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Book Review: Women Social Security Offenders: Experiences of the Criminal Justice System in Western Australia

How do the women function after their-release given both the 'self that they have developed 'inside' and their exclusion or estrangement from the world outside the prison? In Ch 4 a description is provided of the various hurdles encountered such as facing their families, finding a place to live and employment. At this point, Eaton stresses the positive role that organisations for ex-prisoners can play. Chapter 5 looks at the means by which the women in the sample have taken charge of their lives; how, according to the author, they have overcome both the gaol experience and the earlier patterns that contributed to their criminal behaviour. The strategies of change in Eaton's interpretation are: redirection (taking control of their life) which involves recognition by others (work was the most important area) and a change in relationships marked by equality and a reciprocal quality. The last chapter discusses the policyimplications of Eaton's cognitive construction. Included are recommendations that sentencing should move away from custody, that prisons should be radically modified with more visits, education and employment and drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and that post-prison and adaptation should be assisted with better service provision. The book concludes with four appendices that describe the methodology, the interview sample, the outcome for 'Alice' the woman in Ch 1, and some official statistics about women, crime and imprisonment. In discussing the empowerment of the majority of her sample, Eaton isolates employment as the key variable in successfully providing both external and internal recognition by the women. Her explanation largely ignores, or at the most minimises, the reality of addiction and histories of physical and sexual abuse experienced by so many women in prison. Accordingly one is left believing women, who emerge from prison with employment skills, attend ex-prisoner groups and become productive members of society, will overcome their inner confusion and conflict. There are workers and researchers in the areas of drug and alcohol rehabilitation and violence against women and children who would disagree with this rather simplistic solution. The author only mentions childhood abuse and alcohol and other drug addiction in a few passing references. This seems odd to one who has conducted research in women's prisons and is convinced that, for a high proportion of women prisoners, these issues are in fact at the crux of their pre-prison, prison, and post-prison experience. I was therefore disappointed by their virtual exclusion from the analysis and policyrecommendations.