Summary Of Couldn T Keep It To Myself

Wally Lamb's book "Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters," is a compilation of writings written by female convicts at York Correctional Institution. Lamb thought that by giving detained women a platform to express their stories and experiences, the book would raise awareness of the issues that they face. The book is significant, because it gives a voice to a group of individuals who are frequently excluded and overlooked. In this essay, I'll briefly summarize the book's objectives and analyze three topics that were presented in the text and discussed in class regarding women as criminals and victims.

The book's objective is to provide female prisoners with a forum to discuss the events that led to their conviction.

Many of the women who contributed articles to the book have battled addiction. For instance, one women talks about her crack cocaine addiction and how it drove her to commit crimes to sustain her addiction. Another lady speaks about her battles with alcoholism, how it impacted her relationships, and how the addiction made it difficult for her to raise her children. Access to treatment programs can considerably lower recidivism rates among people with drug misuse problems, according to research on substance addiction. Counseling, group therapy, and medication-assisted treatments are just a few of the options that may be used to help. Yet, access to these services may be restricted, especially for those who are imprisoned. In Lamb's book, several women discuss their difficulty obtaining access to drug abuse treatment while they were in prison. Several said the lack of resources and insufficient support contributed to their ongoing battles with addiction. Increasing access to treatment programs is one way to combat the problem of substance misuse. Many people who are jailed battle addiction, and without the right care, they are prone to relapse.

To address this issue, politicians and activists have called for increased funding for drug abuse treatment programs both inside and outside the criminal justice system. Nonetheless, there has been an increase in support for prison alternatives that prioritize rehabilitation and

These might involve visitation and communication programs, as well as parenting training and support groups. According to Miller and Truitt (2014), "women in prison had greater rates of mental illness and trauma exposure than both males in the criminal justice system and women in the general community" (p. 59). They also point out that the criminal justice system frequently fails to offer proper mental health and trauma therapy for jailed women, which can result in even more unfavorable effects. Furthermore, there is rising support for alternative sentencing alternatives including community monitoring and home confinement, which allow parents to stay active in their children's lives while serving their