Canada's Prison System Provides Model for Female
Inmates
As the United States deals with a growing female inmate population,
the Canadian prison system serves as a model for how to address
the physical and emotional needs of women in prison, the Newark
Star-Ledger reported May 25.
Canada's progressive corrections system features houses for women
in six prison complexes, a healing lodge for Native American women
offenders, nontraditional job training off-site, a certified trade
school, and prison tattoo parlors to reduce the spread of hepatitis
through self-inflicted body art.
Canada's prison strategy requires a "correction plan"
that is individually developed for each woman entering prison. Components
of the plan include education, addiction and medical treatment,
parenting classes, and three months of training in nontraditional
jobs.
In addition, all inmates are given intensive psychological testing
and spend several hours a week in anger-management, behavior-modification,
cognitive-therapy and domestic-violence-prevention programs.
While advocates throughout the United States praised Canada's corrections
model for female inmates, they acknowledged one major difference
between prisons in both countries. Last year, 100,000 women were
in prison in the United States, compared with 309 in Canada.
|
