Is Positive Social Support Available to Re-Entering Prisoners? It Depends on Who You Ask
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Anna M. Scheyett, Misty Lewis
Re-entering prisoners have complex needs. Growing attention has turned to the role of informal social support in successful post-release outcomes. Research indicates informal supports are available to re-entering prisoners, yet this support can be experienced negatively and contribute to poor outcomes. We examined anticipated and received quality, source, and types of support for re-entering prisoners from perspectives of 60 re-entering prisoners and corrections professionals. We found re-entering prisoners anticipated and received what they considered positive support.
Category: Reentry, Social Support
Social support among releasing men prisoners with lifetime trauma experiences.
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis
High rates of lifetime trauma experiences exist among men incarcerated in US state and federal prisons. Because lifetime trauma experiences have been linked to problematic behavioral and psychiatric outcomes for incarcerated populations, trauma-informed interventions could improve post-release well-being of releasing men prisoners with trauma histories. Social support has consistently been found to have a positive impact on trauma-related outcomes in non-incarcerated populations.
Category: Reentry, Trauma, Social Support
From Mass Incarceration to Smart Decarceration
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson
Through decarceration, the lives of millions of people can be vastly improved, and the nation as a whole can leave behind this short-sighted and shameful period of mass incarceration. But how will this be accomplished, and by whom? Seldom before in the nation’s history has the need for applied social innovation been more urgent.
Category: Smart Decarceration
Smart Decarceration: Guiding Concepts for an Era of Criminal Justice Transformation
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson
The era of mass incarceration, which made the United States the world’s leading jailer, appears to be coming to an end. What is likely to follow is an era of decarceration, aimed at reducing the incarcerated population. In this working paper, we discuss the problems associated with mass incarceration and the current climate that is likely to make decarceration a reality. We discuss the importance of developing a “smart decarceration” approach—one that is effective, sustainable, and socially just.
Category: Smart Decarceration
The relationship between childhood abuse and psychosis for women prisoners: Assessing the importance of frequency and type of victimization.
Published:
| Author: Stephanie Kennedy, Stephen Tripodi, Carrie Pettus-Davis
This study examines the relationship between childhood victimization and self-reported current symptoms of psychosis in an incarcerated female population in the United States. Participants are 159 randomly selected women incarcerated in two North Carolina state prisons. Participants completed a battery of self-report measures to assess childhood victimization and current and lifetime experience of audio/visual hallucinations and delusions.
Category: Trauma, Mental Health, Incarcerated Women
Nonfatal Suicidal Behavior Among Women Prisoners: The Predictive Roles of Childhood Victimization, Childhood Neglect, and Childhood Positive Support
Published:
| Author: Stephen Tripodi, Eyitayo Onifade, Carrie Pettus-Davis
Women entering prison report high rates of childhood victimization. Women in prison also report higher rates of nonfatal suicidal behavior (self-reported suicide attempts) than women in the general population and similar rates to their male counterparts despite having significantly lower suicide rates than males in the general population. Yet, there is a dearth of research that addresses the relationship between childhood victimization and suicidality for women prisoners in the United States.
Category: Trauma, Social Support, Mental Health, Incarcerated Women
Histories of childhood victimization and subsequent mental health problems, substance use, and sexual victimization for a sample of incarcerated women in the US.
Published:
| Author: Stephen Tripodi, Carrie Pettus-Davis
Women are entering US prisons at nearly double the rate of men and are the fastest growing prison population. Current extant literature focuses on the prevalence of the incarceration of women, but few studies exist that emphasize the different trajectories to prison. For example, women prisoners have greater experiences of prior victimization, more reports of mental illness, and higher rates of illicit substance use.
Category: Incarcerated Women, Trauma, Mental Health, Substance Use
Sex offender recidivism: Does volunteering for treatment matter? An assessment using propensity score analysis
Published:
| Author: Melissa D. Grady, Daniel Edwards, Carrie Pettus-Davis, Jennifer Abramson
A common critique of program evaluations of prison-based sex offender treatment holds that the samples inherently show selection bias because the participants typically volunteer for treatment. To address this critique, we used propensity score analysis to assess the influence of volunteerism on treatment effects.
