Therapeutic Recreation for Incarcerated Women 1

Therapeutic Recreation for Incarcerated Women

Eighteen Years Old and Older

Peter Bunlot

California State University

Author Note

Peter Bunlot, Recreation Therapy, California State University of Long Beach.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Peter Bunlot, Recreation Therapy,

California State University of Long Beach, Long Beach, CA 90840.

Contact: peter.bunlot@student.csulb.edu
Therapeutic Recreation for Incarcerated Women 2

Abstract

This paper utilizes several articles on incarcerated women over 18, their possible physical,

cognitive, social and emotional functioning, and therapeutic recreational services that can be

used as tools to solve potential problem areas that has developed from time spent being

incarcerated. The impact of being in prison molds one’s emotional state to be one of high stress,

isolation and possibly depression resulting from the conditions of being constantly controlled and

observed. Interventions that a recreational therapist can address and provide an intervention for

would be for stress reduction and social skills. Successful interventions were programs where

stress reduction was an objective so that inmates practiced it casually. A program that utilized a

dog for stress reduction and a therapist to teach social skills was seen to be the most beneficial

for the inmates and encouraged them to attend more sessions. In an environment where one is

not in control of their own actions and schedule while also being under constant surveillance it is

easy to fall into isolation and stress so programs offered by recreational therapists would greatly

benefit incarcerated women by giving them the control that they have believed they lost.
Therapeutic Recreation for Incarcerated Women 3

Therapeutic Recreation for Incarcerated Women Eighteen Years and Older

Incarcerated women in the United States face many more issues than incarcerated men.

Just like in everyday life, women are constantly aware of their surroundings out of fear of being

attacked, robbed, or raped whereas men mostly meander around without much fear of danger.

Even in prison where inmates are constantly monitored and precautions are taken to ensure that

the security staff has control over the inmates, the incarcerated women are still at risk of rape or

sexual harassment. By being an inmate, one’s rights are taken away resulting in stress, anxiety

and loneliness overwhelmingly becoming the primary emotions one encounters in everyday life

but being a female inmate brings even higher levels of stress. Therapeutic recreation is a

potential intervention that can be used to address the cognitive, physical, emotional and social

disabilities formed from an inmate’s time in prison.

Discussion

Impact of the Disability

One of the most common emotional and social disabilities to develop from time being in

prison is isolation. In prison an inmate is cut off from the outside world and the only social

community they have is with other prisoners. However, some who fear other inmates might

protect themselves by as Haney (2002) states, “becoming as inconspicuous and unobtrusively

disconnected from others as possible,” (p. 82). Extended periods of time of self-isolation may

cause, in extreme situations, depression when paired with apathy and the loss of the capacity to

initiate behavior on one’s own. Another problem that inmates face is a diminished sense of self-

worth and personal value. The price one must pay after committing a crime is that they are

denied of their basic privacy rights, and lose control of most normal aspects of everyday life that

most citizens take for granted. The conditions of prison where the inmate must live in small,
Therapeutic Recreation for Incarcerated Women 4

compact rooms that they are forced to share with someone they may or may not like while also

having a leash on the activities they are able to do on a daily basis leads one to have a diminished

sense of self-worth and personal value. The result of what Haney (2002) calls, “this externally

imposed substandard treatment and circumstances,” is that prisoners may come to think of

themselves as someone who deserves this kind of treatment that they have been subjected to

while incarcerated. For some prisoners, incarceration can be bleak and psychologically painful

that it reaches a level of traumatic stress to produce post-traumatic stress reactions. Incarcerated

women, however, face a slightly harsher environment than men because most women in prison

are sexually assaulted while incarcerated. In 2018, the population of incarcerated women peaked

at 115,000 (Katsjura, 2018) and roughly 80,000 (Kubiak & Brenner, 2017) were sexually

assaulted, yet only 8% reported that they were victims. What complicates the reporting of the

perpetrators was that half of them were staff members of the prison.

Problem Areas a Recreation Therapist Can Address

Although inmates are restricted on their free time, a recreational therapist can still

introduce programs that will benefit the client based on their needs. A recreation therapist(RT)

can use value clarification to challenge an inmate’s thought of isolation and diminished sense of

self-worth and value. Compton and Hormachea (1979) describes the practice of value

clarification is to, “publicly affirm his values, to consciously choose among alternatives after

considering the consequences, to choose for himself, and then to act upon his choice,” (p. 33).

