NCJ Number
186941
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2001 Pages: 83-104
Date Published
February 2001
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article evaluates the effectiveness of residential treatment for prisoners with mental illness.
Abstract
An intermediate-care residential program for mentally ill male prison inmates in Washington provided medication monitoring, skills training, and a supportive milieu to help participants cope with life in prison. A study of the program addressed two program objectives: stabilization of mentally ill inmates and preparation of inmates for life in the general prison population. Participants were substantially less symptomatic when they left the program than when they entered. There were significant reductions in staff assaults, infractions, and use of expensive resources, as well as higher rates of work and school participation. However, a minority of inmates continued to be difficult to manage despite program interventions. The risk of failure with the least tractable inmates may be seen as a cost of doing business. The article encourages corrections officers to confer, with each other and with colleagues in other institutions, about what has and has not worked in particular cases. The principal threat to validity in this study is maturation: the possibility that increasing experience or age, rather than program intervention, was responsible for behavioral changes after program exposure. Tables, notes, references