DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37891
title: Evaluation of In-Prison Programming for Incarcerated Women: Addressing Trauma and Prior Victimization, United States, 2017-2020
title: Archival Version

description: The Urban Institute, in collaboration with the Correctional Leaders Association (CLA), the National Center on Victims of Crime (NCVC), and the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP), and with funding from the National Institute of Justice, conducted a two-tiered, 33-month, exploratory mixed methods study of the policies, programs, and practices used nationwide to address the needs of incarcerated women with prior trauma and victimization experiences and prevent in-custody victimization, aiming to generate actionable information for policymakers, practitioners, and program developers.
This is the first single, comprehensive study documenting the extent to which facilities implement trauma-informed and gender-responsive approaches to address women's victimization experiences, whether they offer victim services, the range of services offered, and the prevalence of trauma-informed practices in state-level women's correctional facilities. It establishes foundational knowledge for the field regarding the scope, structure, and composition of these approaches, including their trauma-informed components and use in women's correctional facilities.
description: Tier 1's objective was to determine how state departments of corrections (DOCs) attempt to address the impacts of victimization on incarcerated women and how they use gender-responsive and trauma-informed approaches to do so, as well as how traditional victim service providers connect with facilities to provide their services.
Tier 2's objective was to identify and document promising and innovative prison-based approaches to trauma and victim service provision, and to develop an initial typology of these strategies used by state DOCs to address the violent victimization experiences of incarcerated women to inform both the conceptual design of future research studies and service delivery.
description: Tier 1 data collection activities included phone interviews with state Department of Corrections (DOC) leaders, a national survey of state-level domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions, and phone interviews with staff in 15 women's prisons that appeared to stand out among their peers in offering victim services and trauma-informed approaches.
Phone interviews with DOC leaders were conducted by phone by team members from the Urban Institute and CLA. 108 leaders from 41 state DOCs across the country were interviewed. Information on the national survey of coalitions was distributed via email to the entire universe of such organizations based on a list of contacts made available via the NCVC, with a manual quality assurance process to ensure the correct contact information was in use. The survey was administered both online and by phone. The interviews with staff in 15 'standout' facilities were conducted by phone by team members of the Urban Institute.
Tier 2 involved case studies with three prisons to conduct interviews with facility-level and community-based stakeholders, including incarcerated women, to fully understand how prisons address victimization and trauma.
Teams from the Urban Institute, CEPP, and NCVC conducted on-site case studies at two prisons and one virtual case study following the onset of the COVID pandemic and subsequent revised federal and state guidelines. 40 semi-structured interviews with 81 stakeholders and 28 incarcerated women were conducted.
description: Variables in the state-level domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions dataset include organizational size, activities, services offered, training, culture, collaboration with external parties, including local, state, and federal government bodies, funding, stakeholders, and obstacles.
description: Not applicable.
description: Response Rates: 82% (41 of 50 state Department of Corrections (DOC)) response rate for the Tier 1 interviews with State DOC leadership.
70% (57 of 81 coalitions) response rate for the Tier 1 online survey of state Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault (DV/SA) coalitions.
94% (15 of 16 facilities) response rate for the Tier 1 facility-level interviews.
description: The Tier 1 State Department of Corrections (DOC) leadership interviews targeted the universe of state DOC leaders (directors/commissioners or their designee).
The Tier 1 DV/SA survey was sent to the universe of state DV/SA coalitions identified by the study's partner, the National Center for Victims of Crime.
The Tier 1 facility interviews targeted a sample of 16 "stand out" facilities identified by from Tier Sate DOC leadership interviews by scoring each state as to their focus on victimization and trauma-informed principles across 32 indicators.
The Tier 2 Case Study sites (N=5) were selected based on analysis of the data collected from the Tier 1 facility level interviews.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: National Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition Survey Data
description: Department of Corrections (DOC) leadership across the 50 states; facility staff in 15 facilities; incarcerated women in selected facilities in 2020. Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: face-to-face interview; telephone interview; web-based surveyThe transcripts for the Tier 1 Department of Corrections (DOC) leadership and standout facility interviews and Tier 2 case study interviews are not currently available. The data in this collection consists only of the Tier 1 national domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions survey data.