Women’s Narratives of
Incarceration as related to
Problem Gambling & their
Recovery
2001-2005
Eugenia Castro
Gambler’s Help Western
Victoria, Australia
[email protected]
Gambler’s Help Western
(GHW) Provision of services at the
Dame Phyllis Frost Centre (DPFC)
• Twenty women incarcerated at DPFC
who self-referred to Gambler’s Help
Western for counselling because of
problem gambling (PG) related to
their crime between 2001-2005.
Overview
• Brief Profile
• Assessment and intervention
• Women’s narratives
• Recommendations
Summary of Profile
High percent of women had the following profile:
• Professionals, frequently in a position of financial trust (accountancy,
law, management)
• Problem with pokies primarily, secondly with Casino gambling.
• Mainly white collar crime (fraud, embezzlement) and no previous
criminal history, ie “gamblers who offend” versus long standing
“offenders who gamble”
• Underlying key issues: domestic violence, grief & loss, workplace and
mental health issues.
Psychosocial Assessment
Instrument: Empathic interviewing.
• History of gambling and problem gambling
formation, costs of gambling and underlying
issues.
• Motivation for change.
• Cognitive, emotional and psychological
assessment.
• Assessment of client’s strengths, coping
mechanisms
• Family system
Counselling and Support:
• Readiness, motivation and willingness to deal with problem
gambling, crime and debt. (Harm minimization)
• Woman’s particular story, pain, shame, remorse.
• Process of reparation of trust: partner, family, society and
self.
• Resilience and survival in and beyond prison.
• Dialogue about the future, freedom, hopes (including
double fear/pain of stigma and discrimination as problem
gambler and ex-prisoner).
Narratives
Three women with problem gambling
and their stories:
• Maria
• Lina
• Anita
Maria
Maria is a woman in her thirties, from Chinese & Australian
background. Married with no children.
Maria was an accountant who became a victim of racism in the
workplace. She felt lonely because her husband was working
overseas and she did not want to worry him with her problems.
Maria said she used gambling as a distraction from her feelings of
humiliation and anger.
Alleged fraud from the workplace: $2.5 million.
Sentence: Four years jail with parole and a debt.
Maria
cont’d
“Playing pokies helped me to unwind, but later
whenever I felt humiliated by racist remarks , I
had the urge to play the pokies… I was able to
forget and feel some comfort.”
“The venue was a place to hide from work, from
my own feelings, they (venue staff) treated me
well. I lost control, I started to chase my loses
and acquired gambling debts. One day I crossed
the line and took money from work and told
myself that the machine would pay it back.”
Maria
cont’d
“It was a relief when I was caught even though I
lost my self, my job and my freedom. I am
fortunate I have the support of my parents and
husband.”
“After all I went through I decided that I will
protect my self by moving away from
abusive situations. I felt targeted in my job
in prison and proactively changed jobs,
where I feel more in control.”
Maria
cont’d
“I’d rather take responsibility for what I
did, I would not like to feel like a
victim.”
“I prefer to think positively and not feel
depressed because of the future. I
need to live day by day.”
Lina
Lina is a 46 year old Australian woman.
She earned scholarships and became an accountant and
held a few managerial positions.
Lina was dealing with an emotionally abusive relationship.
She said that she enjoyed the pokies, the machine helped
her to forget about her husband’s putdowns. At the
venue, she felt like a winner.
Sentence: 18 months in prison.
Alleged fraud of $300,000 from the workplace.
Lina
cont’d
“I always thought the money I took
from work was a ‘loan’ . I gambled the
winnings, I could not stop. “Finally
they caught me, and I was relieved.”
Lina
cont’d
“I need to learn how to say no, to speak out and talk
with someone about my childhood and the physical
and emotional abuse”.
“I lost the trust of my family, my children and my
employer. I feel remorseful, ashamed and
depressed for what I did.”
“I received a letter from my in-laws about their
feelings of disappointment. I’d rather they do not
write to me”.
Lina
cont’d
“I was worried about the trial and the lack of contact
with my lawyer. Also for the custody of my youngest
son.”
“For the future, I just want to be free and see my
children.”
“I am coming to terms with a future of financial
struggles because of the debts I have to pay back, at
the end of my sentence.”
Anita
Anita is a 42 year old woman from a CALD background. Her first
marriage was arranged.
After she initiated separation, her parents and husband did not
let her see her toddler. “I felt I didn’t have the right to be a
mother”.
Anita remarried years later and her husband was physically
abusive. She said the “venue staff were very nice to me and it
was a place to hide from my life”.
Anita spent five years in prison and a year on parole.
Anita allegedly embezzled over $2 million.
Anita
cont’d
“I am determined to be strong and survive jail without
medication”.
“I needed the pokies, they were like a daily drug to
alleviate my emotional pain …. I lost weight and I was
suicidal. I was ashamed and am still hiding from people
and myself.”
“I am paying for my crime. I am not in touch with my
family. Some times it’s hard to think about facing
responsibilities and life. I have a huge debt.”
Anita
cont’d
“Do people guess I was in prison?”
“Will people give me a job after I
finish my course?”
Some implications for effective clinical practice
• Avoid pathologising normal/healthy responses to a very
difficult, stressful prison environment
• Practitioner advocacy for on-going practical support during
and after release to promote sustainable change in:
– further study, training and employment, health, housing,
income.
• Pay attention to power issues (gender, ethnicity)
• Validation of critical impact of lack of support in both
emergence of problem gambling and recovery
• Support women to overcome double discrimination they
suffer (as prisoners and problem gamblers)
Recommendations for broader sector &
structural change
•
Promotion of greater responsibility within workplaces to recognise problem
gambling as a health & welfare issue for employees
•
Greater integration of Gambler’s Help services with Pre and Post-release
services
•
More meaningful data collection &/or research into illegal activities related
to problem gambling.
•
Advocacy with the Justice System for sentence mitigation in problem
gambling - related crime
•
Much more effective consumer protection regulations that support harm
minimisation (eg smart cards)
•
A government agenda for the prevention of problem gambling-related
crime.
Tip of the iceberg