Women in Correctional Centres
Correctional centres within Australia are currently not providing adequate programs to be able to meet the necessities of women. This is becoming a problem as more females find themselves incarcerated which leads to hundreds of thousands of dollars being used out of taxpayers’ pockets to continue to fund prisons. Whilst there is more females being incarcerated, the use of programs centered around women would help the reintegration into society and help to prevent reoffending. This essay will explore and analyse why more females are being imprisoned, how programs are not centered around women, and the difficulty of reintegration. It will also be suggested ways to improve the current system through the use of programs …show more content…
Whilst, the needs of women are starting to be recognised, correctional centres are still not being able to fully assist females. This is partly due to the fact that up until recently, the majority and possibly all of prisoners were male so they had no reason to have a system aimed at women. The accredited and pre-accredited cognitive skills program, which is actually aimed for males and altered for females, showed no differences statistically with one and two year reconviction rates for females (Cann, 2006). Clearly, there is a need to assess these cognitive skills programs for female offenders. If there is no statistical difference by using programs that were originally designed for males, there should not be a reason to continue using it for women. Female prisoners needs require particular systems and programs that are suited to them. Men and women are not the same physically and emotionally. By simply adapting and slightly changing what processes are already in place for males is not good enough to be able to stand up for the needs women require. The programs used are simply not meeting the need of women in prison, especially the women who have a high risk of returning. Stephanie Covington said that you have to recognise “that gender makes a difference” and that you can not provide gender-neutral programs (Covington & Bloom, …show more content…
It was in 2008 that Queensland developed Improving Outcomes for Women Offenders: Women Offenders Policy and Action Plan to help address the issue at hand (Queensland Government). The Queensland Corrective Services provides vocational education and training to female prisoners to help for a smoother reintegration process (Queensland Government, 2008). However, it can be added that the current system and programs are clearly not doing enough with helping the integration of female ex-prisoners which unfortunately leads to the possibility of reoffending. It was discovered that 32.22 per cent of females returned to prison after completing a program (Government of Western Australia, 2014). It can be suggested that a program similar to the Queensland one mention earlier be implemented into female prisons but instead also take into account cultural backgrounds and family issues. There should also be programs after female prisoners are released that they can stay in a secure shared house or some other sort of housing. Although, there should be conditions of whom would be allowed to be in these housing facilities. This way, there is one less thing for them to worry about after being released, especially if they are lacking the support of family. They can then focus on trying to find a job and start a new life, and break from the reoffending cycle. An
Correctional centres within Australia are currently not providing adequate programs to be able to meet the necessities of women. This is becoming a problem as more females find themselves incarcerated which leads to hundreds of thousands of dollars being used out of taxpayers’ pockets to continue to fund prisons. Whilst there is more females being incarcerated, the use of programs centered around women would help the reintegration into society and help to prevent reoffending. This essay will explore and analyse why more females are being imprisoned, how programs are not centered around women, and the difficulty of reintegration. It will also be suggested ways to improve the current system through the use of programs …show more content…
Whilst, the needs of women are starting to be recognised, correctional centres are still not being able to fully assist females. This is partly due to the fact that up until recently, the majority and possibly all of prisoners were male so they had no reason to have a system aimed at women. The accredited and pre-accredited cognitive skills program, which is actually aimed for males and altered for females, showed no differences statistically with one and two year reconviction rates for females (Cann, 2006). Clearly, there is a need to assess these cognitive skills programs for female offenders. If there is no statistical difference by using programs that were originally designed for males, there should not be a reason to continue using it for women. Female prisoners needs require particular systems and programs that are suited to them. Men and women are not the same physically and emotionally. By simply adapting and slightly changing what processes are already in place for males is not good enough to be able to stand up for the needs women require. The programs used are simply not meeting the need of women in prison, especially the women who have a high risk of returning. Stephanie Covington said that you have to recognise “that gender makes a difference” and that you can not provide gender-neutral programs (Covington & Bloom, …show more content…
It was in 2008 that Queensland developed Improving Outcomes for Women Offenders: Women Offenders Policy and Action Plan to help address the issue at hand (Queensland Government). The Queensland Corrective Services provides vocational education and training to female prisoners to help for a smoother reintegration process (Queensland Government, 2008). However, it can be added that the current system and programs are clearly not doing enough with helping the integration of female ex-prisoners which unfortunately leads to the possibility of reoffending. It was discovered that 32.22 per cent of females returned to prison after completing a program (Government of Western Australia, 2014). It can be suggested that a program similar to the Queensland one mention earlier be implemented into female prisons but instead also take into account cultural backgrounds and family issues. There should also be programs after female prisoners are released that they can stay in a secure shared house or some other sort of housing. Although, there should be conditions of whom would be allowed to be in these housing facilities. This way, there is one less thing for them to worry about after being released, especially if they are lacking the support of family. They can then focus on trying to find a job and start a new life, and break from the reoffending cycle. An