Prisons

Locked up and vulnerable: When prison makes things worse

By Melissa Hogenboom, BBC.com, 16th April 2018

Joanne speaks calmly and gently, despite discussing some of the most traumatic events of her life. After the birth of her first son, she went through a bout of severe post-natal depression (PND), which went undiagnosed. She links it directly to long-term domestic abuse from her violent ex-partner – the father of her son. Her depression, coupled with an increasing dependence on alcohol, led to a mental breakdown. In 2015, at 28 years old, she was charged with child neglect and abandonment. “My world literally caved in around my ears,” she says. “I felt like a terrible human. I had let my son down. I pleaded guilty to everything.” The judge was understanding and gave her a 12-month community probation order. But when her first probation officer left, Joanne fell through the cracks. Her PND had still not been addressed and she returned to her abusive relationship. One alcohol-fuelled night, she says, someone had invited two men over who seemed intent on stealing her possessions. She insisted they leave. When they refused, there was a serious violent interaction. She prefers not to discuss it in detail, but the police were called and Joanne was charged with violent assault with intent, later reduced to without intent. She spent three days in custody and six days at a women’s prison. She describes the experience as “hell”: while there, she was given no support for her addiction or mental ill health. And though her sentence was only six days, it would have a dramatic impact on the following months.

Joanne is one of hundreds of thousands of women sent to prison each year. Globally, there are more than 714,000 women and girls in prison, with the highest number in the United States – about 219,000. And female offenders are more likely to have mental health issues compared to men. In the UK, almost half have anxiety or depression, 25% report psychosis symptoms and the majority have substance abuse issues, often in addition to other mental illness. In the US, 66% of women reported a previous mental health condition.

Female offenders are also more likely to be first-time offenders, and less likely to reoffend, compared to men, 2015 statistics from the UK show. The majority of women (84%) are serving short sentences for non-violent crimes. This means only 16% are sentenced for violent crimes compared to 29% for men.

Many of the issues that contribute to imprisonment are interlinked. Like Joanne, for example, a high proportion of these women have been victims of crime themselves – more than half of those given prison time in the UK in 2017, which may even be an underestimate. There was a similar trend in the US. This has led some researchers to call out that imprisoning these women is “victimising the victimised”, especially considering that in many cases, the crimes against them were worse than what they were sent to prison for.

Often, the women have experienced domestic abuse, child abuse – or both, including physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Victims of abuse are more likely to suffer from mental health issues. The evidence also shows that victims of childhood abuse are more likely to end up in abusive relationships later in life, which can exacerbate or even cause mental illness. Such a situation can lead to substance abuse as a ‘coping mechanism’ – which can have other knock-on effects, such as homelessness.

There is an important caveat to note here. People who are mentally unwell are actually far more likely to be victims of crime rather than perpetrators. “There’s a tremendous misconception that mentally ill people are responsible for significant crime. It’s a stereotype, a scapegoat, and a stigmatisation that they don’t deserve,” says Edersheim.