Abstract
This exploratory study used content analysis to examine the features of programs that serve women who are reentering the community after incarceration. A non-random purposive sampling was used to examine the program components of organizations and agencies that serve re-entering women. Through an extensive examination of programs that serve women who reenter the community after incarceration, 20 such programs that met the criteria for the study as having sufficient information on the study variables were chosen for analysis. Entities that stated on their public domain websites, that they provided services for re-entering women were selected for this study and constituted the units of analysis. Study findings indicate that consistent with the findings from the literature review, although organizations have attempted to create and implement re-entry programs, they are not specifically catering to the social capital and support needs of the women who are trying to overcome the impact of incarceration after their release. There are variations in the programs with regard to the duration of the programs and the kind of services provided based on their geographical location. Most of the programs on the West coast (83%) do not provide mentoring programs despite their provision of other services intended to help formerly incarcerated women; and this is of interest as the State of California is one of the states with high recidivism rates. Recommendations include the need for individualized treatment and mentoring services to manage the trauma triggers experienced by women who are re-entering the community. Through culturally competent psychoeducational groups, the life skills of women who are re-entering the community can be enhanced to help in reducing the stereotyped and hurtful encounters that they are subjected to after their incarceration experience.