This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Lord, E. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Challenges of Mentally Ill Female Offenders in Prison

ELAINEL2900{at}aol.com

An increasing number of women offenders arrive in prison with serious mental health problems. Such inmates tend to experience difficulties negotiating the prison environment. They create all sorts of predicaments for other prisoners and instigate crisis situations that present pressing challenges to members of the staff. One prevalent form of symptomatic behavior in women's prisons is that of self-injury, which carries the risk of death or serious impairment. Self-harm should not be the sort of behavior that invites disciplinary dispositions. Mentally ill women also become involved in disproportionate serious rule breaking, including assaultive acts, leading to inappropriate placement in segregation cells, where their difficulties are apt to become exacerbated. To address this problem, special settings can be created to accommodate some chronically disturbed women, but these serve to merely ameliorate a seemingly insoluble dilemma.

Key Words: female inmates • mentally disordered inmates • prison programs • segregation

Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 35, No. 8, 928-942 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0093854808318660


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?