Prisoner Misconduct

The following article concentrated its research on the relationship between prisoner misconduct and therapeutic community (TC) drug treatment. This study included 1,073 inmates at five Pennsylvania state prisons. According to the Department of Corrections, these prisons were chosen because they had successful TC programs as well as other alcohol or drug programs. The security level of the prisons varied from maximum security to minimum security. Out of the 1,073 inmates who participated in this study, 294 inmates were involved in a TC drug treatment program and the rest n=779, were considered the comparison group. It is important to further define the purpose and goal of a TC program. In-prison TC is a residential setting that provides the inmate a drug-free, highly structured, prosocial environment that hopes to treat substance abuse and addiction. The key goal of this program is a total lifestyle change by altering negative patterns of thinking and behavior through therapy (individual and group). Due to the shortage of space, a large number of offenders (n=779) were assigned to less invasive forms of treatment such as outpatient treatment and drug education. Thus, the comparison group consisted of TC-eligible inmates participating in these less invasive programs at the same five prisons. Unfortunately, the findings concluded that participation in intensive treatment alone does not reduce prison misconduct. The results for Class A (most serious), Class B (moderate), and Total Misconduct (A, B, & C) were very similar. Whereas TC inmates had a lower rate of misconduct than comparison inmates overall, the tests failed to show that TC inmates decreased in misconduct over time at a greater rate than comparison inmates. Inmates who committed a more serious current offense were more likely to decrease in misconduct over time. In comparison, inmates with more serious prior offenses showed higher rates of misconduct overall. Perhaps, inmates who committed current offenses were less "prsonized" and were able to control their behavior. Inmates who served more time in prison after treatment were more likely to increase in misconduct. For Class C misconduct (all other violations), the results were slightly different. Inmates with more time remaining in their minimum sentence were more likely to increase in Class C misconduct over time.

The purpose of this study was to research a possible solution for misconduct in prisons. Misconduct causes more injuries, slows delivery of services, increases physical and emotional health problems, and loss of privileges. Furthermore, misconduct also has an adverse effect on correctional officers and prison administrators: lower rates of job satisfaction, high rates of absence, and high rates of turnover. Simply put, misconduct increases costs for almost every aspect of corrections (technology, hiring and training, medical treatment, and sick leave).

The hypothesis for this