NCJ Number
187966
Date Published
2000
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on a study designed to determine the nature and extent of postrelease mortality among Victorian women prisoners, to identify the factors that contribute to such deaths, and to formulate recommendations for addressing this problem.
Abstract
Thus far, the study has examined the deaths of 62 women, so the findings presented in this paper should be regarded as tentative, although a number of noteworthy trends are already evident. Of these 62 women, 45 died of drug-related causes; 41 died of a drug overdose; and the remaining 4 died from complications that arose from a specific instance of drug use. Overt acts of violence, motor vehicle accidents, and suicides claimed the lives of 15 women. The deaths occurred predominantly in public spaces and in temporary forms of accommodation; this might be evidence of the difficulties women leaving prison often have in securing permanent and sometimes even temporary housing. Community workers identify the days immediately before and following release as being highly traumatic for women. The degree of difficulty that women experience is reflected in the fact that death often occurs only a short time after release; of the 45 women who died of drug-related causes, 6 had died within 2 days of release, 11 had died within their first 14 days, 13 had died within the first month, and 22 had died less than 3 months after their release. Within 18 months of being released from prison, all but eight of the women had died. This paper concludes with a discussion of the particular needs of women inmates while in prison, just prior to release, and after release into the community, along with an analysis of how these needs might better be met. 9 references