Trauma-Informed Care For Women
This post is derived from the following peer-reviewed work: Miller, N., and L. Najavits. (2012). Creating trauma-informed correctional care: A balance of goals and environment. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 3, DOI: 10.3402/ejpt.v3i0.17246.
Research Summary: Miller and Najavits note that “rates of posttraumatic stress disorder and exposure to violence among incarcerated males and females in the US are exponentially higher than rates among the general population; yet, abrupt detoxification from substances, the pervasive authoritative presence and sensory and environmental trauma triggers can pose a threat to individual and institutional stability during incarceration” (2012). As such, Miller and Najavits explored the challenges and potential benefits of trauma-informed correctional care to suggest strategies for administrative support, correctional staff development and educational opportunities, and institutional stability. This team found that trauma-informed correctional care demonstrated promise in “increasing offender responsivity to evidence-based cognitive behavioral programming that reduced criminal risk factors and in supporting integrated programming for offenders with substance abuse and co-occurring disorders” (2012).
Assessment of Findings: The work by Miller and Najavits accurately highlighted the trauma that is experienced by many prisoners before and during incarceration. Their work is a particularly interesting framework in which to examine the trauma experienced by women before and during their incarceration. For instance, many women are a witness to violence, experience sexual abuse (either as a child, adult, or both), and/or intimate partner violence. These experiences may help to pave the road to engaging in criminal behavior by increasing their risk to engage in violent behavior, use illicit substances, and/or engage in petty criminal activity to support themselves in the absence of being able to maintain a 9-5 job.
Once incarcerated, women may be especially susceptible to continuing to experience psychological distress and trauma by fellow inmates, harsh corrections staff, and their withdrawal from substances. For instance, women that have experienced intimate partner violence where they felt that the partner was dominant may have ongoing psychological distress from the corrections and guard staff that are not trained in trauma-informed care and can’t recognize that their tactics may exacerbate many problems for inmates. Take a look at the following video from the New York Times (in partnership with Netflix) which shows much of the trauma that women experience in jail…focusing on the first few days and weeks. (If the URL doesn’t work or the video doesn’t play, it may be accessed here: https://paidpost.nytimes.com/netflix/women-inmates-separate-but-not-equal.html).
The video does a great job of detailing the issues specific to women in prison. For instance, the trauma that they may experience by being removed from their families—especially young families—may compound experiences that they had prior to entering the criminal justice system. So, what can be done? Well, the first thing that must be addressed is training. Corrections staff must be able to identify when trauma-informed corrections care is needed. Even when not explicitly reported by an inmate, staff may be able to pick up on makers of trauma during the intake process or through daily routines. Once the need for care is identified, these women should receive counseling, any necessary medications, and they should be cared for by corrections staff of the same gender that have some training in crisis intervention and, of course, trauma informed care. Lastly, these women should receive some additional support to help ensure that their family life can be maintained through augmented visits or access to phone calls on a more frequent basis. Ideally, when these women leave the criminal justice system, they will have been able to address their trauma issues and their rehabilitation will decrease recidivism.