Do Prisons Work Essay

This training will examine the effectiveness of current prison house intercession computer programs in Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, United States of America in rehabilitating or reforming an singular and coinciding recidivism rate upon a pris acers release. Prison found treat workforcet programs for sex offenders in westbound Australia, New South Wales and New Zealand argon examined and recidivism order comp bed. Treatment programs for offenders with medicate and alcohol issues and the various strategies within the turn justice system such as diversion, education and drug court programs are examined and differences explained.Rehabilitation programs such as education, life skills, employment and cognitive behavioural treatment are explained and query discussed. Conclusions will be drawn outlining programs with the highest level of recidivism both in Hesperian Australia and globally. The nothing works mantra (Martinson) 1974, is seen to be refuted and treatment is seen to be successful when it is matched to the criminogenic involve of the offender (MacKenzie, 2006).Future recommendations are made in regards to the need for correctional staff to assess each offender as an somebody with opposite needs, and to therefore implement programs that will give the offender the best change of reform or rehabilitation (MacKenzie, 2006). There are many an(prenominal) treatment and rehabilitation programs currently used in corrections around the world aimed at reducing recidivism (MacKenzie, 2006). A heuristic approach classifies various strategies into incarceration, treatment programs and rehabilitation (McKenzie, 2006).These interventions represent different strategies for controlling crime in the community, and assimilate some theoretical rationale for expecting a reduction in crime, despite creation different in the mechanism anticipated to produce the reduction (MacKenzie, 2006). Incarceration deprives the prisoner of opportunities to commit crime, usually through detention in prison or in some states capital punishment (McKenzie, 2006). Rehabilitation is based on the premise that people can change, and if assessment is to contribute to rehabilitation it must be resourceful of measuring change (MacKenzie, 2006).The Static 99 risk assessment measure is an International Tool that is currently used to assess recidivism levels of sex offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008). Rehabilitation orientated treatment programs include education, cognitive skills and employment (MacKenzie, 2006). Correctional educational programs are seen to have optimistic results in utterering levels of recidivism in prisoners (Stevens & Ward, 2007). Kaki Bukit Prison take aim based in Singapore is seen to be successful in reducing recidivism by aiming to creative a learning environment based on diaphysis Senges book The Fifth Discipline (Senge, 1990).Part of the discipline involves inmates engaging in the The Reflective Thinking Process (Oh, 2007), a n education programme which aims to assist prisoners in reflecting on past destructive behaviour and to encourage appropriate restitution. The school is supported by a multidisciplinary team of teachers, prison officers and counsellors who work together to divine service students in their studies and in their journey of change to become responsible, thinking citizens (Tam, 2007). For inmates who completed their studies at Kubit Bukit Centre and were released in 2000 and 2001, the 2 year recidivism rate was 24% (Oh, 2007).Acacia, Western Australias only private run prison, is operated by Serco and aims to bring service to life (Needham, 2009). Storybook Dads is an example of this and aims to rehabilitate prisoners, break the cycle of reoffending and close the gap amongst a child and his father (Needham, 2009). The program opens up a broad range of educational opportunities ranging from writing their own stories to learning how to use a reckoner (Needham, 2009). The main objective of the program is to empower fathers and for children to feel loved, which then improves the exits of the prisoners children (Needham, 2009).Prisoners are given the opportunity to record their childs favourite bedtime story on a CD with sound effects, personal message and CD cover (Needham, 2009). Current research indicates that fathers who have been imprisoned tend to bury from life outside the prison and subsequently lose contact completely with their children (Needham, 2009). Statistics show that six out of ten children whose father is a current or ex- prisoner become involved in criminal activities and consequently find themselves in corresponding situations to their fathers in prison (Needham, 2009).The Storybook Dads program runs in eighty prisons in the United Kingdom and maintains family connections and reduces reoffending (Needham, 2009). The National Fatherhood Initiative runs a similar programme called the Incarcerated Fathers class which operate at Branchville Corre ctional Centre in Indiana (Gosnell, 2006). It is similar to Storybook Dads programme in helping prisoners reunite with their children and families (Gosnell, 2006).One study monitored 186 men for three years after release from prison with only five returning (Gosnell, 2006). Three men returned for small offences whilst two came back on a long term basis indicating low levels of recidivism, when in comparing seventy percent of men released from prison normally return within an average of one to three years (Gosnell, 2006). Prison based treatment programs offered in Western Australia for sex offenders are the Sex Offender Program, Indigenous Sex Offender and intellectually Disabled Offender (Macgregor, 2008).Community based maintenance programs are offered for each type of offender, the current program for disabled people universe the Safe wangle Program (Macgregor, 2008). In Australia, most treatment programs for