¶ … Department of Corrections for the state of California, there are approximately 160,000 individuals in jail in the state of California. (California Prison Growth 2003) The census shows that 9,797 of these individuals are women and 150,000 are men. (California Prison Growth 2003)There are several issues that make prison life in California particularly difficult for women. These issues concern vocational services, educational services, healthcare, and rehabilitation services. The purpose of this discussion is to review previous studies that have examined the disparity in the treatment of men and women in California's prisons. Methodology-Secondary Data Analysis

Healthcare

One of the most significant issues facing female inmates in California and throughout the country is the issue of healthcare. The first study that we examined discussed the challenge of providing healthcare to California's female inmate population.

The report was published by the California Policy Research Center, University of California. The author of the article did not conduct the study.

Research Design and Procedure

The published report is a combination of various studies on the conditions facing female inmates in California's Corrections System. The research includes information gathered from filed complaints and interviews with prisoners. The study

Examines access to health care for women who are incarcerated in California state prisons, through quantitative and qualitative analysis of a large database of interviews, medical records, legal documents, and judicial reports assembled in conjunction with inmate complaints during the past four years. The report's recommendations compare the California correctional health care model with "best practice" models for health care delivery to offer an empirical foundation on which to base deliberations on correctional health options.

Description of Subjects and Setting

The study was instigated by the fact that 1269 complaints were filed by female inmates from 1994-1999. These complaints came from several of the state's correctional facilities including California Correctional Women's Facility, California Institution for Women, Valley State Prison for Women, and the Northern California Women's Facility. The report also explains that the study, "examined reports by the California Department of Health Services and the State Auditor, legal materials, and contemporary standards for medical care in prisons and jails. This research was supplemented with interviews with prisoners...

This was particularly true among women with HIV / AIDS. Many of the inmates complained that they were not receiving the appropriate amounts of anti-viral medications which can reduce the length and quality of life for these inmates. (Stoller 2000)Many of the women also complained that there were misdiagnosed. Some of the inmates also complained that the health care that they received was detrimental. (Stoller 2000)
Rehab and social support

The research for this study was gathered through the use of secondary data analysis. The study that was used to carry out the research was published in the Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling. The study was conducted by the author, Catherine Lemieux. The purpose of the study was to examine the differences in social support among female and male offenders in corrections facilities.

Research Design and Procedures

The data was retrieved through the use of a questionnaire survey which;

was administered to inmates over a 3-week period. A total of 101 surveys from 131 eligible inmates were completed, which resulted in an overall response rate of 76.3%. The response rates for ACCC, SAAP I, and SAAP II were 100%, 92.8%, and 67.4%, respectively. Most of the SAAP II non-participants were on work call when this survey was administered. No significant differences emerged between respondents and non-respondents when age and length of time in program were compared." (Lemieux, 2002)

Description of Subjects

The participants included male and female offenders who were enrolled in Substance Abuse Awareness Program Sheriff's Drug Farm (SAAP) and the Atlantic Correctional Community Center (ACCC).

SAAP is a program that consists of two phases. The first phase involves a drug education and counseling program and the second phase is a 4-12-month therapeutic community program which focuses on preventing relapses. ACCC is a program designed for incarcerated women struggling with drug abuse.

Instrument

The questionnaire was designed in a fashion that measured independent and dependent variable while also collecting data from custodial records. The independent variable used in this study came from existing research while the dependent variables were taken from the perception of available social support. Lemieux (2002) writes that custodial records were used to examine the number of…