Prison-based Correctional Offender Rehabilitation Programs: The 2009 National Picture in Australia

Abstract

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Assessing the Social Climate of Prisons

“…However, public policy in this area is underpinned by the belief that rehabilitation programs can not only bring about socially significant reductions in crime, but also reduce the direct and indirect costs to the community that are associated with victimisation and incarceration (Drake et al 2009). This belief is supported by what is now a robust body of international research attesting to the positive impact of many rehabilitation programs on re-offending rates (Andrews & Bonta 2010) and, despite the lack of controlled outcome studies that have been reported involving Australian offenders (Heseltine et al 2011), is indicative of the growing government commitment to the notion of evidence-based correctional policy and practice.…”

“…Although most Australian prisons currently offer a suite of offender rehabilitation programs (Heseltine et al 2011), some jurisdictions have invested in facilities that specifically aim to provide living environments that support rehabilitative activity with the intention of improving rehabilitative outcomes. In part, this investment has occurred in response to concerns about the potentially iatrogenic effects of mainstream prison environments, with suggestions that the negative effects of imprisonment are so strong as to make successful rehabilitation impossible (Davies 2004).…”

“…Whilst current Australian approaches to offender rehabilitation tend to be based on cognitive behavioural models which locate the causes of offending within the individual rather than within their social relationships (Heseltine et al 2011), the notion of the therapeutic environment articulated in therapeutic community models of treatment remains influential. Indeed, most rehabilitation program providers would support the adoption of some aspects of the therapeutic community model and, in particular, the idea that a broader regime can itself act as a therapeutic tool that provides opportunities for new learning and which can reinforce the positive attitudes and behaviours that are developed in structured programs.…”

“…Rehabilitation programs are now commonly, if not routinely, offered to most offenders in Australian prisons who are serving medium or long-term sentences and recent years have seen the development of a range of intensive offence-focussed programs that are targeted at higher risk offenders (Heseltine et al 2011). For many jurisdictions, investment into the development and delivery of rehabilitation programs has occurred in the context of relatively modest correctional budgets and the increasing demands that are placed on service providers from a growing prison population (Australian Government Productivity Commission 2009).…”

“Ice” (crystal methamphetamine): concerns and responses

“…Higher intensity programmes tend to have more rigorous assessment strategies, including the use of psychometric measures of change. 536 Therapeutic community models of treatment have been demonstrated to be the most effective corrections-based programs. 537 A study of inmates who received treatment within a therapeutic community setting found that participants were over three times more likely to be drug-free than non-participants.…”