Abstract

Although women in jail are the fastest-growing correctional population in the United States and research suggests that gender, race, and ethnicity predict the experiences of incarcerated people, scant research has addressed the experiences of women in jail. The current study analyzed bivariate statistics (Pearson’s chi-squares and independent-samples t tests) in two studies to highlight differences in mental health needs, jail-based processes, and mental health jail interventions (MHJIs) between Women of Color (WoC) and White Women (WW). Findings show important differences exist among WW and WoC. For example, we found WW were more likely than WoC to receive past mental health treatment and to be currently taking medications for a mental health diagnosis. Additionally, compared to WW, WoC are more likely to participate in MHJI programs in metropolitan counties and received more mental health services in the pre-period. Interventions designed to reduce recidivism should be designed with these differences in mind.

摘要

尽管监狱中的女性是美国增长最快的教养人口，而且研究表明性别、种族和民族可以预测被监禁者的经历，但很少有研究涉及女性在狱中的经历。目前的研究分析了双变量统计（Pearson 的卡方和独立样本t测试）在两项研究中强调有色人种女性 (WoC) 和白人女性 (WW) 在心理健康需求、基于监狱的流程和心理健康监狱干预 (MHJI) 方面的差异。调查结果显示 WW 和 WoC 之间存在重要差异。例如，我们发现 WW 比 WoC 更有可能接受过去的心理健康治疗，并且目前正在服用药物进行心理健康诊断。此外，与 WW 相比，WoC 更有可能在大都市县参与 MHJI 计划，并在前期接受更多的心理健康服务。旨在减少累犯的干预措施在设计时应考虑到这些差异。