Author:

Keywords:

advocacy, socail work, prisoners

Abstract:

Social workers who work with prisoners often experience that the social rights of their target group are challenged by different factors at the community, organisational and policy-level. As a consequence of this complexity and the commitment of social work to social justice, we consider advocacy for the inmate population as a key role for social work (Severson, 1994; Agllias, 2004; Green, Thorpe and Traupmann,2005; Wormer et al., 2008; Sheenan, 2012). Prisoners can be considered as one of the most vulnerable, oppressed and marginalized target groups in our society (DeVeaux, 2014). They struggle with a variety of correctional, financial, psychological, behavioral and relational problems. Through advocacy social work can make a difference in the welfare of the prisoner by playing a pivotal role towards penal and welfare policy. In this presentation we focus on the advocacy role that social workers adopt when providing services to prisoners. We define the advocacy role of the social worker at the individual, organizational, community and policy- level (DeVeaux, 2014). This presentation focus on the results of a research project with social work organisations providing social work services to prisoners in Brussels.