The psychosocial issues of women serving time in jail

Two hundred and one randomly selected female inmates incarcerated at a municipal jail were interviewed to establish the needs of this population and to formulate appropriate rehabilitative interventions. Measures of social support for this sample were uniformly low. Scores on the Global Severity Index of the Brief Symptom Inventory showed that 64 percent of the women were in the clinical range for mental health problems. Scores obtained from the Short Drug Abuse Screening Test indicated that 83 percent of the women were in the substance abuse range. When child and adult sexual abuse were combined, 81 percent of the women had been sexually victimized at some time in their lives. The data point to the need for improved programs and conditions within penal settings and for intermediate sanctions for nonviolent female offenders. Such sanctions could include both correctional day treatment and community-based correctional living sites.