The goal of value clarification is to encourage the inmate to think about the subject on their own

and to reach conclusions about what their values are or what they would like them to be. Another

method to help inmates who isolate themselves is to conduct group therapy sessions so that the

inmates will open themselves up and escape the shell they have built. In order to relieve stress
Therapeutic Recreation for Incarcerated Women 5

for inmates, a RT can introduce relaxation therapy techniques so that when paired with

counseling, the inmate can overcome their anxiety. Relaxation therapy involves teaching the

client how to consciously relax certain muscle groups of the body that tend to contract in

stressful situations. Control over the muscle groups is control of the body and one’s self. Once

the client is able to consciously relax, they will be gradually exposed to a stimulus that causes

them to be anxious and the challenge for the client will be to consciously relax to be able to

continuously be exposed to the stimulus for progressively longer periods of time.

Successful Recreation Therapy Interventions

A successful intervention that has been utilized in order to reduce anxiety and depressive

symptoms is Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT). Animal-Assisted Therapy is a goal-directed

intervention in which an animal is a primary element of the treatment process. The program

consisted of sessions focused on the development of social skills, coping skills and self-

awareness. The therapist conducted a group therapy session where she would talk about

developing social skills while a dog would sit in the middle to comfort inmates while also

serving as an example of polite social skills. Jasperson (2010) identifies the enabling objectives

of the program included boundaries, personal safety issue, developing trust, being trustworthy,

responsibility, understanding emotions, expressing emotions in a healthy manner and learning

new behaviors. When the program concluded, group participants reported a large decrease in

anxiety and depressive symptoms while also showing increasing motivation to attend the

sessions. The presence of the dog allowed the inmates to feel comfortable enough to participate

and share in group discussions.

Another successful intervention that has been successful in prison environments with

inmates is group yoga. The purpose of the program was to increase the inmates’ spiritual well-
Therapeutic Recreation for Incarcerated Women 6

being in order to reduce stress and increase a sense of self-respect. The program included 62

inmates practicing several different yoga techniques focused on breathing, mindfulness, and

body balance. The researcher stated inmates felt that the program provided, “concrete outcomes

of physical benefits, escape, quieting of the mind, reflection and psychospiritual outcomes of an

epiphany, connection to self and others, psychological & behavioral change and coping skills,”

(Phan, 2013). The statistical evidence showed that the experimental group showed higher levels

of stress reduction than the control group proving that the yoga intervention was a success.
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Resources Concerning Incarcerated Women 18+

Inmate Programs and Treatment

The Office of Justice Programs prepare offenders for return to their communities and reduce

recidivism. One way of accomplishing this goal is to provide therapeutic recreational services in

their prisons for inmates so that they build skills and reduce the stress of prison.

https://www.crimesolutions.gov/TopicDetails.aspx?ID=31

Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie

Prison Policy Initiative regularly updates their statistics on the population of women incarcerated

along with the cause of incarceration and the multiple groups the inmates belong inhabit.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018women.html

Improving In-Prison Rehabilitation Programs

The Legislative Analyst’s Office provides data on current programs currently being utilized in

prisons and their impact on recidivism rates for inmates. By observing the data, one can

determine what type of programs they may want to use in order to set the foundation for their

own programs or apply to their treatment options.

https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3720
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References

Kubiak, S. P., Brenner, H. J., Bybee, D., Campbell, R., Cummings, C. E., Darcy, K. M., . . .
Goodman-Williams, R. (2017). Sexual misconduct in prison: What factors affect whether
incarcerated women will report abuses committed by prison staff? Law and Human
Behavior, 41(4), 361-374. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000239

Rachael A. Jasperson (2010) Animal-Assisted Therapy with Female Inmates with Mental Illness:
A Case Example From a Pilot Program, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 49:6, 417-
433, DOI: 10.1080/10509674.2010.499056

Compton, D. M., & Hormachea, C. R. (1979). Facilitating Leisure Development of

Inmates in Local & County Jails. Richmond, VA: Center for Public Affairs.

Haney, C. (2002). The Psychological Impact of Incarceration: Implications for Post-Prison

Adjustment. The Psychological Impact of Incarceration: Implications for Post-Prison
Adjustment,77-92. Retrieved March 21, 2019.

Kajstura, A. (2018, November 13). Women's Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018.
Retrieved March 21, 2019, from
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018women.html

Pham, K. H. (2013). Outcomes of a recreation therapy yoga meditation intervention on prison

inmates' spiritual well-being (Order No. 1541558). Available from ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses A&I; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities
and Social Sciences Collection. (1418768713). Retrieved from
http://csulb.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1418768713?acc
ountid=10351