Adult prison therapeutic communities in America /

Abstract

This research is designed to describe information from all state department of corrections and/or rehabilitation addressing the relevance of Therapeutic Communities within their prison institutions. The over-riding philosophy of Society today appears to be lock the offender behind prison walls and forget about him or her until they are released in some manner. On the other hand, there appears to be an effort to find answers to the ageless question, "can offenders be rehabilitated while in prison?" If rates of incarceration continue to rise at their current pace, it has been estimated that one out of every 20 Americans born in 1997 will serve time in prison at some point in their lives. Unlike exaggerated Hollywood images of hopelessly criminal psychopaths, many of today's prisoners can be rehabilitated with the proper intervention and prevention programs. Continuing aftercare programs and combating the literacy issues and providing meaningful job training will assist in the war on crime, as well as, appropriate treatment for substance and addiction. Absent such treatment and training, most offenders will commit more crimes, get arrested and return to prison. The choice is ours as well as theirs. A determination has been made to gather information concerning the effectiveness of Therapeutic Communities (TCs) that exist throughout the country in state prisons. Questionnaires were sent to all 50 states. After all data were collected, descriptive and comparative statistics were conducted on the data. It was found that TC programs are being developed, implemented, and extended throughout the country. TCs are safer environments for both correctional officers and inmates, and are reducing crime and recidivism rates for those individuals who participate and graduate from TC prison programs.