This brief document provides information on challenges faced by women as they transition from correctional confinement to the community.
Considering that nearly two million women are released from prison or jail, annually, this document describes five known aspects of the unique challenges that women face as they return to the community after correctional confinement. Evidence leads to five known aspects of women’s transition from correctional confinement to the community, which are discussed in the document: one in 138 women was under correctional supervision at the end of 2021 but little is known about their characteristics on a national scale, including the inability to discern sex by race, ethnicity group, offense type, or conviction status; compared to men, women have distinct trajectories into the justice system but re-entry programs for women are designed for men and do not address women’s distinct trajectories; gender-responsive programming shows promising results for women re-entering society; programming that addresses substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorders can be especially helpful for women; and culturally responsive strategies for re-entry programming may enhance success for justice-involved females. The document also provides a chart with information on women’s re-entry programs that have been rated as promising on CrimeSolutions. Those programs are: Forever Free; Gender-Specific Drug Treatment Court; Moving ON; and “Seeking Safety” for Incarcerated Women.