The study involved a sample of 306 inmates (28 percent of the total prison population). All cases were randomly selected from a list of those serving time on a felony charge. Data were obtained from inmate prison records and inmate personal interviews. Data covered criminal history, juvenile delinquency history, demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, family background characteristics, parent-child relationships, self-concept and identities, life-history problems, and deviant habits. Two-thirds of the sampled inmates (199 out of 306) were minor, situational offenders. The remainder consisted of 29 serious offenders, 41 problem drinkers, and 37 drug addicts. The minor offenders could be diverted from formal criminal justice processing to community-based correctional programs that involved counseling, supervision, vocational training, psychological testing, adult education classes, and victim restitution. After the successful completion of such a community-based program, the criminal charges could be dropped. Offenders who recidivate or fail to complete the diversion program satisfactorily could be tried on the original charges. Those found to be serious offenders as well as the problem drinkers and drug addicts could be held in regional prisons and afforded intensive rehabilitative programs. 7 notes and 9 references