The correctional system in general must fulfill two conflicting tasks, simultaneously punishing and safeguarding as well as rehabilitating. The assignment of these tasks to two different function groups of social workers/psychologists and guards (i.e., those who assist and those who punish) has led to polarization. The helping professionals tend to 'play Santa Claus,' to view themselves as missionaries and the clients as sick persons, and to presume wrongly that their relationship with the inmates is based on voluntary choice on both sides. Guards tend to leave all assistance to the helpers and so fail to create any human relationship with the inmates. The inmates are faced with permissiveness on the one hand and excessive discipline on the other. Detention in facilities for short-term confinement and preventive custody has three kinds of consequences for the detainee: he is prevented from engaging in all normal, outside activities; he is involved in legal proceedings which he does not understand but which have profound implications for his future; and his personal troubles, already present before detention, become aggravated until he either seeks help or deteriorates to a pathological state. The detention facility must seek to offer answers to these problems and diminish damage to detainees; neither excessive punishment nor excessive assistance serve this goal. Guards should be able to counter the first difficulty, that of the loss of freedom, by listening to the inmates, identifying the problem and facilitating adjustment to the jail surroundings and activities. Guards would thus function as the first instance of problem diagnosis. The second, legal problem should be overcome through reports to the court by the correctional administration and social workers with the cooperation of the detainee. To contend with the third, psychological problem, the social worker/psychologist should be called in by the inmate himself or by the correctional staff. It is concluded that services to reduce damages from detention should be separated from actual assistance services and administered by separate organizations. Proposed functions of the correctional staff and the multidisciplinary sociopsychological district team are delineated.