Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

Conference in Belfair this week will teach female offenders about coping with trauma and reentry

“Success Inside and Out: I’m Ready” is the result of a partnership between the Washington State Supreme Court Gender & Justice Commission, the Department of Corrections’ Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women (MCCCW), the National Association of Women Judges, and Zonta International.

The Women Offender’s Conference, Oct. 22 — 23 at Mission Creek Corrections Center in Belfair, will give about 170 female offenders at the prison the opportunity to hear from speakers such as Court of Appeals Judge Jill Johanson and to attend workshops on confidence building, processing trauma, obtaining a driver’s license after incarceration, finding employment, and more.

Additionally, community organizations will be on hand to help offenders become familiar with resources available to them now and after release. All offenders attending the conference must have four years or fewer left in their sentences.

MCCCW staff began the conference in 2009 to provide resources and address specific needs of female offenders as they prepare for successful release, according to Richard Gobble, a human resources consultant at the prison. For more information on Mission Creek, visit http://www.doc.wa.gov/facilities/prison/mcccw/.

“In recent years the corrections field has realized that correction models have been designed primarily for male offenders, and those models often are not congruent with the needs of female offenders,” Gobble said. “As a result, prisons are making concerted efforts to become gender responsive and recognize the different pathways that result in female incarceration and the different strategies needed to help them succeed. This conference is designed to provide a gender-responsive approach to meeting those unique needs.”