download donald clemmer the prison community pdf

However, to date little is known about the extent to which palliative and end-of-life care is infused within global prison health care systems. Purpose: The growing numbers of terminally ill and dying in prison has high economic and moral costs as global correctional systems and the society at large. The use of prison-based peer programs creates a positive, conventionally-oriented alternative to the traditional female pseudo family and poses significant implications for rehabilitation and reentry initiatives. This community continued outside of the prison walls, provided women with emotional support, and subsequently resulted in increased levels of institutional and postrelease success.

The author found that such programs provided leadership, support, and guidance for female offenders, and not only created a prosocial environment, but fashioned an entire community. This qualitative and exploratory study, based on the narratives of 49 female offenders, examined the effects of two HIV prison-based peer programs on inmate peers in New York State and its unique ability to help these female offenders cope with the pains of incarceration. Since one’s associates in prison can affect institutional adjustment, being associated with a supportive social network can prevent periods of maladjustment. Recent works have found that the nature of America’s female prison “pseudo family” may be evolving, and correspondingly, diminishing in importance. To ameliorate the pains of separation, female inmates re-create their lost family in prison. It is assumed that one reason females feel the pains of imprisonment more harshly than males is because of the difficulty in being separated from their family and children. Both men and women adopt various roles in the inmate subculture to survive the pains of imprisonment.

Download donald clemmer the prison community pdf