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MINNESOTA - DEPARTMENT OF CCORRECTIONS - AN EVALUATION OF THE ASKLEPIEION THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY AT THE MINNESOTA STATE PRISON

NCJ Number
67584
Author(s)
ANON
Date Published
1978
Length
32 pages
Annotation
USING DATA FROM INTERVIEWS WITH 8 ACTIVE RESIDENTS AND 20 FORMER RESIDENTS, ALONG WITH THAT FROM PAROLE RECORDS OF 26 FORMER RESIDENTS, AN INTENSIVE THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY AT THE MINNESOTA STATE PRISON IS EVALUATED.
Abstract
THE ASKLEPIEION THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY AT THE MINNESOTA STATE PRISON HAS BEEN OPERATING FOR 4 YEARS. THE RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY, WHICH IS HOUSED IN PRISON FACILITIES BUT SEPARATED FROM THE ACTIVITIES OF THE GENERAL PRISON POPULATION EXCEPT FOR MEALS AND RECREATION, AIMS AT PROVIDING AN INTENSIVE THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT SETTING FOR INMATES WITH SEVERE SOCIOPATHIC CHARACTER DISORDERS. SOME PROGRAM INFLUENCES DESIGNED TO CHANGE INMATE ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR ARE GAME CONFRONTATION, INFORMAL SESSIONS, JOB RESPONSIBILITIES, INTERACTION WITH OUTSIDERS (THOSE COMING INTO THE COMMUNITY FOR THERAPY TRAINING), POSITIVE PEER GROUP INTERACTION, ROLE MODELING OF STAFF AND FORMER RESIDENTS, AND TRAINING IN LAY THERAPY. INTERVIEWS WITH EIGHT CURRENT PARTICIPANTS INDICATED THAT THEY PERCEIVED POSITIVE CHANGES IN THEMSELVES AS A RESULT OF THE VARIOUS COMMUNITY PROGRAMS AND THE GENERAL ATMOSPHERE. SOME CRITICISMS OF THE PROGRAM WERE THAT CONFRONTATION DURING THE GAME OCCASIONALLY IS EXCESSIVE AND THAT ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR CHANGES MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE 'STREETS' AND OLD FRIENDS MORE THREATENING. FORMER RESIDENTS INTERVIEWED HAD OVERALL POSITIVE ATTITUDES TOWARD THE PROGRAM, ALTHOUGH THEY WERE MORE CRITICAL OF THE PROGRAM THAN WERE ACTIVE RESIDENTS. POSITIVE CHANGES WERE NOTED IN RELATION TO SELF-CONCEPT, ABILITY TO COPE, AND INTERACTION WITH OTHERS. MANY LEFT THE PROGRAM BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED ITS BENEFITS HAD BEEN MAXIMIZED FOR THEM; DISSATISFIED DROPOUTS HAD VARIED REASONS FOR TERMINATING. OUTCOME IS CURRENTLY INCONCLUSIVE BECAUSE OF THE SMALL DATA BASE; HOWEVER, OF THE 26 RESIDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN PAROLED, 18 HAVE HAD NO FURTHER CONTACT WITH THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, AND 15 HAVE BEEN REGULARLY EMPLOYED. TABULAR DATA ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)