A small body of research supports the “treatment hypothesis” that participation in prison treatment programs reduces inmate misconduct, although methodological weaknesses have limited generalizable conclusions. Using general linear modeling repeated measures techniques, this study examined pre- and posttreatment misconduct for 1,073 inmates who participated in therapeutic community (TC) drug treatment (n = 294) or a comparison group (n = 779) at five state prisons. Predictors included age, length of sentence, drug dependency, and prior and current criminal history. The hypothesis that TC treatment alone would significantly reduce misconduct over time was not supported. Instead, changes in misconduct over time interacted with individual characteristics and time served posttreatment. The article discusses implications of these results for treatment policies and future research.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author .
2.
Andrews, D.A. , & Bonta, J. (2003). Psychology of criminal conduct (3rd ed.). Cincinnati, OH : LexisNexis/ Anderson .
3.
Bottoms, A. (1999). Interpersonal violence and social order in prisons . In M. Tonry & J. Petersilia (Eds.), Prisons. Crime and justice: Review of research (Vol. 26, pp. 205-281). Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
4.
Broome, K.M. , Knight, K. , Joe, G.W. , & Simpson, D.D. (1996). Evaluating the drug-abusing probationer: Clinical interview versus self-administered assessment . Criminal Justice and Behavior, 23, 593-606 .
5.
Cao, L. , Zhao, J. , & Van Dine, S. (1997). Prison disciplinary tickets: A test of the deprivation and importation models . Journal of Criminal Justice, 25, 103-113 .
6.
Collins, J.J. , & Allison, M. (1983). Legal coercion and retention in drug abuse treatment . Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 34, 1145-1149 .
7.
Craddock, A. (1996). A comparative study of male and female prison misconduct careers . The Prison Journal, 76, 60-80 .
8.
Cullen, F.T. , Latessa, E.J. , Burton, V.S. , & Lombardo, L.X. (1993). Correctional orientation of prison wardens: Is the rehabilitative ideal supported?Criminology, 31, 69-92 .
9.
Deitch, D.A. , Koutsenok, I. , McGrath, P. , Ratelle, J. , & Carleton, S. (1998, March). Outcome findings regarding in-custody adverse behavior between therapeutic community treatment and non-treatment populations and its impact on custody personnel quality of life . Paper presented at the Consensus Meeting on Drug Treatment in the Criminal Justice System, Washington, DC. Retrieved March 11, 2005, from http://www.ncjrs.org/ondcppubs/treat/consensus/deitch.pdf
10.
DeLeon, G. (2000). The therapeutic community: Theory, model and method . New York: Springer-Verlag .
11.
Dietz, E.F. , O'Connell, D.J. , & Scarpitti, F.R. (2003). Therapeutic communities and prison management: An examination of the effects of operating an in-prison therapeutic community on levels of institutional disorder . International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 47, 210-223 .
12.
Dobson, A.J. (2001). An introduction to generalized linear models (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall/CRC .
13.
Flanagan, T. (1980). Time served and institutional misconduct: Patterns of involvement in disciplinary infractions among long-term and short-term inmates . Journal of Criminal Justice, 8, 357-367 .
14.
Flanagan, T.J. (1983). Correlates of institutional misconduct among state prisoners . Criminology, 21, 29-39 .
15.
French, S.A. , & Gendreau, P. (2006). Reducing prison misconducts: What works!Criminal Justice and Behavior, 33, 185-218 .
16.
Gaes, G. , & McGuire, W.J. (1985). Prison violence: The contribution of crowding versus other determinants of prison assault rates . Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 22, 41-65 .
17.
Gaes, G.G. , Flanagan, T.J. , Motiuk, L.L. , & Stewart, L. (1999). Adult correctional treatment. In M. Tonry & J. Petersilia (Eds.), Prisons. Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 26, pp. 361-426). Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
18.
Gendreau, P. , Coggin, C.E. , & Law, M.A. (1997). Predicting prison misconducts . Criminal Justice and Behavior, 24, 414-431 .
19.
Gendreau, P. , & Keyes, D. (2001). Making prisons safer and more humane environments . Canadian Journal of Criminology, 43, 123-130 .
20.
Goetting, A. , & Howson, R.M. (1986). Correlates of prisoner misconduct. Journal of QuantitativeCriminology, 2, 49-67 .
21.
