd to find meaningful employment to support a family in these hard economic times.So ultimately for female parolees to be succesful in their reentry into the community they need some kind of support factor, such as family and friends to help them, mostly for that emotional component.

Women reentering the community after being incarcerated face a number of issues which can include: Heilbrum,DeMatteo,Fretz,Erickson,Gerardi & Halper(2006)suggest that,"reestablishing a home and family life, including regaining legal and physical custody of children; finding affordable housing and meeting other basic needs; securing employment that pays a sufficient income; creating a new social network that may or may not include intimate relationships; fulfilling the multiple conditions of a parole plan, (including continued sobriety, if not recovery, from alcohol or drug addiction); and finally, negotiating the stigmatized perception of women ex-prisoners by the general public-potential employers, landlords, and community members".

First of all just having a criminal record in general makes finding employment so much harder for a women who has been previously incarcerated. But finding employment that would actually allow her to support her family, without the need of social services is extremely hard without the proper education, or skills to obtain promising employment And to make matters even more difficult, the maximum amount of years an individual can receive social services such as welfare in California for example is 5 years. So the temptation to make money illegally to provide for a family is realistic, if there is no other way to support a family.Before being incarcerated there are a large percentage of women who were the sole providers of their families.So as a result of their absense from their families, both the emotional and the financial factors dissapear as well. The readjustment for the women, from prison to their families can be difficult at first, however with the proper mentoring, and resources it can be a much more easier transition, providing the mother and her family has support.

In the article, "Criminal Recidivism of Female Offenders: The Importance of Structured, Community Based Aftercare" Two groups of female parolees were interviewed (one consisted of 176 females, the other, 241 all paroled in New Jersey.The first group received a,"structured, gender specific assessment and treatment program" and the second group only had the ususal conditions of parole. After being reviewed for six months the first group had a re arrest rate of 6% while the group that did not receive the strustured aftercare had a rearrest precent of 12%These results indicate the importance of gender specific treatment for women parolees. Women face issues on parole that are specifically different than those of male parolees, and if they are not receiving the proper treatment their chance of making it in society after incarceration are very difficult.

"Most women on parole meet with their parole officer for only 15 minutes per month. Over 70% of those on parole will return to prison, and two-thirds of those returning will return for a technical violation of parole, and 1/3 for committing a new crime"(anewwayoflife.org).I believe it should be very important for people waiting to be paroled to have a set plan. A plan for how they will live their life, and not just "a maybe" or "I think", but a plan on how they will straighten out their lives, and properly reintegrate into society. Since it's so expensive to house inmates in our nations prisons, prisoners should either have the choice of taking part in a program, educational, technical & treatment for their issue or crime, or hard labor. It is as simple as that. It is way too expensive for tax payers to fund prison sentences, however if people are doing their time and at the same time trying to straighten out their lives, in the long run alot of money will be saved on future prison sentences.It is rare when a news story reports a ex offender who has succesfully adjusted their lives after incarceration, however there are many news stories on ex offenders who have re offended committing terrible crimes.


SOURCES:
Heilbrum M.,DeMatteo D.,Fretz R.,Erickson J.,Gerardi D.,& Halper (2008) "Criminal Recidivism of Female Offfenders: The Importance of Structured, Community Based Aftercare" Vol.33:2

D. McShane,Pamela J. Schram, Barbara A. Koons-Witt, Frank P. Williams, III and Marilyn (2006)"Examining the Link Between Unmet Needs and Parolee Outcome
Supervision Strategies and Approaches for Female Parolees:Examining the Link Between Unmet Needs and Parolee Outcome" Crime Delinquency 52; 450

www.prisons.org

www.anewwayoflife.org

Female Parole Agents

The Division of Adult Parole Operations is important in monitoring people after they are released from our nation's correctional facilities.Even though women are being seen, and heard more in the criminal justice system, alot of coverage about females working in the criminal justice system is on women in law enforement,noted Berg & Ireland(2007).

In the article, "Women in Parole: Gendered Adaptations of Female Parole Agents in California" female parole agents are interviewed about their role in developing and maintaining a positivity for females in a typically male dominated career. In the study, 12 female parole agents were interviewed. 5 of whom were the first women to be employeed with the Dept. of Corrections for the State of Calfiornia.Each of the participants were asked questions which included their backgrounds, family life, what made them choose this career, and ,their supervising choice when dealing with parolees.The participants were a mix of races and backgrounds.Particpants were recommended because of their accomplishments while working in CDCR, with most being adminstrators.Their ages varied starting from their 40's all the way into their 90's, with the average age of around 50.
One of the participants explained, "I believe that rapport and intuition are very important in all aspects: for parolee compliance and agent safety. I liked most of them. I was never afraid of them.” In general to be a parole officer you have to understand that you cannot be afraid of parolees,because if you show even one bit of fear the parolee will most likely pick it up like that and use is to his or her advantage.

According o Berg & Ireland(2007), "these female parole agents relied heavily on the traditionally female trait of intuition in their daily field duties with parolees and, consequently, indicated that they felt little fear while conducting their parole agent activities"(p.482).An important factor I discovered was,"Research suggests female officers are equal in inherent competenceto their male counterparts in many respects, and that there is no difference between male and female officer performance records". However all of the agents that noted the prevelance discrmination, gender bias, and harassment in some form or another. One particpant shared her experience, that occured while in the parole academy. After being criticised repeatedly for not making the target during firerams training, she took it upon herself to take extra training and rangemaster courses. She eventually became a marksman, and a rangemaster, traning other agents how to shoot effectively.

Just like correctional officers, parole agents have to trust in their intuition to effectively do their jobs.These women and men, essentially put their lives on the line to make sure the public is safe with people who are paroled from correctional facilities. To make matters even more stressful parole agents usually have latge workloads, more than they should have. Agents sometimes even have to put their family and loved ones aside, to make sure their duties of being an agents are fullfilled.
I have interned at the Fairfield parole office since October 2008.In fact on my first day was when I realized I wanted to be a Parole Agent. These women and men who maintain the peace by monitoring and even counseling parolees have a huge impact on the safety of our communities. However,the public doesn't always realize what kind of person it takes to take such a huge responsibility.



SOURCES:
Berg B. & Ireland C."Women in Parole: Gendered Adaptations of Female Parole Agents in California"