A Mixed-Methods Process Evaluation of the Art of Yoga Project for Girls in Custody
| Published date | 01 September 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032885519860852 |
| Date | 01 September 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2019
Article
The Prison Journal
2019, Vol. 99(4S) 38S –60S
A Mixed-Methods
© 2019 SAGE Publications
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885519860852
DOI: 10.1177/0032885519860852
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the Art of Yoga Project
for Girls in Custody
Lisa Middleton1, Danielle Arlanda Harris1,
and Alissa R. Ackerman2
Note: A video link is available for viewing the program highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44cidts9bsw
Abstract
Many adolescent girls in custody have extensive histories of profound
childhood trauma and abuse. They typically come from marginalized
communities marked with gang violence. The Art of Yoga Project provides a
gender-specific, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive approach to cater
to this understudied and underserved population. The Yoga and Creative
Arts Curriculum combines yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and art for girls
in custody in several Californian counties. The findings are from a mixed
methods evaluation of multiple sites over several years. Taken together,
we saw an improvement in the self-reported emotional regulation of
incarcerated girls. We discuss practical implications for extending this work
in other jurisdictions and to other populations.
Keywords
adolescent girls, trauma, yoga, mindfulness
1Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2California State University, Fullerton, USA
Corresponding Author:
Danielle Arlanda Harris, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Level
4, Social Sciences Bldg. (M10), 176 Messines Ridge Rd., Mt Gravatt, Brisbane, Queensland
4122, Australia.
Email: Danielle.a.harris@griffith.edu.au
Middleton et al.
39S
Introduction
It is not controversial to state that the majority of young women in custody
have experienced trauma. This trauma manifests in numerous negative ways,
which include but are not limited to substance abuse, sexual abuse, physical
abuse, domestic violence, neglect, and poverty (Nurius, Green, Logan-
Greene, & Borja, 2015; Schaffner, 2014). Research also demonstrates that
girls’ involvement in crime is often motivated by survival and driven by a
desire to escape or erase victimization experiences (Chesney-Lind, 1989;
Solomon, Davis, & Luckham, 2012). Virtually all adolescent girls in custody
are released back into the community and their reentry process is fraught.
Girls warrant gender-specific, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive
approaches to ameliorate the accumulated social stressors that compromise
their effective psychosocial functioning and development into adulthood
(Nurius et al., 2015).
Studies of adult women in prison reveal an important link between child-
hood victimization and later criminality (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 2004). If
we are to successfully disrupt the developmental pathways that lead to more
(and more serious) offending, programs need to target girls’ understanding
and processing of their own traumatic biographies and promote the making of
more appropriate life decisions (Solomon et al., 2012).
The Art of Yoga Project (AYP) is a nonprofit organization that provides
girls in custody with a Yoga and Creative Arts Curriculum (YCAC)
designed to attend to the concerns raised above (Harris & Fitton, 2010).
This article examines the impact of the AYP as a trauma-informed approach
for intervention with teenage girls in custody. We present the qualitative
and quantitative results of a mixed-methods process evaluation that
included data collection over several years in three locations. The follow-
ing literature review will summarize the body of knowledge on offending
girls, trauma, and the development of various trauma-informed approaches
for this population.
Over the last two decades, the number of girls in custody in the United
States has risen quickly (Chesney-Lind & Jones, 2010; Kerig, Vanderzee,
Becker, & Ward, 2011). The typical female detainee in the United States is a
16-year-old African American or Latina girl from a low-income family who
has dropped out of school. With little or no access to affordable health care,
she is at high risk of hepatitis C, asthma, diabetes, and parasitic infections and
has almost certainly experienced at least one form of abuse (sexual, psycho-
logical, and/or physical) prior to her arrest. It is also likely that she presents
with symptoms of depression, suicidal ideation, and posttraumatic stress dis-
order (PTSD; Kerig et al., 2011; Schaffner, 2014).
