Corrections Community

I am looking for any new approaches that work when managing female inmate populations. It seems that after initial training there is little or no discussion on effective female inmate management techniques. If there are any of us out there using new/different practices in your female housing units (aside form the obvious corrections 101) I would like to hear what you've found that works specifically for decreasing homosexual activity, violence and insubordination as well as increasing productive behavior such as cleanliness and legitimate program participation. Thank You TM

 Oh boy Matt!!! managing Female inmates are more complex than male inmates ( i have worked with both) Currently I teach a 4 day Gender Responsive Class at my Female prison in California. Besides all the information regarding female offender pathways to criminality that is given, I also do common everyday scenerios with the staff through out the 4 days. they are based on understanding the way females communicate on a n everyday basis and so on............. Homosexuality is a tough one to manage. there is no magic technique in dealing with this problem that plagues all female institutions around the country. many women in prison no longer have any means of showing affection with the opposite sex and some times resort to having play families in prison. One such family member is either the BOYfreind (homosexual Partner) or the WIFE."> I am not sure what rules and regulations your state prison has, but enforcing them may help a LITTLE bit. lets not kid ourselves in thinking we can stamp out this behaivior 100%. only manage it. Cleanliness is a problem with female offenders and as such we do have  weekly Unit inspections and they are rewarded in having the cleanest unit by having the cleanest Unit go to meals first. this has helped since its inception 3 years ago. Violence; more often than not women do not start fights in front of staff, so having alert staff, plenty of communication and plenty of exercise programs (keep them busy) will help reduce the over all amount of violence that occures. inmates having girlfriends will tend to fight over them so both are inter related. INSUBORDINATION; women offenders do have difficult to manage behaivior but when she is not obaying orders good communication is key and keep the situation from escalating by not getting angry or closed minded. We have a program that seems to work for the worst of the management problems we encounter. we remove her from all program, remove most if not all her phone ,shopping and yard time privaliges. Basically they start with the minimum of things. as of yet not one of the inmates that have left the program has returned to this status of priviladges since the 1 year of having it. they do not like the lack of shopping and entertainment items like TV and radio. Matt you have opened a can of worms when it comes to female offender management. it is a tough subject with out a doubt.">

L. Gonzalez

Thank you for the reply; to be honest it was a shot in the dark hoping that someone had found a new paradigm for dealing with these issues. I am interested in the Gender Responsive Class that you teach; could I get more information about it? TM

 I would love to share my info with you. give me a few days and I will gather the info for you and continue the exchange of professional cooperation.When I gather the info I will uploaded to the NIC upload site for you to download when you are ready. standby and I will contact you through this posting when it is ready.

Thank you for taking the time to help me out on this. I look forward to your future communications. TM

did this get posted? I have to start a day a week at the women's halfway house after almost 10 years of working with men. need some ideas

 Yes Deb it did get posted. what kind of ideas do you need? I see you read the long posting i left for matt. I currently work in a female correctional facility in california as a lieutenant and trainer.