NCJ Number
73746
Date Published
1979
Length
153 pages
Annotation
An experiment undertaken in the prison at Breda to provide inmates with social service and counseling during special office hours is evaluated.
Abstract
The services aid inmates in dealing with practical problems such as filling out forms and calling lawyers, as well as with psychological problems which require continuous counseling. Each new inmate is introduced to the services and invited to maintain contact with the social workers if he so desires. To evaluate the service, all requests for assistance and the responses to them were followed for a 3-month period in 1977. From January to June of 1978, facts were collected about individuals and the nature of the social work for those individuals. In May and June of 1978 all attempts at social assistance were once again recorded to ascertain use levels. Evaluation results indicate that most assistance questions related to information, mediation, or consultation could be handled by the administrative officer present during office hours. More than half of the inmates in protective custody or in temporary placement at Breda also take advantage of the opportunity for counseling with a social worker, and one in three of these contacts is intensive. Social workers play a valuable role in counseling, but also provide assistance in areas where material and psychological assistance overlap, such as mediation with outside agencies in resocialization efforts. In the eyes of the administration, the social office hours give inmates an opportunity to calm their misgivings. While inmates' counseling contacts with social workers appear to be useful, it is impossible to determine from the data collected for this study whether the needs of the inmates are met to their satisfaction. The social workers' most valuable services are providing immaterial aid to individual inmates, mediating between inmate-clients and prison officials, and coordinating efforts of individuals and organizations inside and outside the institution to assure continuity of assistance, which is especially important for juveniles, short-term prisoners, and drug addicts. Successful social assistance must be provided in a special context such as the separate consulting hours and in cooperation and communication between social workers and prison administration. It is recommended that all prisons initiate such a program, that provision be made for inmate assistance in matters ranging beyond the competence of the prison social worker, that social workers be trained in outreach work, and that more postrelease assistance be provided and be coordinated with prison social workers' efforts. Special efforts should be mounted to fill the assistance needs of juveniles, drug users, and short-term prisoners, possibly employing group counseling methods. Emphasis must be placed on a broad range of services to all inmates. Tables and an appendix documenting the evaluation are supplied.