NCJ Number
171017
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 26 Issue: 3/4 Dated: (1998) Pages: 59-70
Date Published
1998
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article describes an experimental rehabilitation program for prisoners who are drug addicts initiated by the Israel Prisoners Rehabilitation Authority.
Abstract
The program, carried out in a hostel in the Tel Aviv area, features treatment based on Winnicott's theoretical propositions on "object relationships," which emphasize the importance of the "other," usually the mother, in the formation of an individual's personality and inter-personal relations, and transitional phenomena and transitional objects which ease a child's passage from infancy to adult life and temper the stress of separation from the mother. The treatment applies a variety of therapeutic modalities, from educational techniques to individual, group and family therapy, including gestalt and psychodrama. In the 6 years since the Hostel opened in January 1988, 45 ex-prisoner, male drug addicts ranging in age from 25 to 37 were housed there. Twenty-two left before completing their year's residency; of those, 16 returned to prison and drug use and 6, who did not revert to drug use, were in various stages of legal proceedings. Two of the subjects became house fathers in the Hostel. The difference between the group who completed the treatment and those who dropped out in conforming with the criteria presented in the article is highly significant (Chi square=27.91, df=1, p=.001). The article includes a provisional evaluation and a screening method for potential candidates. Table, references, notes