The Complexity of Treatment in a High Security Prison Setting : Limitations and Possibilities

Sammanfattning: For those individuals who committed serious crimes, treatment often shows lack of positive effects in terms of social, psychological and behavioral change (Latessa, Cullen & Gendreau, 2002). Not only is the treatment high in cost, but sometimes also results in negative outcomes through the deterioration of an individual’s behavior, as well as their social and psychological function. Due to the goals and values in society, there is a requirement that the human services and treatment organizations can provide a concise image regarding the extent of given interventions but also whether their efficient in terms of improving the individuals’ over all wellbeing. The overall aim with this study is to investigate how treatment within prison settings is distributed in terms of promoting positive changing processes through daily around-the-clock activities. This study has a qualitative approach where the data has been conducted through interviews with the staff at T-unit, Kumla prison. The result shows that the treatment is practiced in accordance with the risk, need and responsivity model. However, there is a lack of interaction between the prison officer’s and the inmate’s which prevent the specific treatment to connect with the daily activities which in turn prevent a positive socialization process to occur.