NCJ Number
141255
Journal
Criminology Volume: 31 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1993) Pages: 69-92
Date Published
1993
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Data gathered on 375 wardens in a 1989 national survey of all 512 State and Federal prisons were analyzed to determine the correctional orientation of wardens.
Abstract
The wardens ranked incapacitation as the preferred goal of imprisonment; rehabilitation was ranked second, and retribution lagged as the least supported correctional goal. Wardens favored the expansion of educational, vocational, and counseling programs. They did not support conjugal visits and also rejected eliminating good time, parole, and indeterminate sentencing which are traditional elements of the rehabilitative ideal. Nonwhite wardens placed more emphasis on rehabilitation and custody, and educated wardens were more likely to perceive inmates to be amenable to treatment. Years in corrections and time at current institution appeared to heighten support for treatment and custody. The survey results show maintaining custody and institutional order to be the dominant concerns of wardens. 5 tables and 78 references