NCJ Number
132788
Journal
International Association of Residential and Community Alternatives Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1990) Pages: 20-21
Date Published
1990
Length
2 pages
Annotation
Since 1981, Isaiah House has provided pre-release offenders from Connecticut prisons an intensely structured, 90-day skill development self-help program in order to creatively reintegrate into the community.
Abstract
The residents, between the ages of 17 and 65, are selected because of good prison behavior and their motivation to become responsible citizens. The Family Therapy Program is an essential part of this total rehabilitation program; it complements the work release, career guidance, spiritual awareness, and individual and group counseling components for the 14 men who are residents. This requirement offers the resident the skills to develop more functional interpersonal relationships, not only within the family, but also on the job and in society at large. The program not only provides a bridge back to family and community, but it changes and strengthens those relationships. In the future, Isaiah House will be initiating a major study to measure the family therapy program's impact on the recidivism rate of its participants and will compare the results with a control group from another equivalent work-release halfway house without the family therapy component.