Identifying Program Needs of Women Detainees in a Jail Environment

Since the 1980s, the population of incarcerated women has been steadily increasing. Approximately 200,000 women are incarcerated in prisons and jails in the United States (Clarke, Phipps, Tong, Rose, and Gold, 2010). There is an increasing level of comorbidity among the population of incarcerated women, with the majority requiring mental health, physical health, substance abuse and pregnancy services at the time of their incarceration or soon afterwards. Incarcerated women face a number of challenges; they are cut off from their primary support system and their children. Their physical health deteriorates, they lack appropriate coping skills, and often experience withdrawal symptoms. The charges presented in this study were drug charges, driving under the influence, driving with revoked license, domestic battery, fraud, theft and other violent crimes. The literature is sparse concerning women detained in jail and the primary needs to be identified. This study sought to identify and understand what the most important need or service the detained woman perceived to be. Our sample consisted of women detained or sentenced at a local detention facility. The results revealed what the women identified as the most important programming need sought after while detained along with programming and resources needed in the community to assist in ceasing the cycle they are currently experiencing