Executive Summary

The full policy brief is posted here.

Purpose and Scope:

In light of imminent plans in Massachusetts to build a new women’s prison that purports to be therapeutic, this report investigates recent scholarship on the effectiveness of mental health, trauma and substance use disorder treatment for women during incarceration.

Methodology:

A literature review was conducted using articles drawn from the major social science and criminology databases and journals, from 2005 to the present.

Findings:

Of the 200+ studies reviewed, few track long-term outcomes of therapeutic interventions carried out in prisons or jails. The small number of methodologically rigorous studies indicate that prisons and jails are not suitable sites for effective therapeutic interventions, based on the following findings:

• There is little evidence that mental health services in prison are of benefit to women after they are released (Liebman et al., 2014; Severson et al., 2020).
• There is little evidence that in-prison treatment ameliorates trauma symptoms (Yoon et al., 2017). This is particularly important given that most incarcerated women are survivors of significant trauma.
• Incarceration in and of itself often retraumatizes women and damages women’s mental health (Owen, 2020).
• Intensive prison drug treatment is less effective than out-patient programs (Beletsky et al., 2018).
• People who are involuntarily committed to drug treatment are more than twice as likely to die by overdose after they are released as those who complete voluntary treatment (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2017).
• Drug overdose is the leading cause of death after release from prison, especially for women (Evans & Sullivan, 2015).

Individuals with chronic prostatitis show different viagra samples for free levels of mental symptoms. If you are now looking for that little cute-n-tiny.com viagra ordination extra boost, the ingredients in Vitality address the issue. An average family of 4 can no longer be a hindrance in his way of cute-n-tiny.com online cialis exploring an enjoyable sex life. The online stores viagra canada overnight cute-n-tiny.com help to maintain full privacy while receiving the order and delivering the medicines at the patient’s doorstep.

Recommendations:

The evidence is too weak to recommend any specific prison-based programs as effective measures for improving the health and well-being of women. While therapeutic programs in prison may help alleviate some of the stresses of incarceration, the harms of prison are far greater than the benefits of in-prison programming for women. Given these findings, we recommend alternatives to incarceration that provide community-based practical assistance with the following:

• secure housing,
• support for family unification,
• facilitation of relationships within the wider community,
• accessible and culturally appropriate health and substance use services, including harm reduction programs (Calhoun et al., 2015; Tadros et al., 2019; Goshin & Byrne, 2011; Buhse & Schafer, n.d.), and
• restorative justice programs.