Mental Health Status of Incarcerated Women in India: A Perspective from a Social Worker

Women constitute a growing segment of the incarcerated population across the world, presenting unique issues for social workers in correctional settings. In this article, based on a study conducted in Mandoli Jail, New Delhi, India, we address the need to broaden the scope and quality of social work provided for women inmates, specifically highlighting the potential role of social workers in promoting their mental health. Our study revealed that the mean age of women inmates was 39.43 years, indicating that most of the women were in their reproductive age and therefore prone to specific health issues. On an average, they were overweight, with only 42.22% women inmates being active, while remaining were inactive (15.56%), moderately inactive (22.22%) or moderately active (20.00%). Of greater concern were the mental health findings: 87.8% experienced distress (45.57% moderately elevated, 54.43% strongly elevated), 73.3% depression (34.85% moderately elevated, 65.15% strongly elevated), 77.78% anxiety (41.43% moderately elevated, 58.57% strongly elevated) and 82.22% somatisation (43.24% moderately elevated, 56.76% strongly elevated). Our study, consequently, identified the mental health of women inmates as a strategic priority for social workers. In this article, we explore the mutuality of various social work practice principles at different levels of intervention and the roles that social workers, as human rights-based professionals, may engage in to improve the mental health of incarcerated women.

Peran Lembaga Pemasyarakatan dalam Memenuhi Hak Narapidana Perempuan Hamil dan Pasca Melahirkan

The correctional system is a coaching effort carried out in correctional institutions in Indonesia, the guidance is intended for inmates who commit criminal acts and are sentenced to prison. In the coaching process, the inmates are protected and nurtured by correctional officers and their rights are protected as citizens. The purposes of this study are to reveal the rights of pregnant and postnatal female prisoners in the correctional facility as well as the implementation of granting the rights of pregnant and postnatal women inmates to women's prisons class II A Kerobokan. The research method used is empirical legal research with a sociological juridical approach. The technique of collecting legal materials is obtained directly through respondents or sources. Primary and secondary sources of legal materials were analyzed using descriptive analysis techniques. This study concludes that prisons have an important role in protecting and fulfilling the rights of prisoners themselves, especially pregnant and postpartum women, the protection of these rights is intended so that they receive humane treatment in prisons.

Property of Corrections: The Experience of Incarceration for Female Inmates in a New Zealand Prison

<p>This thesis examines what it means to be an inmate as experienced by female inmates serving sentences at Christchurch Women’s Prison. Using an auto-ethnographic methodology, combined with a mixed-methods approach, 82 female inmates completed a questionnaire and 10 were interviewed via semi-structured conversations. The data from the questionnaire are presented and analysed within the context of research from overseas studies. The conversations are further analysed and complemented by my own insider knowledge of prison life. This study was undertaken when I was a serving inmate and I made the decision to situate myself in this body of research. Excerpts from my prison journal entries, consisting of shared personal reflections from my years of imprisonment, are interspersed throughout the thesis. Three primary motivations drove this research. The first was to discover and interrogate what it means to be a prisoner from the prisoner’s perspective. The second was to explore how the prison experience relates to the possibility of future successful reintegration and, finally, I wanted to give women inmates a platform to share their stories in the hope that it would empower them. It achieves all three. The stories that the women shared, and their understandings of lived prison life, illustrate the ineffectiveness of incarceration and its inability to serve as a foundation for successful future reintegration. The findings provide a preliminary platform for further studies in this area and contribute to the extant academic understanding of an often misunderstood population.</p>

Property of Corrections: The Experience of Incarceration for Female Inmates in a New Zealand Prison

<p>This thesis examines what it means to be an inmate as experienced by female inmates serving sentences at Christchurch Women’s Prison. Using an auto-ethnographic methodology, combined with a mixed-methods approach, 82 female inmates completed a questionnaire and 10 were interviewed via semi-structured conversations. The data from the questionnaire are presented and analysed within the context of research from overseas studies. The conversations are further analysed and complemented by my own insider knowledge of prison life. This study was undertaken when I was a serving inmate and I made the decision to situate myself in this body of research. Excerpts from my prison journal entries, consisting of shared personal reflections from my years of imprisonment, are interspersed throughout the thesis. Three primary motivations drove this research. The first was to discover and interrogate what it means to be a prisoner from the prisoner’s perspective. The second was to explore how the prison experience relates to the possibility of future successful reintegration and, finally, I wanted to give women inmates a platform to share their stories in the hope that it would empower them. It achieves all three. The stories that the women shared, and their understandings of lived prison life, illustrate the ineffectiveness of incarceration and its inability to serve as a foundation for successful future reintegration. The findings provide a preliminary platform for further studies in this area and contribute to the extant academic understanding of an often misunderstood population.</p>

Chinese Culture and Its Influence on Prison Society: Women’s Experience

Based on interviews with 30 female parolees/ex-inmates and 10 prison officers, this article argues that custody relationships among women incarcerated in China are “not easy,” and this is due primarily to distrust in prison society and a hierarchical prison culture. Even so, women inmates are motivated to form and maintain harmonious relationships with others. This article suggests that this behavior pattern is greatly influenced by the Chinese culture of pragmatic Confucianism, which further explains the women’s low interest in forming a prison subculture.

