– The purpose of this paper is to provide a gendered reading of the 2010 UK drug strategy and draw out the implications of the new recovery paradigm for female drug users.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a gendered reading of the 2010 UK drug strategy and draw out the implications of the new recovery paradigm for female drug users.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the concept of recovery at a theoretical level, uncovering the taken-for-granted assumptions in the three overarching principles: freedom from dependence; well-being; and citizenship. It also analyses the available quantitative and qualitative evidence on women’s access to recovery capital to explore the role gender might play in the journey to recovery.
Findings
Strategic thinking around recovery in the UK is largely silent on gender. However, close scrutiny of the available, albeit limited, evidence base on female drug users and feminist scholarship on the principles of well-being and citizenship suggests the need to understand recovery against a backdrop of the social and normative context of women’s lives.
Originality/value
Recent analyses of contemporary UK drug policy have focused on the conflation of recovery with abstinence and the displacement of the harm reduction agenda. They have failed to draw out the implications for particular groups of drug users such as women. The pursuit of recovery-based drug policy is not peculiar to the UK so the paper offers a case study of its gendered application in a particular national context.
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Keywords
Philippa Hearty, Emma Wincup and Nat M. J. Wright
Recovery is the predominant discourse within current UK drug policy, promoted as freedom from dependence. In support of such a policy driver, prison drug recovery wings have been…
Abstract
Purpose
Recovery is the predominant discourse within current UK drug policy, promoted as freedom from dependence. In support of such a policy driver, prison drug recovery wings have been piloted in ten prisons in England and Wales to address high drug prevalence rates in prisoner populations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of these specialist wings within the context of wider developments to tackle reoffending among drug-using prisoners.
Design/methodology/approach
The first part of the paper offers an analysis of the emergence of the recovery paradigm in the prison context through analysis of official policy documents. The second draws predominantly upon two process evaluations of the drug recovery wings, alongside literature on prison drug treatment.
Findings
There is limited empirical evidence to inform the debate about whether prisons can provide settings to facilitate recovery from the effects of illicit drug use. What is available suggests that effective therapeutic environments for recovering drug users could be established within prisons. Key components for these appear to be sufficient numbers of staff who are competent and confident in providing a dual role of support and discipline, and a common purpose of all prisoners committing to recovery from illicit drugs and supporting each other. Further research regarding the impact of drug recovery wings upon health, crime and wider social outcomes is needed.
Originality/value
This paper provides an updated perspective on the development of drug treatment in prisons, with a particular focus on the implications of the new recovery paradigm.
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Keywords
Karine Greenacre and Emma Palmer
Increasing attention is focusing on the role of environments in the rehabilitation of offenders, with a range of reported outcomes in the literature. The purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Increasing attention is focusing on the role of environments in the rehabilitation of offenders, with a range of reported outcomes in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to explore forensic environments and the outcomes and changes that result, in order to assess the current knowledge in this area and to inform current and future practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a systematic review approach with an extensive literature search and robust application of appraisal methods, nine studies were identified. The studies included one mixed method study (n=1), qualitative methods (n=4) that utilised thematic analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis and Foucauldian discourse analysis and quantitative methods (n=4) that utilised the responses to psychometric measures including the EssenCES and correctional institution environment scale (CIES) to assess the quality and outcomes associated with environments in forensic settings.
Findings
Three superordinate themes were identified: factors required for successful environments, factors that influence successful environments and factors affected by successful environments.
Research limitations/implications
Further research would be beneficial around motivation, as it appears to influence the success of environments and be a potential outcome of environments. Further research might usefully explore the ideal time in services, for optimal outcomes in order to advise those currently commissioning services of this nature.
Originality/value
In addition to outcomes, this review found factors required for forensic environments that are consistent with previous literature within the field, and factors that might influence how successful environments can be.