NCJ Number
133081
Date Published
1991
Length
59 pages
Annotation
The Netherlands Justice Department, in association with the Probation Service, initiated a day detention experiment in 1989. The experiment was subsequently evaluated to determine if day detention facilitates the preparation of long-term prisoners for their release.
Abstract
In the day detention program, long-term prisoners serve the last 6 weeks of their sentence in a house in Rotterdam. They attend a scheduled program focused on life circumstances after release that consists of modules of low-skilled work, education, group dynamics, and counseling. After regular office hours and on weekends, the prisoners go home. To evaluate day detention, interviews were conducted with participants during and after their residence. Prisoners who spent the last part of their long-term sentence in a so-called open institution served as a control group. Results indicated that day detention had supplementary value beyond the regime of open institutions in preparing convicts for release. After prisoner release, no differences were found between the experimental group and the control group in terms of prospects for work, housing, and job training. Participants in day detention, however, found themselves better prepared for release than prisoners from open institutions. Further, the transition from detention to freedom was easier for the experimental group than for the control group. Generally favorable factors mentioned by prisoners in day detention were the reanimation of family life, the opportunity to settle their own affairs, and the relaxed atmosphere among participants and staff. 11 tables and 1 figure