The PRA’s Rehabilitation Programs for Female Offenders
Presented by Avraham Hoffmann at the UN 10th Congress on the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders, Vienna, Austria, 2000.
Female inmates in Israel – a profile
At any given time, in Israel, there are approximately 120 female inmates, as opposed to the 5,515 male inmates (in 1997). Although they are only 2% of the prisons’ population, the female inmates are an extremely difficult population to work with. Most have histories of severe sexual and/or physical abuse from early childhood. Their psychological profiles often include various emotional disturbances, low self-image and self-esteem, suicide attempts and other self-destructive behaviours. In addition, this population is characterised by difficulties in establishing ties with caregivers and treatment professionals. Because of these problems, for many years, female inmates were considered hopeless cases in terms of treatment and rehabilitation.
Most of the female inmates in Israel (approximately 70%) are mothers. Most are single parents. Motherhood, in many different ways, complicates their situation, and lessens their chance for being successfully rehabilitated. Most (approximately 80%) are drug addicts, and are in dire need of a closed, structured and supervised framework which will remove them from the community.
Rehabilitation Solution
For these women we founded The Residential Hostel for Former Female Inmates With Their Children. Until the creation of this Hostel, there were no residential rehabilitation facilities, which could accommodate children. The need to be separated from their children for a long period of time, in addition to the long, stressful separation during incarceration, made many women reluctant to join a rehabilitation program.
After 7 years of running a Hostel for Former Female Prisoners (which cannot accommodate children), the PRA recognised that a Hostel where children can live with the mothers, is crucial to reach the large majority of women who will not otherwise participate in any rehabilitation program. In May 1996 the Residential Hostel for Former Female Prisoners – With Their Children, was founded.
The hostel is small, housing up to 5 women and 5 children at a time. This is intentional, so that the house feels like a home, not another institution. This is crucial, for both the women and the children. It is run on the basis of a family – with residents participating in household duties and chores.
The women spend 3 month of preparation without their children before their children join them.
The women must find jobs, with the help and guidance of the PRA Employment Co-ordinator for women. We opperate a special day centre to deal with these women’s particular difficulties in the employment field. The centre offers vocational training, assistance in finding work, and in persevering at it – A combination of social therapy and preparation for employment.
While the mothers work or attend vocational training, the children, depending on their ages, are placed in day-care, or attend school.
In the evenings, along with preparing and eating supper, participating in household chores, and spending time in productive interaction with the children, there are individual and group therapies. As well, there will be enrichment activities – outings, field trips, cultural events, etc. They improve self-esteem, allow the women to interact with each other and their children, as well as the staff, in a relaxed setting, and teach proper, productive use of leisure time. Many of the activities are educational and crucial aspect of the therapy.
For these women, many of whom grew up in abusive or dysfunctional homes, or in institutions, having a child taken away from them, is a staggering blow. Having a child, being a mother, unleashes many strong emotions. The separation during the period of incarceration is very traumatic for both mother and child. For many, what keeps them going in prison is the hope that upon release, they will again be able to see their children. This residential facility, which accommodates mothers and their children together, provides a solution to this problem.
While there are those who question the benefit to the women of having their children with them during the rehabilitation period, it is clear to those who work in the field that this is perhaps the most beneficial aspect of a rehabilitation process. The chance to give and receive love, to have something to look forward to, to be responsible for someone else – these are all the essential aspects of rebuilding self-esteem, and learning to conduct healthy relationships.
For a child, especially from a female-led single-parent family, the effects of the mother’s incarceration can be devastating. In addition to the stigma of having a convict for a parent, whatever little stability there was in the home, is shattered. During the mother’s imprisonment, the child is often shuffled between institutions. With luck, a relative becomes the primary caregiver, but this is not always the case, and while a relative such as a grandparent is likely to provide a family environment, the tension surrounding the mother’s imprisonment will run high within the family, causing further stress on the child.
The child can only benefit from being reunited with his mother in a supervised, therapeutic setting.
Considering the tremendous effort involved on the part of PRA Hostel staff, social workers, community and child welfare professionals, and on the part of the women and children. Before they can leave, everyone involved must feel confident that mother and child have found a housing arrangement that is appropriate for all their needs (i.e. not with an abusive former boyfriend, not in a criminogenic neighbourhood, not with known drug users, etc.). It became clear that these women would need the Hostel’s continued therapeutic assistance after they leave the Hostel. Therefore we developed the satellite apartments program. The women live in private apartments close to the Hostel, to ensure that when problems occur they can seek the Hostel’s assistance. The satellite apartments and the Hostel have been situated in a residential neighbourhood, non-criminogenic, to give these released inmates the best chances to a successful rehabilitation. The Satellite Apartment is a necessary additional step toward the independent life in the community, which eases the passage from the protected life in the Hostel, to the independent life she was never used to. This program represents a less expensive alternative to that of children in institutions.
The social workers face an inherent contradiction, when they try to treat and support children in institutions separated from their mothers. The mother and child grow apart as a result of the separation caused by the incarceration. This program enables the mother and child to develop together.
Convinced of the importance of treating these women and children, and in hope of developing the best therapy, we held an “International Seminar on The Rehabilitation of Female Offenders: Mothers With Their Children”, in Jerusalem in May 28 to 31, 2000. The seminar’s conclusions were that only a shared therapy for the mothers and children can prevent the return of the mothers to crime.
Until recently people used to refer to parenting competence as static. We now know that parenting is a learnt function and a dynamic one.