Alternatives to Incarceration
Our work begins with the understanding that human societies have developed — and continue to develop — diverse ways of addressing and managing challenges to the well-being and safety of the group. We recognize that America’s carceral policies and practices grow out of specific racial, economic and gendered histories which have led to our current reliance on the carceral system as the solution to a wide range of social and public health challenges.
WIP members look at the kinds of policies that reduce rates of incarceration, supports that help women avoid involvement with the criminal legal system; policies and programs that divert women away from the path to prison; and alternative solutions for women who may be sentenced to a correctional institution in Massachusetts.
Alternatives to Incarceration for Women in Massachusetts: An Opportunity and a Challenge
- Alternatives to incarceration make social, humanitarian and fiscal sense.
- Incarceration is ineffective in terms of healing and rehabilitation.
- Incarceration is harmful to women, their families and communities.
- Incarceration disproportionately impacts communities of color and low-income families communities.
- Incarceration is costly – $162,260 per woman at MCI-Framingham in FY 2020 according to the MA DOC. Studies show that supportive housing in the community costs a fraction of that amount and helps keep people out of jail.
- Community-based and practical support for secure housing, family unification, facilitation of relationships within the wider community, meaningful work, accessible and culturally appropriate health and substance use services and harm reduction programs help women avoid incarceration.
- What the Law Says: Understanding the Legal Definition of a Prison
What is meant by ‘Alternatives to Incarceration’
Alternatives to incarceration (ATI) include a broad array of practices, policies and programs including home supervision (e.g. electronic monitoring), restorative justice, treatment programs, drug and other specialty courts, justice reinvestment in communities, supportive housing, community service, and periodic detention. Some of these alternatives aim to reduce incarceration through expanding use of parole and other diversion practices under the auspices of the criminal legal system. Others aim to reduce the size and reach of the criminal legal system by supporting healthy communities and helping people resolve problems in non-adversarial ways.
A map of some of the many points at which policies, practices and programs could divert women from the carceral path and offers brief examples to illustrate each point.
Guiding Principles for Evaluating Alternatives to Incarceration
Our research both nationally and in Massachusetts points to a concerning trend–a tendency to assume that anything called an “alternative to incarceration” is good for women. In reality, too many ATIs overuse blame, coercion and unnecessary restrictions in much the same way as jails and prisons do. In this section we offer a checklist of core principles to help policymakers identify programs and practices that should be endorsed or funded. The checklist grew out of our review of the scholarly literature as well as interviews with formerly incarcerated women and their families, social workers, direct service providers, attorneys, healthcare providers, advocates and community activists, criminal justice diversion program staff, and correctional and trial court staff and defense attorneys.
A Preliminary Checklist
- ATIs must facilitate provision of secure housing for women and their families, including immediate housing, transitional housing, post-release housing, and permanent housing.
- ATIs must have realistic eligibility criteria appropriate for women involved in the criminal justice system, such as admitting women with CORIs, child welfare involvement, dual diagnoses, and so on.
- ATIs must provide meaningful support for family unification including assisting women who have lost custody of their children due to their involvement with the criminal justice system.
- ATIs must provide accessible and culturally appropriate health care services, including harm reduction measures.
- ATIs must respect the range of racial, ethnic, gender and sexual identities of women.
- ATIs must respect due process–allowing women access to an attorney who represents her interests at all stages of the legal process.
- ATIs must refrain from placing women in settings in which they are deprived of physical and emotional autonomy.
- ATIs must refrain from using threats of punishment to obtain compliance.
- ATIs must ensure confidentiality and informed consent.
- ATIs must allow for self-directed treatment and refrain from enforcing a particular ideology such as Twelve Steps or abstinence-only.
- ATIs must conduct rigorous assessments of mid- and long-term outcomes.
- ATIs must coordinate with other agencies, offices and institutions to ensure continuity of services and support for women.