This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Wong, S. C. P. Articles by Middleton, H. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wong, S. C. P. Articles by Middleton, H. L. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Reintegrating Seriously Violent and Personality-Disordered Offenders from a Supermaximum Security Institution into the General Offender Population

Regional Psychiatric Centre, P.O. Box 9243, 2520 Central Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7K 3X5, Canada

Sarah Vander Veen

Regional Psychiatric Center, P. O. Box 9243, 2520 Central Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7K 3X5, Canada

Timothy A. Leis

Correctional Service of Canada, P.O. Box 9223, 2313 Hanselman Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7H 3X5, Canada

Heather Parrish

University of Alberta, #403 81 Bothwell Drive, Sherwood Park, Alberta, T8A 2LA, Canada

Deqiang Gu

Regional Psychiatric Centre, P. O. Box 9243, 2520 Central Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7K 3X5, Canada

Elizabeth Usher Liber

Regional Psychiatric Centre, P.O. Box 9243, 2520 Central Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7K 3X5, Canada

Heather L. Middleton

Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, College of Education, 28 Campus Drive, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 0X1, Canada

Offenders who have committed serious violent acts while incarcerated are often segregated and housed in supermaximum security facilities. Given the highly restricted regime under which they are detained, it is often difficult to decide if they are safe enough to be discharged. However, there is a need to reintegrate them into the general offender population in a lower security institution for humane, correctional, and financial reasons. We propose a transitional strategy to facilitate their reintegration by way of a maximum-security step-down treatment-oriented facility within which both their security requirements and treatment needs could be adequately met. The present study reports the results of such an approach. More than 80% of the offenders (n = 31) were reintegrated into a lower-security facility without relapsing and being returned to the supermaximum institutions within a follow-up period of 20 months. They also have lower institutional offense rate postreintegration compared to prereintegration.

Key Words: violence • personality disorder • treatment

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 49, No. 4, 362-375 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0306624X05274501


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?