NCJ Number
215742
Date Published
August 2006
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This bulletin describes the programs of the Cook County Sheriff's Department of Women's Justice Services (Illinois).
Abstract
The Department of Women's Justice Services (DWJS) provides approximately 200 nonviolent women offenders with community-based health care, mental health and substance abuse treatment, maternity and child-care services, and support services (life skills training, education, job training and employment, housing, and spiritual support). Programs that apply to a multiagency review team for authorization to provide services to women offenders in Cook County must show that they meet criteria for tailoring their services to women. The criteria require that services be based in a theoretical framework consistent with gender-responsive treatment; that programming fit the psychological, social, and cultural needs of women; and that the program environment be safe and supportive for women. Also, program staff must reflect the gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, language preferences, recovery status, and criminal justice experience of the client population. Program design must address the list of issues developed by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment for comprehensive treatment of women in criminal justice settings. Among women's needs and conditions given priority are gender discrimination and harassment; parenting, child care, and child custody; grief; sexuality; eating disorders; interpersonal violence (incest, rape, battering, and other abuse); and attachment to unhealthy interpersonal relationships. Specifying these criteria for programming and services has produced measurable progress towards an integrated system that features a continuum of responses to the specific needs of women offenders. 1 figure and 7 notes