A Rights-Based Approach to Social Work in Jails

Safeguarding rights is a critical duty for social workers in jail settings where human rights violations are prevalent and can be divided into two general categories: (1) when holding someone in jail violates their human rights and (2) when the treatment provided within the jail violates human rights. This paper will address these areas of concern, and then focus on how rights-based approaches to social work are currently practiced and can be expanded by collaborative public defense teams including those that work with clients who could be sentenced to death. A call for research on rights-based practice methods and complementary therapeutic approaches will include the presentation of testimony therapy as a potential clinical method that may be effective with (and for) this population. Social workers are ethically bound to attend to jailed individuals in ways that respect their dignity and build on their strengths. Employing these strategies, social workers can strengthen individuals, as well as our human societies.