sex offenders are based on cognitive behavioural therapy aimed to tar get the criminogenic needs or risk factors of offenders (Macgregor, 2008). If these needs are commuteed the chances of changing the criminal behaviour are higher in the range of 10-30% (Blud, 1999). The programs are seen to be effective in that they work to alter many of the cognitive deficits displayed by offenders (Blud, 1999).They target the known risk factors for inner reoffending which are cognitive distortions, empathy deficits and wide ranging self regulation (Hoy & Bright, 2008). A Western Australia study in 2002 measured recidivism rates of 2165 sex offenders referred to the treatment unit from 1987 to 1999 (Greenberg, 2002). The study compared treated offenders with non-treated offenders, with no significant findings on effects of treatment on sexual recidivism (Greenberg, 2002).Systematic differences between the non-treated and treated group in the Western Australian study, such as indigenous status, risk category, and length of sentence may have impaired comparisons of groups (Lievore, 2004). Inconsistencies across the data, methodological limits may have limited the study from being able to identify less significant treatment outcomes, and to identify sources (Greenberg, 2002). At present a prison based treatment program designed for adult sex offenders is offered in every Territory and State Australia, despite many having yet to be evaluated (Macgregor, 2008).An evaluation conducted in New South Wales on the Custody Based Intensive Treatment program for high risk offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008) compared recidivism rates of 117 treated offenders with those predicted by the STATIC 99 risk assessment measure, an internationally used tool that assesses the recidivism risk of sex offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008). STATIC 99 risk probabilities are based on a sizable sample of sex offenders in the United Kingdom and Canada (Hanson & Thornton, 2000). The study found that 8. 5% of sex offenders treated at the Custody Based Intensive Treatment programs comm itted further sexual offences in 3. 5 years, compared with a predicted sexual recidivism of 26% (Hoy & Bright, 2008).An evaluation was conducted on the Te Piriti Special Treatment Program for child sex offenders in New Zealand (Nathan, Wilson & Hillman, 2003). Te Piriti incorporates cognitive behavioural therapy methods in combination with Tikanga Maori, holistic practices derived from world enamor and a desire to understand the universe (Nathan, 2008). This study compared recidivism rates of Te Piriti graduates with a control group used in the Kia Marama study (Nathan, 2008). In comparison with the non-treated groups sexual recidivism rate of 21%, a small 5. 7% of offenders who completed the programme at Te Piriti reoffended sexually (Nathan, 2008).Maori sexual offenders were to a fault found to have a positive response to the program (Nathan, 2008). Only 4. 41% of Maori offenders reoffended sexually after receiving treatment at Te Piriti (Nathan) 2003 compared with 13. 58% of Mao ri Kia Marama graduates (New Zealand Corrections, 2003). These results are supportive of the argument that programs are more effective in reducing sexual recidivism when the design and implementation are attuned to the heathen background of the offenders (Macgregor, 2008).Currently, there are various strategies within the criminal justice system that respond to offenders with drug and alcohol issues (Makkai & Payne, 2003). At one end of the spectrum is the diversion by police of world-class offenders or low level offenders into education or treatment programs (Makkai & Payne, 2003). At the other end, is the diversion of repeat drug dependent offenders facing imprisonment into intensive drug court programs (Makkai & Payne, 2003). Drug courts aim to divert both men and women offenders (Freeman, Karski & Doak, 2000).The elements of the New South Wales drug court program are treatment well-disposed support and the development of living skills regular reports to the court and regular urine testing (Freeman et al. , 2000). During the twelve month program, deviateicipants are expected to stabilise their lives by not using drugs to address health issues, and to cease criminal activity (Freeman et al. ,). Ideally, they consolidate their situation and develop life and job skills, and financially reintegrate fully, becoming financially independent (Freeman et al. ,).Analysis of the data indicates a high success rate, with only thirteen percent of the participants having committed an offence on completion of the program, indicating a low level of recidivism (Freeman et al. ,). A promising approach to combating illicit drug use has been implemented at the Metropolitan Womens Correctional Centre in capital of Seychelles (Peachy, 1999). Carniche program includes core courses in drug awareness, drug education and Alcoholics anonymous, which provides a group therapy environment and a twelve step program based on abstinence and group support (Peachy, 1999).The program runs for three to four months, after which the prisoners are reintegrated into the mainstream prison population (Peachy, 1999). The program involves a maximum of ten prisoners who live in a residential unit separate from the main prison population who participate in intensive drug group and individual direction (Peachy, 2000). The program has not been evaluated for its effect on offender recidivism and its success may depend on the support available to prisoners upon release (Peachy, 2000).A new program for women offenders, titled Reconnections, completed its vaporize phase at Bandyup Womens prison in September 2009 (Porter, 2009). The program was based on therapeutic interventions to assist women in looking at past trauma and debase in addressing their offending behaviour (Porter, 2009). Although the program was scheduled to commence