40S
The Prison Journal 99(4S)
Some of the more commonly expressed traumatic experiences girls
reported include the early onset of physical and/or sexual abuse in the
home, attempted suicide, truancy, dropping out of high school, and running
away from home (Black, Woodworth, Tremblay, & Carpenter, 2012;
Chesney-Lind & Jones, 2010). Although boys and girls share common
experiences that correlate with crime, they are differentially affected by
their experiences, and their subsequent reactions to those experiences are
gendered (Messerschmidt & Ebrary, 2012).
Studies have generally concluded that compared with boys in custody,
girls are between 70% and 90% more likely to have been physically and/or
sexually abused at home (National Conference of State Legislatures [NCSL],
2017), 75% more likely to run away from home (NCSL, 2017), 82% more
likely to self-report an extensive trauma history (NCSL, 2017), and 60%
more likely to self-report feeling unwanted, abused, and neglected, by family,
peers, and teachers (Black et al., 2012). Girls are also 6 times more likely
than boys to report symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders, and
self-harm, as a direct result of trauma (Chesney-Lind, Morash, & Stevens,
2008; Kerig & Ford, 2014; Springer, 1997).
Despite girls’ multiple needs, there remains a dearth of programs designed
specifically for them (Auty, Cope, & Liebling, 2015; Hauzinger, 2013). In
1998, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
noted that only 5% to 9% of federal funding was allocated to gender-respon-
sive programs. Ten years later, still less than 8% of funding provided services
to girls between the ages of 9 and 15 (Chesney-Lind et al., 2008). Given the
differential experiences and pathways to offending of girls within the crimi-
nal justice system, this is clearly insufficient. It is fundamental to their transi-
tion back into society that they have the tools to overcome the negative effects
of trauma. Otherwise, they are likely to become part of the 67.5% of prison-
ers rearrested within 3 years of custodial release (Petersilia, 2003).
Trauma
Van der Kolk (2014) defined trauma as the suite of overwhelming experi-
ences that result in a fundamental reorganization of the way the mind and
brain manage perceptions. Trauma changes not only how and what we think
but also our capacity to think. The American Association of Children’s
Residential Care [AACRC] (2014) argues that trauma is not necessarily
incident based but can be generated by subjective everyday life experiences.
Such experiences include interpersonal challenges, physiological condi-
tions, chronic neglect, stressful situations, sexual and/or physical abuse,
domestic violence, harsh and neglectful parenting, witnessing domestic
Middleton et al.
41S
violence, chronic illness, and poverty (see also Berliner & Kolko, 2016).
Trauma research now identifies exposure to these experiences as adverse
childhood experiences (ACE). Taken together, they have been shown not
only to increase the risk of health and behavioral disorders but also to nega-
tively affect aspects of the developing brain, leading to PTSD (Nurius et al.,
2015; Pereda, Guilera, Forns, & Gomez-Benito, 2009).
The experience of trauma has a number of long-term consequences
(Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 2004; Pereda et al., 2009; Van der Kolk, 2014).
When the system of social engagement is sabotaged and one’s ability to func-
tion productively in society is compromised, the intergenerational transmis-
sion of abuse and the likelihood of aggression are increased (Chamberlain &
Moore, 2002). Research consistently indicates a positive association between
exposure to trauma and subsequent health and behavioral problems, all of
which are elevated in incarcerated populations (Chesney-Lind et al., 2008).
Mindfulness and Emotional Regulation
In recent years, the use of mindfulness training has gained momentum as an
effective intervention to help calm the nervous system of trauma sufferers.
Mindfulness is increasingly becoming an integral part of trauma-informed
approaches that seek to respond to and understand the needs of traumatized
youth as an alternative to harsh and aversive interventions (Black et al.,
2012). Van der Kolk (2014) used mindfulness as a treatment for PTSD and
found that it helped calm the nervous system of trauma sufferers, offering
them a structure for developing awareness of the body (that they might oth-
erwise lack or fear; Van der Kolk, 2014).
Mindfulness activates the regions of the brain involved in emotional regu-
lation and allows for a connection between the emotions and the body (Van
der Kolk, 2014). The movement in physically oriented therapies such as yoga
and dance, combined with mindfulness-oriented therapies such as meditation
and art, reduces aggression, increases self-awareness, improves well-being,
and...
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