An Examination of Women’s Experiences with Reporting Sexual Victimization Behind Prison Walls

Women inmates in a southern women’s minimum security facility were interviewed to explore their perceptions of and experiences with reporting sexual victimization in the context of the post-PREA era. The interviewees identified stigma and gossip, officer camaraderie, and fear of retaliation as the dominant barriers to reporting and investigating incidents of sexual assault. The article concludes with recommendations to improve sexual assault training and education in women’s correctional institutions.

Qualidade de vida e doenças autorreferidas em mulheres de apenados

Objetivo: analisar a qualidade de vida e identificar doenças autorreferidas em mulheres de apenados. Método: trata-se de um estudo quantitativo, descritivo, transversal, com 349 mulheres de apenados em três penitenciárias. Coletaram-se os dados por meio de dois instrumentos. Analisaram-se as informações por meio da estatística descritiva e regressão linear múltipla. Resultados: consideraram-se inadequados os fatores relativos à qualidade de vida, sendo eles físico (42,1%), psicológico (21,2%), relações sociais (49%), meio ambiente (59%) e geral (53,3%). Constatou-se que a qualidade de vida inadequada se manteve associada a outras doenças (34,7%; p<0,054). Conclusão: torna-se necessário investir em ações estratégicas de promoção da saúde nesta população, pois ela é considerada vulnerável, com predisposição a doenças devido a comportamentos de risco e à qualidade de vida inadequada. Descritores: Saúde da Mulher; Qualidade de Vida; Doença; Populações Vulneráveis; Cuidados de Enfermagem; Fatores de Risco.AbstractObjective: to analyze the quality of life and identify self-reported diseases in women inmates. Method: this is a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study with 349 women inmates in three prisons. Data was collected by two instruments. Information was analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regressions. Results: the factors related to quality of life were inadequate, being physical (42.1%), psychological (21.2%), social relations (49%), environment (59%) and general (53, 3%). Inadequate quality of life was found to be associated with other diseases (34.7%; p <0.054). Conclusion: it is necessary to invest in strategic health promotion actions in this population, as it is considered vulnerable, with a predisposition to disease due to risky behaviors and inadequate quality of life. Descriptors: Women's Health; Quality of life; Disease; Vulnerable Populations; Nursing Care; Risk Factors.ResumenObjetivo: analizar la calidad de vida e identificar enfermedades autoinformadas en mujeres de encarcelados. Método: este es un estudio cuantitativo, descriptivo, transversal, con 349 mujeres de encarcelados en tres cárceles. Los datos fueron recolectados por dos instrumentos. Las informaciones se analizaron mediante estadística descriptiva y regresión lineal múltiple. Resultados: los factores relacionados con la calidad de vida fueron inadecuados, siendo físicos (42.1%), psicológicos (21.2%), relaciones sociales (49%), ambiente (59%) y generales (53, 3%). Se comprobó que la calidad de vida inadecuada estaba asociada con otras enfermedades (34.7%; p <0.054). Conclusión: es necesario invertir en acciones estratégicas de promoción de la salud en esta población, ya que se considera vulnerable, con una predisposición a la enfermedad debido a conductas de riesgo y calidad de vida inadecuada. Descriptores: Salud de la Mujer; Calidad de Vida; Enfermedad; Poblaciones Vulnerables; Cuidados de Enfermería; Factores de Riesgo.

Psychological Well-Being Warga Binaan Lapas Wanita Kelas IIA Sukamiskin Bandung Menjelang Pembebasan

A good level psychological well-being is important for inmates’ prerelease to have a good function in their new surroundings and as a predictor of resilience. Women inmates who will be release can have psychologicall distress that have negative consequences to their level of psychological well-being. The aim of this research is to see psychological well-being in inmates’ during their prerelease. This is a descriptive and quantitative research using 42-item Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale. The respondents were 33 inmates’ during their prerelease time in Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Wanita Klas IIA Sukamiskin Bandung (Women Prison in Sukamiskin Bandung) and were taken using accidental sampling in non-random sampling method. The data then were analyzed by using distribution of frequency in the percentations. The level of psychological well-being was divided into three categories: high, middle, and low psychological well-being, and the result of this research shows that most of the inmates’ have moderate level of psychological well-being. High scores were mostly found in positive relation to others dimension and low scores were mostly found in self-acceptance dimension.Keyword: prerelease, psychological well-being, inmates AbstrakPsychological well-being yang baik diperlukan warga binaan menjelang pembebasan agar dapat memaksimalkan potensi untuk beradaptasi di lingkungan masyarakat dan sebagai prediktor tingkat resiliensi. Berdasarkan fenomena yang terjadi, sebagian warga binaan wanita menjelang pembebasan merasakan tekanan psikologis yang berpengaruh negatif terhadap psychological well-being. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui gambaran tingkat psychological well being warga binaan menjelang masa pembebasan. Metode penelitian deskriptif dengan pendekatan kuantitatif menggunakan alat ukur 42-item Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale. Jumlah sampel 33 warga binaan menjelang bebas di Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Wanita Klas IIA Sukamiskin Bandung yang dipilih dengan metode non-random sampling melalui teknik accidental sampling. Analisis data berupa persentasi distribusi frekuensi. Hasil penelitian sebagian besar psychological well-being warga binaan menjelang pembebasan dalam kategori sedang. Skor dalam kategori tinggi paling banyak ditemukan pada dimensi hubungan positif dengan orang lain, sedangkan skor dalam kategori rendah paling banyak ditemukan pada dimensi penerimaan diri.Kata kunci: masa kebebasan, psychological well-being, warga binaan pemasyarakatan

