NCJ Number
162265
Date Published
1990
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This research examines three groups within a single prison community to determine the extent to which levels of prisonization can be used to predict group membership.
Abstract
Prisonization has long been recognized as a process whose goals are antithetical to the reintegration of ex-offenders, i.e., it deemphasizes and even denigrates authority and the values of society outside of prison. Prison-based therapeutic communities, on the other hand, are intended to improve the attitudes and orientations of participants. The three groups examined for this study are regular inmates, therapeutic community participants, and inmates eligible for the therapeutic community. The study concludes that: (1) inmates who were addicted to drugs or alcohol at a younger age are less likely to become involved in the therapeutic community; (2) participants are young, with fairly short histories of substance abuse; and (3) participants tend to be minority group members. Findings are supportive of the therapeutic community as attaining its short-term goal of resocializing participants' attitudes and orientations. References, appendix, tables