Female Inmate Abuse Experiences and Correlations with Mental Illness and Substance Abuse

• In Event: Mental Health and Adjustment Among Systems-Involved Youth

Abstract

Female offending and incarceration rates have been rising dramatically over the past few decades. Despite this increase, the current literature on female offending patterns and influential life experiences remains sparse. This paper reviews the results of a correlational study that tests the relationship between abuse experiences of females incarcerated in a local regional jail and mental illness and substance abuse rates. The hypothesis behind this study is that the life experiences of these female inmates, specifically their abuse experiences, have influenced their life course significantly and affected their current situations. The data for this study are derived from 139 individual female inmates from the Western Virginia Regional Jail who completed a multi-section interview process including a verbal interview and a battery of psychological questionnaires. This project will shed light on the connection between female abuse experiences, mental illness rates and severity within the incarcerated female population, and finally the rates of substance abuse within said population.

Author

• Samantha Marie Lynn, Radford University