This article describes the drug treatment and reentry needs of incarcerated women.
Research has shown that incarcerated women have different physical, emotional, and social needs than men, and thus require different types of treatments and programs to succeed following release from prison. The authors describe two drug treatment programs designed for female inmates that have recently been evaluated by the National Institute of Justice: the KEY/CREST and Forever Free programs. Overall, the evaluation studies indicated that participants of these two programs remained drug-free and had lower recidivism rates than comparison samples who did not participate in these programs. Aspects of the programs are described with an emphasis on the aftercare and community services that helped female offenders remain crime- and drug-free following release. Indeed, the studies indicated that family-friendly aftercare programming was one of the key components of successful programming for female inmates. The authors recommend continued efforts toward the development of gender-responsive criminal justice policies and procedures. Endnotes