A phenomenological study of gender based rehabilitation in the prison context, and life after release for female inmates.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the support available to female offenders, both during and after the time of incarceration. I wanted to know what was behind the rise of female incarceration, even though it remains to be a small minority of the prison system (Barry and Ivor 2008), and if, as is often insinuated, women need more support than males due to 'complex needs'. For this I conducted semi-structured interviews with four people, two males and two females. This group include three 'persons with convictions', two of whom work or have worked with offenders, one training to work with offenders and one receiving support after recently being released from prison. My findings indicate that females do receive slightly more support after a period of four years, but not before then, and that males believe females need more support, even though females do not believe they should have more support than males. Overall, research indicates that more support is needed for everyone in the criminal justice system (CJS).