No abstract

No abstract

Even with the dramatic increase in the number of female inmates in state and federal correctional institutions in recent decades, the criminal justice system continues to develop policies based on empirical research from male inmate programming. A shift in focus toward gender-responsive programming is challenging corrections to address women's needs. This study's data are a result of a settlement agreement between the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) and a state Department of Corrections (DOC) to explore female inmates’ perceptions of sexual and physical safety in the state's largest correctional faculty. The Prison Rape Elimination Act Survey Instrument (PSI) was designed with 15 categories and 76 questions, including demographic data, sexual and physical safety factors, and items related to programs. Results of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicate that the instrument has four factors detecting 41% of the variance explained. Recommendations are to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assure that the instrument is psychometrically sound and the factors are verified.

In 2018, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released the results of a nine-year longitudinal study that among 412,731 inmates released in 2005, 84% of them were rearrested. This high recidivism rate shows a clear need for reentry intervention to reduce these rates. A key part of reentry intervention should include career readiness, which helps individuals attain skills and education that are congruent to the skills needed in the labor force. Providing career assistance and interventions to those entering the workforce is understanding an individual’s desire and motivation in career and education, and negative career thoughts predict job attainment and satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the career thoughts of incarcerated students and determine if intersections of their identities effect their career thoughts using the Career Thoughts Inventory and demographic information. The intersections examined include (a) re-offense, (b) disability status, (c) education level, and (d) employment experience. This study focuses on investigating the career thoughts of incarcerated students at a technical college serving only incarcerated adults. Results of this study indicate that these intersections do not have a significant difference with incarcerated students’ career thoughts.