Women on Parole: Understanding the Impact of Surveillance

Abstract

Research suggests that over the past several decades, the institution of parole has strayed from its original operating tenets of rehabilitation and reintegration and has increasingly become more focused on employing methods centered on surveillance and risk management. This article explores how a group of 43 women reentering their communities via parole understand the purpose of this institution. Through qualitative interviews, these women explain how they perceive parole as a tool intended to monitor their actions as opposed to assist them in getting back on their feet. The findings also demonstrate how this surveillance produces feelings of fear, anxiety, and powerlessness in individuals and how this affects women newly released from prison who are working to regain control over their own lives.

KEYWORDS:

• female offenders
• parole
• reentry

This project is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant 0703468. This project also received significant financial support from the American Association of University Women and the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado. I express sincere thanks to the women who were willing to share their stories as well as to Sara Steen and Ali Hatch, who provided important feedback on earlier drafts.

An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, held November 12–15, 2008, in St. Louis, MO.

Notes

The final sample consisted of 18 women who were interviewed within 14 days of release, 13 women who were interviewed between 15 and 31 days of release, and 12 women who were interviewed between 32 days and 365 days of release (M = 74 days; Mdn = 17 days).

Of the 14 women who did not participate in a second interview, 7 had already been revoked back to the Department of Corrections, 2 had absconded and were unreachable, and 4 either did not respond to my repeated efforts to contact them or could not be located.

All names have been changed to protect the identities of the participants.

This finding is consistent with Schram et al.'s (2006) work on assessing female parolees' needs. These researchers found that although only 38 percent of female parolees were assessed as having a drug or alcohol need, a full 80 percent of female parolees were required to submit to antinarcotics tests.

Women with serious drug addiction histories self-identified as “being” an addict; reported having used illegal drugs prior to going to prison the most recent time; reported having a lengthy relationship with illegal drugs; and explained that their drug use had repeatedly gotten in the way of them having jobs, homes, or relationships.