NCJ Number
118030
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 51 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1989) Pages: 104-106
Date Published
1989
Length
3 pages
Annotation
To work effectively with drug-abusing inmates, correctional personnel must view addiction as a disease rather than as willful misconduct and must insist that recovery from addiction start before the inmate is released.
Abstract
Correctional officers tend to deny the possibility that like inmates, they could become drug addicts or alcoholics. The result is a self-righteous condemnation of addicts, which reduces the effects that the correctional officer might have on a chemically dependent person. Contributing to this attitude is the widespread misinformation on the subject, as shown by a recent United States Supreme Court decision viewing alcoholism as willful misconduct and by Herbert Fingarett's recent book describing alcohol consumption the central activity of the alcoholic. Nevertheless, alcoholism experts, including the American Medical Association, continue to identify alcoholism as a disease. Correctional officers should adopt this view and should recognize that the real issue is responsibility. Alcoholics and drug addicts must be held accountable for their recovery, but they should not be blamed for the disease itself. Correctional officers must also take responsibility for promoting the recovery process. In addition, they need adequate training about addiction and recovery. Photograph.