Childhood Polyvictimization and Mental Health Issues among Incarcerated Women

ABSTRACT

The abuse-to-prison pipeline suggests that women with histories of traumatic experiences have increased risk for criminal justice system-involvement and incarcertion. Specifically, women with complex histories of childhood polyvictimization (CPV) may also experience serious mental health issues during custody, compounding negative outcomes during custody and after release. The current project identified CPV clusters among 183 randomly selected women housed at three prisons in the Southeastern United States, and identified associations between CPV clusters and suicidality, psychosis, and dissociation. Results from a cluster analysis identified four unique CPV patterns: Low Victimization, High Witnessing Violence, High Sexual Abuse, and Severe Polyvictimization. The odds of reporting suicidal ideation, psychosis, and dissociation were higher for women in the High Witnessing, High Sexual Abuse, and/or Severe Polyvictimization clusters compared to the Low Victimization cluster, although pairwise comparisons indicated no significant differences between the three higher-level CPV clusters. Results and conclusions recommend expanding trauma-informed mental healthcare and providing training to correctional officers on mental health symptomatology to decrease stigmatization of affected women during their incarceration.

KEYWORDS:

• Incarcerated women
• serious mental health
• abuse-to-prison pipeline
• gendered pathways

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the women incarcerated in all three study sites who gifted us with their time and expertise – this research project would not have been possible without them and we are honored that they shared their lives and stories with us. We dedicate our work to Ramona Brant, who continues to inspire us to dig deeper and amplify the voices of her sisters inside. May she rest in peace.

Disclosure of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts to report.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures were approved by the Florida State University, and the Department of Corrections Human Subjects Review Boards in Florida and North Carolina. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.