NCJ Number
103099
Date Published
1987
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This document summarizes the results of a followup study of 133 inmates who participated in a comprehensive drug treatment program in Sweden's Osteraker Prison between January 1979 and December 1981.
Abstract
Prisoners apply to enter the Osteraker program, which has only 50 places, and are expected to stay at least 8 months. Daily monitoring by urine tests is required. Treatment components include role play, social life skills, work training, and study. The evaluation compared inmates who completed the treatment program with those removed from the project for misbehavior. Each inmate had a followup time of 2 years. Of the 133 persons accepted into the project during the study period, 70 completed the program and 63 dropped out. Sources of data were inmate records and police files. The summary profiles the sample and presents the study's findings in both short-term and long-term perspectives, with attention to recidivism, drug abuse, and occupation. Also examined are relationships between treatment variables and outcomes and program costs. Of the total population, nearly one-third did not recidivate. The recidivism rate, however, for inmates who completed the program was 16 percent, compared to 46 percent for dropouts. The summary presents the results of a followup study conducted by prison staff which examined inmates released during the budgetary years 1982-83 and 1983-84. While the later research found lower recidivism rates, this report attributes the improvement to recruitment of a less recidivism-prone population. Tables. For the original report in Swedish, see NCJ-103684.