How Does a History of Trauma Affect the Experience of Imprisonment for Individuals in Women’s Prisons: A Qualitative Exploration

Abstract

The majority of women in prison have experienced prior traumatic events. Imprisonment can also be considered a traumatic experience. Research exploring how imprisonment affects women with trauma histories is scarce. To examine this, qualitative interviews were conducted with 50 participants imprisoned in three women’s prisons in England. Four overarching themes were identified using thematic analysis: the traumatizing prison system; triggering power dynamics; trust in relationships; and surviving and thriving. Aspects of the prison environment and staff behavior were experienced as triggering and traumatizing, while peer relationships provided some mitigation of these difficulties. These findings have implications for the design of women’s prisons, improvements in staff recruitment and training, and the implementation of trauma-informed care for individuals in women’s prisons.

Keywords:

• Qualitative
• Thematic analysis
• trauma
• trauma-informed
• trauma responsive research
• women’s prisons

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank all those individuals who took part in the study in each of the three women’s prisons, as well as the staff, managers and senior leaders within the women’s estate who enabled it to take place.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Not all participants identified as female (i.e. non-binary; male), although this was rare. Numbers are not given, to protect the anonymity of participants. Care has been taken to reflect this in the language used to describe participants in a way which does not make specific reference to gender. Generally the phrase ‘individuals in prison’ is used interchangeably with ‘participants’ throughout. Sometimes the phrase ‘women in prison’ has been used for convenience when referring to a large group of individuals within the women’s estate rather than to the participant group itself.