“Prison is quite literally a ghetto in the most classic sense of the world, a place where the U.S. government now puts not only the dangerous but also the inconvenient—people who are mentally ill, people who are addicts, people who are poor and uneducated and unskilled.” — Piper Kerman
“Two hundred women, no phones, no washing machines, no hair dryers–it was like Lord of the Flies on estrogen.” — Piper Kerman
Prison is an extremely difficult environment for anyone, but especially for women. The prison population is by far majority male, but 18% are female. These women are different from their male counterparts in that they are much more likely to have experienced poverty, intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, and/or other forms of victimization often linked to their offending behavior. They are also much more likely to have co-occurring disorders—in particular, substance abuse problems interlinked with trauma and/or mental illness. In addition, they often struggle with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.
So, incarcerated women need to be treated differently, including mental health services, to help them move toward rehabilitation and successful reintegration into society. Education, job training, psychotherapy, addiction treatment etc. can obviously be helpful. In addition, mindfulness training may also be very helpful. It has been found to be beneficial for the treatment of mental health problems in general (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/mental-health/) and for the treatment for substance abuse (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/addiction/). In addition contemplative practice has been found to be helpful for prisoners (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/prison/). So, it makes sense that mindfulness training may be beneficial especially for incarcerated women.
In today’s Research News article “The Impact of a Mindfulness Based Program on Perceived Stress, Anxiety, Depression and Sleep of Incarcerated Women”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586693/
Ferszt and colleagues had incarcerated women participate in a 12-week Mindfulness Based Program called Path to Freedom. They found that the intervention produced a decrease in perceived stress, anxiety, and depression. In addition, the women who participated were consistently positive about the program and many who did not participate, but heard of the program through word of mouth, asked to be included in future programs.
It is not surprising that mindfulness training reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. There are extensive research findings demonstrating its effectiveness for these issues (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/ regarding stress and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/ regarding anxiety and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/ regarding depression).
These are encouraging results. Stress, anxiety, and depression are difficult issues for incarcerated women. The presence of these issues can interfere with other programs designed to help in rehabilitation. In addition, they can be problematic for the women in adjusting to everyday life after release. So, relief of stress, anxiety, and depression may be very beneficial for their eventual success in prison and their reintegration into society.
So, mindfulness is beneficial for women behind bars as it is for women in all circumstances.
“The women I met in Danbury helped me to confront the things I had done wrong, as well as the wrong things I had done. It wasn’t just my choice of doing something bad and illegal that I had to own; it was also my lone-wolf style that had helped me make those mistakes and often made the aftermath of my actions worse for those I loved.” — Piper Kerman
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies