Domestic violence awareness classes planned for women inmates

Times-Tribune - 6/4/2018

June 04--The Women's Resource Center in Scranton will soon offer domestic violence awareness classes for female inmates at Lackawanna County Prison.

While an exact start date for the program has yet to be determined, officials with the resource center and the prison said classes are designed to help victims of domestic violence cope with the effects of abuse, and also to help the women identify domestic violence when it occurs.

"We want to educate about the dynamics of abuse so that women can identify the dynamics and then know where to seek help," said Women's Resource Center Executive Director Peg Ruddy, who noted the success of similar classes the center offers at the jail for victims of sexual assault. "We've had up to 15 women in our classes, and once they get released ... they're very comfortable coming over to the center, where they can receive assistance with ongoing counselling and any kind of advocacy that they might need."

In general, Ruddy said many inmates in the prison system, especially incarcerated women, have a history of suffering domestic or sexual abuse. That abuse often factors into the decisions and circumstances that land women behind bars, Warden Tim Betti said.

"A scarily large proportion of our female offenders come in and are victims of some type of abuse, whether it be physical, mental, sexual," Betti said. "I certainly recognize the fact that when you're dealing with these type of factors, the kind of stressors ... that come from domestic violence, that has a tendency to play with the way you process things, the way you think. And I'm sure that's a main contributor (to the) incarceration of women, as well as mental health issues."

Noting that prison officials are "extremely supportive" of the domestic violence awareness classes, Betti said the resource center will run them at no cost to inmates or the prison.

Prison officials will provide the resource center with names of the female inmates who want to attend the classes, and help make sure those inmates get to the classrooms for the sessions.

Once they start, likely in the coming weeks, Ruddy said classes will be held weekly and be conducted by resource center staff.

"I think in the long run, and in the short run, it's going to help our female offenders to deal with their pasts, which is going to help them to deal with their present," Betti said.

Contact the writer:

jhorvath@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9141;

@jhorvathTT on Twitter

___

Visit The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.) at thetimes-tribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.