What is there for states 225 female inmates?
The Executive Council recently accepted $41,455 in federal grant funds to assist in providing vocational educational services for female prison inmates. Christine Brehm, director of Mary’s Place in Keene, a transitional housing program for women offenders, said the lack of structure in releasing inmates back into society can lead to re-offending. Mary’s Place is a mostly volunteer group supported by individual donations and grants that receives no money from the Department of Corrections. It serves about four women at a time by providing affordable housing and services as they re-enter society. “The biggest thing we see is women go from a totally structured environment to an unstructured one. Support services are fragmented and most people are forced to return to what they know,” Brehm said. That often means returning to crime, she said. Anne Botteri, assistant vice president of communications and marketing at St. Anselm College, is doing graduate work on challenges facing incarcerated
