The Correctional-Rehabilitation Process in Retrospect:

Abstract

Nine male and four female ex-inmates of a co-correctional federal facility, repeat offenders who had been successfully functioning in the community for a postrelease period of 2 years or more, agreed to be interviewed on videotape. Of interest to the researchers were: (1) their views on how being placed in the minimum-security, co-correctional environment after serving time in more security-oriented settings enhanced or hindered their adjustment in the institution; (2) to what treatment-oriented programs in the institution they attributed rehabilitative qualities; and (3) their views on postrelease adjustment and reentry into society after sening time in the minimum-security facility. The various comments and analyses provided in retrospect by these ex-offenders prove thought-provoking in view of such fundamental issues as the custody vs. treatment controversy, the "rehabilitation" model of penology, and the impact of a treatment-oriented approach to adult corrections.