Using Trauma-Informed Practices to Enhance Safety and Security in Women's Correctional Facilities

"In the wake of significant research on trauma and the interventions required to address it, a number of correctional agencies have made efforts to increase the use of trauma-based services and curricula ... This document provides a brief overview of trauma and its effects on women offenders, and specifically defines trauma-informed practices for women’s correctional facilities.3 It also provides key actions that facility administrators, managers, and staff can take to better align their operational practices with the research on trauma and to create a more trauma-informed facility culture" (p. 1-2).

This publication contains these sections:

• introduction;
• what we know about the experience of trauma among women inmates;
• trauma's impact on brain and body;
• what the prevalence of trauma among females means for women's correctional institutions;
• what the benefits of creating a more trauma-informed institutional culture are;
• creating a trauma-informed culture in women's correctional facilities;
• opportunities for implementing trauma-informed practices in correctional settings;
• eight action steps for building a trauma-informed facility culture;
• and conclusion.