SAGE Journal Articles
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Ax, R. K., Fagan, T. J., Magaletta, P. R., Morgan, R. D., Nussbaum, D., & White, T. W. (2007). Innovations in correctional assessment and treatment. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, 893-918.
A comprehensive and up-to-date review of the state of correctional psychology written by a team of leading experts in the field.
Abstract
This article considers innovations in the assessment and treatment of incarcerated individuals. The emphasis is on immediate patient needs and inmate management concerns, rather than on rehabilitation. Assessment of this diagnostically complex population is framed in dimensional and biopsychosocial terms. Scarce resources, new scientific knowledge and technology, organizational barriers, and role transformations for psychologists will guide improvements and future research in correctional mental health care, as reflected in specific areas: dimensional assessment, suicide risk assessment, neuropsychological correlates of chronic maladaptive behavior, prescriptive authority for psychologists, and telehealth. In particular, outcome research based on a broader range of interventions will be increasingly crucial to the effectiveness of correctional psychologists’ work. In the near future, the degree of impact that psychologists have will depend largely on their individual and collective initiative in promoting the benefits of their services.
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Haney, C. (2008). A culture of harm: Taming the dynamics of cruelty in supermax prisons. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, 956-984.
The author, a prominent critic of “supermax” units, discusses the psychological effects that such facilities have on the staff who work therein as well as the inmates under supervision. Proposals for the reform of the supermax concept are offered.
Abstract
This article examines the heightened risk of prisoner abuse that is created in supermax prison settings. It suggests that a combination of powerful contextual forces to which correctional officers are exposed can influence and affect them in ways that may engender a culture of mistreatment or harm. Those forces include a problematic set of ideological beliefs, a surrounding environment or ecology that is structured in such a way as to encourage cruelty, and a particularly intense—even desperate—set of interpersonal dynamics created between prisoners and guards. The importance of taking this heightened potential for abuse into account when discussing the negative effects of supermax and proposals for its reform is discussed.
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Lord, E. A. (2008). The challenges of mentally ill female offenders in prison. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, 928-942.
Prisons are holding an increasing number of women with serious mental health needs. The former superintendent of a women’s prison discusses this phenomenon and how it should be addressed. The article includes anecdotal accounts of specific problems faced by mentally disordered female offenders, such as self-harm and disciplinary violations.
Abstract
An increasing number of women offenders arrive in prison with serious mental health problems. Such inmates tend to experience difficulties negotiating the prison environment. They create all sorts of predicaments for other prisoners and instigate crisis situations that present pressing challenges to members of the staff. One prevalent form of symptomatic behavior in women’s prisons is that of self-injury, which carries the risk of death or serious impairment. Self-harm should not be the sort of behavior that invites disciplinary dispositions. Mentally ill women also become involved in disproportionate serious rule breaking, including assaultive acts, leading to inappropriate placement in segregation cells, where their difficulties are apt to become exacerbated. To address this problem, special settings can be created to accommodate some chronically disturbed women, but these serve to merely ameliorate a seemingly insoluble dilemma.
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Wormith, J. S., Althouse, R., Simpson, M., Reitzel, L. R., Fagan, T. J., & Morgan, R. D. (2007). The rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders: The current landscape and some future directions for correctional psychology. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34, 879-892.
A thoughtful summary on offender rehabilitation today and what aspects of rehabilitation and treatment correctional psychology should focus on in the future.
Abstract
The treatment literature on offender rehabilitation is reviewed with the purpose of deriving further direction for researchers and clinicians in the field of correctional psychology. After addressing the measurement of recidivism and other indicators of effectiveness, this empirically guided article reviews individual studies and meta-analyses on effectiveness of psychosocial correctional treatment for adult offenders and specialized treatment for substance abuse offenders and sexual offenders. A foundation in the general principles of offender intervention is established; principles such as risk, need, and responsivity are upheld; and common themes including the use of cognitive-behavioral interventions and the importance of treatment integrity emerge. However, questions move beyond “what works” to detailed queries about the nuances of effective service delivery, including client motivation. Well-controlled clinical studies and detailed process evaluations are still required. Other new directions include the application of positive psychology to offender treatment and the improvement of conditions under which community reentry is more likely to succeed. Directions for further research on correctional treatment are suggested.