Causes Of Stress For Imprisoned Women (Essay Sample)

Causes Of Stress For Imprisoned Women
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Imprisoned women are faced with environments that pose high chances or the risk of undergoing a state of anxiety or pressure. This by far most caused by past or the present state of living, past experiences include, relentless form of abuse, sexual abuse or childhood abuse. (Jessica Reichert &Lindsay Bostwick, 2010). Through this factors that various religions have come up with programs to serve in helping the confined women in prisons to overcome the challenges of prison life and to help them live a better normal life.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, a stressor is defined to be an event or an experience that is responsible for stress to a human being or organism while incarceration is the state of being confined in a prison or jail. This essay argues the events that highly contributes to the occurrences of stress for the women confined in jail more so the blacks and Hispanics. Female prisoners are faced with unique challenges, for instance Pregnancy, parting from their families and children the problem of dependence and stress of confinement in prisons (Loucks, 2004)) It is due to this reasons that faith based programs are established in order to help with the rehabilitation and also deal with inmates management. According to Rothman, 1995 prisons applied techniques that adequately or efficiently transformed inmates when serving their terms.
Imprisoned women are faced with major issue that is separation from their families which is a major cause of depression, they are the major source of parental care to their children and separation from their children proves to have a overwhelming effects on them. (Dora Rickford, 2003) The mental health of women can be greatly affected due to the anxiety of their Children safety, since majority of children are left with no one to monitor them closely (Revolving Doors Agency, 2002)
I entered prison as a person of sound mental health. During my incarceration, I experienced many mental health problems such as medical dependency, self-harm and suicidal thoughts and severe weight loss, due to the unbearable pain of separation from my daughter and being in prison. (Wendy Cranmer)
Past forms of abuse are also considered as agent causing depression to the imprisoned women, according to Hooper 2003, abuse and offending are uniquely complex. And children who are raised under conditions of socio-economic deprivation are in greater risks of abuse and offending. And this results to behavioral disturbances which include self-harm substance dependence and violent behaviors. (Bailey, 2002) For women offenders who are drug dependent experience troubling time when they enter prison, this is because the main supply of drugs is cut off during the confinement term.
Pregnancy is one of the prevailing issue women in prisons experience; pregnant women require specialized medical attention, conducive environment special diet, special clothing and workout. In prisons its rare to catch up with missed sleep, required specialist are not always available to provide ante natal and post natal care to the pregnant imprisoned women. Some of the pregnant women however give birth while in prison, this poses a challenge since bonding of the infant to the mother is a long term emotional development and should give priority. Nevertheless it is debated that prisons environment proved unsuitable atmosphere for the conditions required by pregnant women. (Women in Prison Project Group, 2007).
Many prisons may not offer the hygiene and sanitary conditions required by female prisoners, those menstruating or in menopause stage require regular showers older women undergoing menopause require medical and physiological attention during this time, they may require hormone supplements among other basic requirements. (Women in Prison Project Group 2007) .The security and safety of the female prisoners contribute majorly to how the life of a female inmate turns out to be during the confinement period. For instance
* The proximity of female cells and shared facilities in a mixed prison
* Strip searches conducted by make prison guards may attract sexual assault and this could pose the risk of infection e.g. HIV&AIDS and other STIs
* Many of the correctional facilities lack effective and efficient ways of channeling and addressing various complaint
The establishments of Faith based Organizations provide inmates with essential services which involve Religious nourishment of inmates, in house in reach, provide mentorship and provide the inmates release preparation on how to live a better life. The year 2002 a faith based program known as Life Connections Program (LCP) was initiated by The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), guides from the local religious community offered spiritual guides to the inmates according to the intimates’ religious faith for example Buddhism, Protestant, Judaism Catholicism or Islam, however through researches and studies it has been found that many of the Hispanics and black women involuntary participate in faith based programs due to negative relationship majority have towards faith and believes, the studies conducted found that there was a negative relationship between a reprobate spi...