Promoting gender responsive support for women inmates: a case study from inside a prison

Purpose Most women who serve time in prison will eventually be released and expected to reintegrate back into society. To maximize the chances of success, careful support is usually required. An example of this support work was the Healthy Relationships Program (HRP, 2016) offered to women inmates of the Adelaide Women’s Prison (South Australia) pre-release. The content of the HRP was influenced by a gender-responsive framework and constructed as a social work program. The purpose of this paper is to report on a small qualitative study that used semi-structured interviews pre- and post-program to explore women participants’ expectations, perceptions and experiences of the program. In this paper, the focus is on the women inmates’ interview transcripts where a thematic analysis was conducted. Two main research questions drove this analysis. First: How did the women experience the HRP? Second: What does their reported experience reveal about the ongoing need for gender-responsive support? The key findings are that domestic violence and relationships with children are strong motivators for participation in programs; therefore, gender-responsive support is still required in prison programs. However, the paper also advocates that future iterations of gender-responsive support and social work interventions become more consciously intersectional feminist in orientation. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative design was used to explore what women thought the HRP taught them. Individual face-to-face interviews were used to explore women’s perceptions, ideas and experiences of healthy relationships. Thematic analysis was used to draw out the themes across interviews. Findings The key arguments made are that gender-responsive support is still required but that future iterations of gender-responsive support become more consciously intersectional feminist in orientation. Research limitations/implications The researchers experienced strict time restrictions to conduct interviews and therefore depth was somewhat compromised. To try and compensate for this restriction, the researchers visited potential participants as part of program recruitment and information sharing to help enable and build general rapport before the interviews. Time restrictions and prison security protocols did not allow for researchers to check transcripts with the women. Practical implications Reporting on this case study also showed that social work practice can influence relationships with institutions, such as prisons, that perpetrate marginalization and therefore enable a setting that facilitates safe participation in programs. Social implications Gender-responsive frameworks provide the much needed validation of gender differences, but also require a feminist intersectional lens to more consciously aid in the conceptualization and evaluation of future programs for women in prison. It is this intersectional lens that is more likely to bring multiple experiences of oppression into focus so that personal issues and problems can be analyzed in a richer wider social context, particularly intersections between gender, class and/ethnicity race. Originality/value This paper has reported on women’s expectations and experiences of a health relationships program and provides insight and learnings for future practitioners intending to run similar programs. Overall, the women participants were able to articulate their own personal learnings about interpersonal relationships and were able to acknowledge the impacts of abuse and violence in their lives in the program.

Gambaran Rencana Pulang Warga Binaan pada Sebuah Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Perempuan di Indonesia: Studi Pendahuluan

Introduction: As the development of the time, women committed criminal activities usually dominated by man. That crimes resulted negative stigma by society. So, it requires effective many discharge planning for female inmates to face the freedom. This study is useful for correctional nurses because of nurse basic role for provides female inmates discharge planning.Methods: The study about description female inmate’s discharge planning has already been studied in qualitative method, but it has not yet been studied in quantitative. The research purpose is to know the discharge planning of the return of the inmates in a female prison in Indonesia. This study was descriptive quantitative research method using with cross sectional approach. This research used questionnaire as the instrument. There were 25 samples that chosen by total sampling technique on a women’s prison in Indonesia. The analysis data using univariate analysis.Results: 92% of respondents would plan follow up skills from prisons, 68% of respondents would do legal plan, 100% of respondents would do the plan to maintain physical condition, 70.3% of respondents would do social interaction plan, 98% of respondents would do the mental spiritual plan, 65% of respondents would do the plan to meet the needs of residence and economy. Conclusion: There were various planning of female inmates before release from a prison. Correctional nurses are recommended to give more attention to the psychosocial problems of the women inmates and able to develop discharge planning program for the woman inmates by their freedom so that the inmates are ready to return to the society.