After prison : Managing re-integration, mental health and desistance from offending

For women leaving prison, community reintegration involves focused preparation. Support during this transition will improve women’s chances of living prison-free. In this chapter we present a framework for understanding the conditions that ‘ready’ a woman for her transition. This framework, entitled ‘reintegration readiness’, sets out the contextual and person-specific conditions that in combination can help ‘ready’ a woman for release. We examine readiness in the context of barriers that can derail movement towards readiness. To enhance women’s success upon release from prison, correctional jurisdictions and service providers should be aware of these interrelated conditions of ‘reintegration readiness.’ Brief suggestions for practice are offered.