Wormwood Scrubs Annexe - Reflections on the Working and Functioning of an Addicts' Therapeutic Community Within a Prison (From Prison Medicine, P 83-98, 1985, Sarah Cawthra and Catherine Ginty, eds. - See NCJ-101070)

• NCJ Number: 101077
• Author(s): M Glatt
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 16 pages
• Sale Source: Prison Reform Trust
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

The experience of the therapeutic community located at Wormwood Scrubs in Great Britain demonstrates that the prison service can provide a constructive program for prisoners who are alcoholics and drug addicts.

Abstract

The Wormwood Scrubs Annexe has 40 prisoners, half of whom are addicts. Contrary to the views of some, the program is not easy for its inmates. However, it provides inmates with the chance to reform both their addictions and their aggressive tendencies. It provides a humane, hopeful atmosphere that contrasts with that of traditional prisons. A high proportion of the inmates have histories of violence, but violence is almost nonexistent in the Annexe. The program's lack of effects on reconviction rates may result from its lack of aftercare services. Inmates, staff, and observers all believe that the work and the methods of the Annexe should become part of other components of the British prison system. 22 references.