THE CALIFORNIA SELF-ESTEEM MEASURE, TOGETHER WITH A SOCIAL DESIRABILITY SCALE AND A MACHIAVELLIANISM SCALE WERE ADMINISTERED TO FIFTY INMATES UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES SIMILAR TO THOSE IN THE FIRST CALIFORNIA TEST. CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS FOR TOTAL SELF-ESTEEM SCORE WITH TOTAL SOCIAL DESIRABILITY SCORE AND TOTAL MACHIAVELLIANISM SCORE WERE QUITE HIGH, INDICATING THAT SELF-ESTEEM SCORES WERE LIKELY TO BE CONTAMINATED BY BOTH KINDS OF ARTIFACT. THE STUDY CONCLUDES THAT ANY ATTITUDINAL MEASURE EMPLOYED IN CORRECTIONAL RESEARCH NOT ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED FROM, OR TESTED ON AN INMATE POPULATION SHOULD BE SERIOUSLY QUESTIONED AS TO RELIABILITY....RCB