NCJ Number
43104
Journal
Social Work Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Dated: (JULY 1977) Pages: 284-289
Date Published
1977
Length
6 pages
Annotation
MORALE AMONG MALE RESIDENTS OF A MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON WAS FOUND TO BE DIRECTLY RELATED TO PRISON PROGRAMS. SUCH FACTORS AS AGE AND MARITAL STATUS HAD LITTLE EFFECT ON ATTITUDES TOWARD SELF AND INSTITUTION.
Abstract
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE MORALE AND ITS USE TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRISON PROGRAMS IS DESCRIBED. STUDY SUBJECTS WERE 180 MALE RESIDENTS OF THE WISCONSIN CORRECTIONAL CAMP SYSTEM, THE MINIMUM SECURITY PRERELEASE SYSTEM FOR THE STATE. MORALE SCORES WERE COMPUTED AS A FACTOR OF COMBINED 'ATTITUDE TOWARD SELF' SCORES AND 'ATTITUDE TOWARD INSTITUTION' SCORES AND RANKED ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5. THE LOWEST MORALE SCORE RECORDED WAS 1.35, THE HIGHEST 4.2, WITH A MEAN OF 3.06 FOR THE SAMPLE. AVAILABILITY OF RECREATION AND PARTICIPATION IN CAMP ORGANIZATIONS WERE BOTH SIGNIFICANTLY CORRELATED TO MORALE. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FACTOR, HOWEVER, WAS EMPLOYMENT IN A WORK-STUDY PROGRAM DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE PRISONER'S GOALS FOR HIS LIFE AFTER RELEASE. AMONG ORGANIZATIONS, PARTICIPATION IN ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS SHOWED THE HIGHEST RELATIONSHIP TO MORALE. CHURCH MEMBERSHIP SHOWED A POSITIVE, BUT NOT SIGNIFICANT, CORRELATION. AGE, MARITAL STATUS, FREQUENCY OF VISITS FROM OUTSIDERS, TIME UNTIL RELEASE, AND LENGTH OF PRISON SENTENCE SHOWED LITTLE CORRELATION. IT IS HOPED THIS SURVEY INSTRUMENT CAN BE USED TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF PRISON MORALE ON PAROLE PERFORMANCE. TABLES GIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDY SAMPLE, MORALE SCORES FOR EACH OF THE NINE UNITS OF THE CAMP SYSTEM, AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF SURVEY RESULTS.