Hiller, M.L. , Knight, K. , Broome, K.M. , & Simpson, D.D. (1998). Legal pressure and treatment retention in a national sample of long-term residential programs . Criminal Justice and Behavior, 25, 463-481 .
22.
Huyn, H. , & Mandeville, G.K. (1979). Validity conditions in a repeated measures design . Psychological Bulletin,86, 964-973 .
23.
Inciardi, J.A. , Martin, S.S. , & Butzin, C.A. (2004). Five-year outcomes of therapeutic community treatment of drug-involved offenders after release for prison . Crime and Delinquency, 50, 88-107 .
24.
Innes, C.A. (1997). Patterns of misconduct in the federal prison system . Criminal Justice Review, 22, 157-174 .
25.
Irwin, J.K. (1981). Sociological studies of the effects of long-term confinement. In D. A. Ward & K. F. Schoen (Eds.), Confinement in maximum custody (pp. 49-60). Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath .
26.
Irwin, J.K. , & Cressey, D. (1962). Thieves, convicts, and the inmate culture . Social Problems, 10, 142-155 .
27.
Jiang, S. , & Fisher-Giorlando, M. (2002). Inmate misconduct: A test of deprivation, importation, and situational models . The Prison Journal, 82, 335-358 .
28.
King, R.D. , & McDermott, K. (1995). The state of our prisons. Oxford, UK: Clarendon .
29.
Kinlock, T.W. , O'Grady, K.E. , & Hanlon, T.E. (2003). The effects of drug treatment on institutional behavior . The Prison Journal, 83, 257-276 .
30.
Langan, N.P. , & Pelissier, B.M.M. (2002). The effect of drug treatment on inmate misconduct in federal prisons. Washington, DC : Federal Bureau of Prisons . Retrieved March 11, 2005, from http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects/published_reports/drug_treat/oreprdap_miscond.pdf
31.
Liebling, A. (1999). Prison suicide and prisoner coping. In M. Tonry & J. Petersilia (Eds.), Prisons. Crime and justice: Review of research (Vol. 26, pp. 283-359). Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
32.
Logan, C. (1993). Criminal justice performance measures for prisons . In J. DiIulio , Jr., G. P. Alpert , M. H. Moore , G. F. Cole , J. Petersilia , C. H. Logan , & J. Q. Wilson , (Eds.), Performance measures for the criminal justice system (pp. 19-60). Washington, DC : U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics .
33.
Maguire, K. (1992). Prison industry: The effect of participation on inmate disciplinary adjustment . Dissertation Abstracts International , 53, 312 .
34.
Martin, S.S. , Inciardi, J.A. , & O'Connell, D.J. (2003). Treatment research in OZ: Is randomization the ideal or just somewhere over the rainbow . Federal Probation, 67, 53-60 .
35.
McCorkle, R.C. , Miethe, T.D. , & Drass, K.A. (1995). The roots of prison violence: A test of the deprivation, management, and “not-so-total” institution models . Crime and Delinquency, 41, 317-331 .
36.
McCullagh, P. , & Nelder, J.A. (1989). Generalized linear models (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall/CRC .
37.
McCulloch, C.E. , & Searle, S.R. (2000). Generalized, linear, and mixed models. New York: John Wiley .
38.
Mitchell, O. , MacKenzie, D.L. , & Wilson, D.B. (2002, November). The effectiveness of incarceration-based drug treatment on offending and drug use: An empirical synthesis of the research . Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Criminology, Chicago.
39.
O'Donnell, I. , & Edgar, K. (1999). Fear in prison . The Prison Journal , 79, 90-99 .
40.
Office of National Drug Control Policy. (1999 ). Therapeutic communities in correctional settings: The prison based TC standards development project. Final report of Phase II (NCJ-179365)Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy .
41.
Pearson, F. , & Lipton, D. (1999). A meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of corrections-based treatments for drug abuse . The Prison Journal , 79, 384-410 .
42.
Peters, R.H. , Greenbaum, P.E. , & Edens, J.F. (1998). Prevalence of DSM-IV substance abuse and dependence disorders among prison inmates . American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 24, 573-587 .
43.
Peters, R.H. , Greenbaum, P.E. , Steinberg, M.L. , Carter, C.R. , Ortiz, M.M. , Fry, B.C. et al. (2000). Effectiveness of screening instruments in detecting substance use disorders among prisoners . Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 18, 349-358 .
