Open Prisons and Rehabilitation - An Empirical Investigation of an Experiment in Corrections - Main Report

• NCJ Number: 79616
• Author(s): E Kuhlhorn; L Johansson; I Lundberg
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 481 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Council for Crime Prevention
• Sale Source: Brottsforebyggande Radet
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Country: Sweden
• Note: Report 1979, number 3.

Annotation

This report describes the Sundsvall experiment conducted in Sweden to test the effects of dramatically increasing resources for open prisons and for related rehabilitative programs. The outcome was measured in terms of the recidivism rates, alcohol abuse, and ability to hold a job for 1,785 experimental and control offenders.

Abstract

Begun in 1972, the experiment entailed tripling the number of personnel in open institutions in the Sundsvall district, adding 20 open group homes, providing an additional 20 places in open hotel-like residences, establishing social medicine clinics, and sending a representative to the Sundsvall Labor Board to locate jobs for offenders. One component of the experiment was to allow clients to choose their guardian or supervisor from among friends or family. The lay supervisors would be responsible for reporting to the corrections department on the offenders' progress and would be paid for their efforts. Emphasis during the experiment would be on meeting clients' needs rather than on custody and punitive measures. Clients with a medium to high risk of recidivating would be intensively supervised (weekly contact with supervisor), and clients with a low risk would be required to make a quarterly contact. Study subjects included all offenders who entered the Sundsvall correctional system during the experimental periods and all persons entering the more traditional Karlstad correctional system. Subjects were followed for a 2-year period. Results indicated that the experimental group showed no significantly different improvement for any of the three outcome measures (recidivism, alcohol use, employment) over the controls or over pre-experimental levels for Sundsvall. Overall, the experiment in increasing resources did not appear to be successful. The program could be changed to test the effects of increasing the intensity of the supervision of clients, perhaps by requiring that the supervisor or guardian be a work or school associate of the offender. Tabular study data and over 60 references are supplied.