Category: Sex Offenders, Recidivism
Social work and criminal justice. Are we meeting in the field?
Published:
| Author: Anna M. Scheyett, Carrie Pettus-Davis, Susan McCarter, Rebecca Brigham
Social workers are needed but infrequently involved with criminal justice systems. One way to increase the number of social workers in the criminal justice system is by exposing students to work in these settings. This study examined the number, types, and utilization of criminal justice field placements in MSW programs by surveying field education directors. On average, 7.73% of field placements were in criminal justice settings. When asked about barriers to criminal justice placements, the most frequently identified challenge was a lack of MSW supervisors.
Category: Criminal Justice System, Social Work
"Let momma take 'em": portrayals of women supporting male former prisoners.
Published:
| Author: Anna M. Scheyett, Carrie Pettus-Davis
Women provide support for many vulnerable groups, work that is frequently discounted with gendered stereotypes. One growing vulnerable group is former prisoners who often return to women family members. We completed a qualitative study with 25 former prisoners and criminal justice staff to examine their conceptualizations of the demands placed on women supporters of former prisoners.
Category: Reentry, Social Support, Racial and Gender BIas
Reverse Social Work's Neglect of Adults Involved in the Criminal Justice System: The Intersection and an Agenda
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson, Annie Grier
Social work has neglected adults involved in the criminal justice system for nearly four decades. This neglect has been attributed to value conflicts between social work and criminal justice professionals, perceived limited effects of interventions with adults involved in the criminal justice system, and lack of social work training in services to those involved in the criminal justice system.
Category: Smart Decarceration
Naturally occurring social support in interventions for former prisoners with substance use disorders: Conceptual framework and program model
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Owen Howard, Amelia Roberts-Lewis, Anna M. Scheyett
Naturally-occurring social support is underutilized in interventions with former prisoners with substance use disorders. This paper proposes a conceptual framework followed by a program model to inform the development of naturally-occurring social support interventions with former prisoners with substance use disorders.
Category: Reentry, Social Support, Substance Use
Parole Officers’ Experiences of the Symptoms of Secondary Trauma in the Supervision of Sex Offenders
Published:
| Author: Margaret Severson, Carrie Pettus-Davis
The work of parole officers who supervise sex offenders rarely comes to the public’s attention unless something goes wrong. Research suggests that those providing postrelease supervision of convicted sex offenders likely experience trauma as a result of their work and that little support is available to respond to their emotional needs. This manuscript explores parole officers’ and parole officer supervisors’ experiences of the symptoms of secondary trauma, defined as the emotional and cognitive experiences of hearing stories that recount one or more traumatic events.
Category: Reentry, Sex Offenders, Trauma, Probation and Parole
A Practitioner's Guide to Sampling in the Age of Evidence-Based Practice: Translation of Research into Practice
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Melissa D. Grady, Gary S. Cuddeback, Anna M. Scheyett
Evidence-based practice must include the translation of research into practice, and the social work practitioner is the essential link in that translation. As part of the EBP process, researchers must present findings in a way that is accessible to practitioners and practitioners must view the study as relevant and representative of their clients’ needs. This article provides practitioners with tools to interpret research, specifically the sampling process. Our goal is to support practitioners in bridging the gap between research and practice.
Category: Evidence-based practice, Criminal Justice System
Consumers' perspectives on Forensic Assertive Community Treatment
Published:
| Author: Gary S. Cuddeback, Carrie Pettus-Davis, Anna M. Scheyett
The evidence for forensic assertive community treatment (FACT) is promising; however, a number of gaps in our knowledge about FACT remain. For example, only one study in the extant literature includes the perspectives of FACT consumers and more information about what consumers like and/or dislike about FACT is needed. To address this gap in our knowledge, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 FACT consumers from four FACT teams in Ohio. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed and open coding analysis techniques were used to identify themes.