44.
Prendergast, M. , Farabee, D. , & Cartier, J. (2001). The impact of in-prison therapeutic community programs on prison management . Journal of Offender Rehabilitation , 32, 63-78 .
45.
Prendergast, M.L. , Hall, E.A. , Wexler, H.K. , Melnick, G. , & Yao, Y. (2004). Amity prison-based therapeutic community: 5-year outcomes . The Prison Journal, 84, 36-60 .
46.
Richie, B.E. (2001). Challenges incarcerated women face as they return to their communities: Findings from life history interviews . Crime and Delinquency, 47, 368-389 .
47.
Shearer, R.A. , & Carter, C.S. (1999). Screening and assessing substance-abusing offenders: Quantity and quality . Federal Probation, 63, 30-34 .
48.
Siddall, J.W. , & Conway, G.L. (1988). International variables associated with retention and success in residential drug treatment . International Journal of the Addictions, 23, 1241-1254 .
49.
Simourd, D. (2004). Use of dynamic risk/need assessment instruments among long-term incarcerated offenders . Criminal Justice and Behavior, 31, 306-323 .
50.
Simpson, D.D. (1994). TCU/PTA forms manual: Texas prison-based treatment assessment (PTA Project). Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University, Institute of Behavioral Research .
51.
Simpson, D.D. , & Knight, K. (1998). TCU data collection forms for correctional residential treatment. Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University, Institute of Behavioral Research .
52.
Simpson, D.D. , Knight, K. , & Broome, K.M. (1997). TCU/CJ forms manual: TCU drug screen and initial assessment. Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University, Institute of Behavioral Research .
53.
Steinke, P. (1991). Using situational factors to predict types of prison violence . Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 17, 119-132 .
54.
Sykes, G.M. (1958). The society of captives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
55.
Toch, H. (1977). Living in prison: The ecology of survival. New York: Macmillan .
56.
Toch, H. (1997). Corrections: A humanistic approach. Guilderland, NY: Harrow & Heston .
57.
Travis, J. , & Visher, C. (Eds.). (2005). Prisoner reentry and crime in America. New York: Cambridge University Press .
58.
Wellford, C. (1967). Factors associated with adoption of the inmate code: A study of normative socialization . Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, 58, 197-203 .
59.
Welsh, W.N. (2001). Effects of student and school factors on five measures of school disorder . Justice Quarterly, 18, 401-437 .
60.
Welsh, W.N. (2002). Evaluation of prison based drug treatment in Pennsylvania: A research collaboration between the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and the Center for Public Policy at Temple University. Final Report to the National Institute of Justice , Grant 99-CE-VX-0009 (NCJ 197058). Retrieved July 11, 2006, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/197058.pdf
61.
Welsh, W.N. (2003). Individual and institutional predictors of school disorder . Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 1, 346-368 .
62.
Welsh, W.N. , & Zajac, G. (2004). A census of prison-based drug treatment programs: Implications for programming, policy and evaluation . Crime and Delinquency, 50, 108-133 .
63.
Wilson, D. , Gallagher, C.A. , & MacKenzie, D.L. (2000). A meta-analysis of corrections-based education, vocation, and work programs for adult offenders . Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 37, 347-368 .
64.
Wooldredge, J.D. (1991). Correlates of deviant behavior among inmates of U.S. correctional facilities . Journal of Crime and Justice , 14, 1-25 .
65.
Wooldredge, J.D. (1994). Inmate crime and victimization in a southwestern correctional facility . Journal of Criminal Justice, 22, 367-381 .
66.
Wooldredge, J.D. (1998). Inmate lifestyles and opportunities for victimization . Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 35, 480-502 .
67.
Wooldredge, J. , Griffin, T. , & Pratt, T. (2001). Considering hierarchical models for research on inmate behavior: Predicting misconduct with multilevel data . Justice Quarterly, 18, 203-231 .
68.
Wright, K.E. (1991). A study of individual, environmental and interactive effects in explaining adjustment to prison . Justice Quarterly , 8, 217-242 .
69.
Zamble, E. (1992). Behavior and adaptation in long-term prison inmates: Descriptive longitudinal results . Criminal Justice and Behavior , 19, 409-425 .
70.
Zamble, E. , & Porporino, F. (1988). Coping, behavior and adaptation in prison inmates . New York: Springer-Verlag .
