Program evaluation of a comprehensive treatment package for mentally retarded offenders

Abstract

A comprehensive. behaviorally-engineered residential treatment program for adult mentally retarded offenders. operated by the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Retardation. is described and evaluated. This secure facility. the Rehabilitation and Intensive Treatment Environment (RITE Unit). was located on the grounds of a large state-operated institution. A full-time equivalent of 19 professional and paraprofessional staff served a maximum of six participants within this time-limited treatment program. Treatment of paraphilic and other offender behaviors over a one-and-a-half year period included formal academic and vocational training. sex education. a unit token economy. and individual behavior therapy including sexual reconditioning. A comprehensive array of residential program services was also provided. Supported competitive employment, fading of program structure. and increased community participation were successively introduced. Of the seven persons admitted to the program. three attained the program goal of unsupervised community participation, while another two achieved significant progress. Abrupt administrative reorganization precluded assessment of maintenance and generalization of self-control skills. However, results suggested that comprehensive behavioral treatment can effectively meet the needs of adult mentally retarded offenders. and corroborate the findings reported by G. C. Denkowski and his co-workers (e.g.. Denkowski & Denkowski. 1986) for younger groups.