National Institute of Corrections Grant: Updating Gender-Responsive Correctional Strategies

In September 1999, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) began a 3-year project to create a foundational body of work on gender-relevant approaches to manage and intervene effectively with justice-involved women in adult corrections. An NIC-wide team on justice-involved women saw the need to summarize current evidence regarding what is known and not known about gender-responsive policy and practice. The outcome of this work was Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders. The gender-responsive strategies project was a foundational building block of the NIC “Women Offender Initiative” over 20 years ago.

Gender-Responsive Strategies is still regarded as a contemporary NIC foundation for improving outcomes for women; however, there has been much accomplished since it was released. Some of the information is viewed as old, although still relevant, and should be updated. The efforts of NIC over the last 20 years (such as the development of the Gender-Responsive Discipline and Sanctions Policy Guide for Women’s Facilities, the Gender-Informed Practices Assessment, the Women’s Correctional Safety Scales Toolkit, the Women’s Risk and Needs Assessment, and Safety Matters: Managing Relationships in Women’s Facilities training) should be included. There are also international human rights standards and federal legislation (e.g., PREA, First Step Act) that must be included in a useful discussion of contemporary gender-responsive practice. A link to a copy of the current publication is included with this solicitation.

NIC welcomes applications that involve two or more entities; however, one eligible entity must be the applicant and the others must be proposed as subrecipients. The applicant must be the entity with primary responsibility for administering the funding and managing the entire program. Only one (1) application will be accepted from a submitting organization.

In September 1999, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) began a 3-year project to create a foundational body of work on gender-relevant approaches to manage and intervene effectively with justice-involved women in adult corrections. An NIC-wide team on justice-involved women saw the need to summarize current evidence regarding what is known and not known about gender-responsive policy and practice. The outcome of this work was Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders. The gender-responsive strategies project was a foundational building block of the NIC “Women Offender Initiative” over 20 years ago.

Gender-Responsive Strategies is still regarded as a contemporary NIC foundation for improving outcomes for women; however, there has been much accomplished since it was released. Some of the information is viewed as old, although still relevant, and should be updated. The efforts of NIC over the last 20 years (such as the development of the Gender-Responsive Discipline and Sanctions Policy Guide for Women’s Facilities, the Gender-Informed Practices Assessment, the Women’s Correctional Safety Scales Toolkit, the Women’s Risk and Needs Assessment, and Safety Matters: Managing Relationships in Women’s Facilities training) should be included. There are also international human rights standards and federal legislation (e.g., PREA, First Step Act) that must be included in a useful discussion of contemporary gender-responsive practice. A link to a copy of the current publication is included with this solicitation.