in early 2010, funding problems prevented the set-back of the program (Porter, 2009). Despite the program failing to commence prison doors at Bandyup c ontinue to open to volunteers and visitors, a move imprisoned women value (Department of Corrective Services, 2005).The Western Australian Department of Justice allows over 3,000 volunteers who provide support for victims of crime, prisoners and juvenile detainees (Department of Corrective Services, 2005). Western Australias drug rehabilitation is seen to be a part of the whole sentencing process both in prison and the community for a prisoners release on parole (Cox, 2007). There is a continuum drug users who go through the Perth Drug Courts treatment programs are less likely to reoffend than those sent to prison (Cox, 2007).Recidivism rates for offenders using the courts drug treatment programs were 17 percent lower than those for offenders sent to prison (Cox, 2007). The study assessed 250 drug users, dealt with the Drug Court who were charged with offences such as burglary, stealing or fraud between 2000 and 2003 (Cox, 2007). In comparison to Western Australia one in every 100 adults is locked up in America and there penitentiary corrections system do not follow a Western approach, incorporating resources such as Drug Courts to help prevent re-offending (McClatchy, 2008).Kansas has been seen to rethink incarceration policies, with a focus on reserving prison for the worst criminals who pose a real danger to society (McClatchy, 2008). Kansas only drug court, in Lyon County, has slashed offender rearrest rates almost by half. (McClatchy, 2008). In California, a study found that in a two-year period, drug courts cost $14 million but salvage tax-payers more than $43 million over the costs of sending offenders to prison (McCatchy,2008).Kansas Department of Corrections has had success with a new parole re-entry program, including a pilot project in Wichita that gives parolees more support and helps them to keep on the straight and narrow (McClatchy, 2008). Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz has seen the new philosophy dramatically cut re-offender rates stat e-wide and reduced recidivism (McCatchy, 2008). Spectrum Addiction Services offers residential treatment, outpatient, detox and domestic violence service for substance abusers and Correctional Recovery Academies in Massachusetts, Georgia and Rhode Island (Astell, 1995).The treatment system supported by Spectrum is based on behaviour and based on self-esteem, participants feelings, and self-revelation much as the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous (Astell, 1995). Spectrum views the way to fight recidivism is behavioural, teaching people the skills to stay straight (Astell, 1995). A situational approach to drug abuse may be another avenue to seek when examining the Vietnam War (Astell, 1995). Many American soldiers who were involved with heroin use in South East Asia did not bring the habit home, indicating that some drug abuse is situational (Astell, 1995).In the mid 1970s a pessimistic assessment of rehabilitation programs by Robert Martinson asserted that nothing works in cor rectional treatment (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). til now recent reassessment using methods of meta-analysis has found that offender treatment programs do reduce problem behaviour (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). Effective programs are those which recognise the importance of individual differences and the measurement of these factors when assessing what programs and interventions would be most capable for each offender (Harland, 1996).Privatisation of prisons is seen to be a positive solution to improving treatment programs and reducing associated recidivism in development more of a restorative framework to treatment programs (Corporate Responsibility, 2007). This involves emphasising the importance of good relationships between prisoners and staff, the need to recognise the impact of cultural differences when implementing programmes and matching an officer of suitable culture and temperament to best assist the needs of the prisoner (Corporate Responsibility, 2007).Further study is indica ted as being required for WA Sex Offenders with little research being available for this group of offenders when compared to other states in WA (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). Systematic differences between the non-treated and treated group in the Western Australian study, such as indigenous status, risk category, and length of sentence may have impaired comparisons of groups (Lievore, 2004). Inconsistencies across the data, methodological limits may have also limited the study from being able to identify less significant treatment outcomes, and to identify sources (Greenberg , 2002).A recommendation for improved research design is suggested in the implementation of a similar tool as the Static 99 in Australia which is currently only available internationally in measuring sexual recidivism (Mackenzie, 2006). Another finding from reviews of the studies is the large difference of amount of research completed for drug-offenders in comparison with other offenders, such as women prisoners and sex offenders which is currently limited (MacKenzie, 2006).Given the current advert about the increasing amount of drug offenders entering the correction system it is apparent as to why there is uch a large number of evaluations of programs being completed for these offenders (MacKenzie, 2006). Although the role for corrections appears to be a current challenge, it is hoped that with further research, funding , availability of treatment programmes and education of prison officers in addressing individual and cultural differences, that the offender be given the greatest chance for rehabilitation, reform and consequently a life of freedom outside the prison bars (MacKenzie, 2006).