We call this idea a belief in redeemability: Can people change or does criminality become essentially fixed after a certain age or a certain depth of experience (as in the idea of the hardened criminal)? Although this is a new construct, previous research on public attitudes regarding prisoners and ex-prisoners (Demski and McGlynn 1999; Helfgott 1997; Homant and Kennedy 1982; Hurwitz and Peffley 1997; Kjelsberg et al. 2007; Steffensmeier and Kramer 1980) and on support for rehabilitation (Applegate et al. 1997, 2000; Cullen et al. 1983, 1990; McCorkle 1993) suggests that members of the public likely have very divergent views on this key dimension. The relationship between belief in redeemability and punitiveness, controlling for internality/externality of attributions, is explored in our analysis below.

As belief in redeemability is a relatively new construct (although with obvious parallels to belief in the rehabilitative ideal and support for prisoner reintegration), little is known about how to change an individuals view on this. It may be that exposure to success stories of those who have been involved in crime, but have since successfully desisted, may have an impact in this regard. More research, however, is needed.

Rates of traumaamongst female prisoners have been reported at 94.3% forany trauma, and 31.2% and 26.2% for childhood sexualand non-sexual abuse, respectively. Post-traumatic StressDisorder (PTSD) rates are accordingly high, with 40.2%of female prisoners affected, compared with 12.5% ofmales (Komarovskaya, Loper, Warren, & Jackson, 2011)

nsecure attachment arising frommaltreatment, which may lead to an individual believingthemselves unworthy of care, and using self-harm as aself-punishing strategy

trauma-focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy(CBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy all ac-knowledge emotion regulation strategies as key skills inreducing self-harm (Lang & Sharma-Patel, 2011). Twostudies which analysed the changes in self-harm pre andpost-treatment (Acceptance-based emotion regulationtherapy and CBT, respectively) both found that thischange was mediated by change in emotion regulation;

scant evidence that CBT programs alone can reduce the recidivism of violent offenders. (Dowden and Andrews, 2000)

there is good evidence that CBT, in the controlled setting of a prison TC, can reduce the risk of reoffending.”. Essentially, that is a definition of the TC programs which CDCR has jettisoned.

doesn’t address some of the serious problems

little to address the questions over whether imprisonment is effective at rehabilitating people, and whether it is appropriate treatment for people who are, themselves, often the victims of serious abuse

Many people in prisons may already have existing spiritual practices, faiths and beliefs.

the therapist provides a ‘secure base’, helping the client to acquire a secure attachment style.

‘in violent offender populations and violent psychiatric populations there are overwhelmingly higher numbers of people with disorganised/disoriented attachment styles than there are in non-clinical populations’ (Haley, 2010, p. 53). Attachment-based counselling and therapy is therefore seen as specifically applicable for therapeutic work with violent offenders.

Using formulation approaches to examine each woman’s early childhood experiences, attachment experiences and the meaning they apply to such experiences can greatly assist an understanding of each woman’s unique pathways into aggression. Given the frequent presence of trauma, considering attachment (e.g. Bowlby, 1988), personality functioning (Rossegger et al., 2009) and trauma-informed approaches is vital with this population (Messina et al., 2014).

When planning therapeutic interventions and treatment for violent female offenders, the importance of creating a safe environment is informed by psychoanalytic concepts including Winnicott’s (1971) notion of the “holding environment”. The holding environment related to the process of creating a space where supportive relationships can be created and maintained

experiencing positive attachments and safety in a therapeutic context increases the capacity for thinking and management of emotions.

This is a good question. I personally would define the scope of the term in the report to make the distinction between self-injury and self-harm so that you can then focus on what you would like to focus on.

risk and risk assessment, confidentiality, self-disclosure and consent

Although women who had persisted in violent and sexually abusive relationships were encouraged to take responsibility for their behaviour and to understand their own role in sustaining their victimisation, this did not deny that a woman’s perception of her own agency had been significantly shaped and effectively inhibited by the structural and cultural world in which she operated.

But whilst the Core Model directed attention to reducing offenders’ risk of violent offending, the actual therapeutic engagement of women at Send tended to respond to the prevalence of self-harm and the women’s shared histories of drug and alcohol dependencies. Marking a significant break with past practices that have relied upon explanatory notions of psychopathology, the DTC invokes a less stigmatising, and arguably less shameful, understanding of these behaviours, treating them as coping strategies that relieve extreme emotional distress and help women survive in the face of complex trauma.

It was possible to identify ways in which these insights had been translated into behavioural changes that could be described as pro-social and less harmful to the individual and other members of the TC. The reduction of self-harm was one of the most significant and measurable benefits of life in the therapeutic community, but the women also referred to changes in the ways they interpersonally related, most notably their ability to verbally communicate and express emotional feelings that previously were either repressed or likely to result in violence to themselves or others. Having left the TC and been relocated in another part of the prison, Jane explained:The first thing I would do whenever I moved cell was to check out all the possible ligature points, just in case…. I don’t do that anymore. I don’t need to. (Jane)

It doesn’t address some of the tensions that exist between people and between ourselves as a nation state and others.

what we discover in ourselves when we look inwards are the causes and effects of how our society is

Whatever bits would benefit them, take it, whatever bits don’t, discard.