In this update, Linton discusses the role of educational programs within correctional institutions. These programs normally receive varying degrees of support from state to state, but two exceptions are the federally administered Life Skills for State and Local Prisoners Program and the Grants to States for Workplace and Community Transition…

Every day the author enters a world of hierarchy that she cannot fully comprehend--a world in which she is expected to teach, transform, and rehabilitate incarcerated women into "productive" citizens. It is a world where political forces blow powerfully on anyone that challenges the status quo. She works with a population that most…

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders among incarcerated juveniles in Mississippi was examined. A total of 482 adolescents completed a diagnostic questionnaire and a subset (N = 317) was assessed with face-to-face semistructured interview. Most of the study participants met criteria for one mental disorder, 71?85% depending on assessment method,…

The Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-Adolescent (SASSI-A) is used in evaluation and treatment planning for incarcerated juveniles. Validity of the SASSI-A in a juvenile correctional facility was examined using archival data. Findings generally support the validity of SASSI-A substance use scales. However, there is concern regarding the…

Dr. Miriam Van Waters was the superintendent (warden) of the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women at Framingham for twenty-five years. She has the distinct honor of holding that position the longest. In 1949, she rose to national prominence when the new Massachusetts Commissioner of Corrections, under allegations of lax administrative policies,…

In this article, the author presents Kenji Ima who recalls his life in America's World War II prison camps. In the summer of 1945, after more than three years in the prison camp, Kenji Ima and his friends returned home from Minidoka. Seeing the marble edifices of the King Street railroad station and the towering buildings of Seattle, "was…

This study explored associations between ever having been arrested and other variables among 490 male drug users. Participants were classified into three groups based on recent sexual history: men who had not had sex (NOSEX), men who had had sex with women (HETERO), and men who had had sex with men (MSM). We found that MSM who had been arrested…

This study examined incarceration histories and shelter use patterns of 7,022 persons staying in public shelters in New York City. Through matching administrative shelter records with data on releases from New York State prisons and New York City jails, 23.1% of a point-prevalent shelter population was identified as having had an incarceration…

This article focuses on aspects of devising and staging a play written for a group of women prisoners. The project raised issues concerning the nature of community theatre in secure institutions. Arts work in a community context is often predicated on notions of intervention and transformation. A central question underpinning the project concerned…

This report summarizes results reported by facilities for neglected youth or delinquent youth in Austin ISD's attendance zone who received services funded by federal Title I dollars during the 2006-2007 school year.

This study explores findings of interviews from 26 adolescent female participants residing in a correctional facility and ranging in age from 15 to 18 years (M = 17.12). All had experienced maltreatment and difficulty learning in school. The purpose was to examine participants' use of emotional language through modeling communicative strategies…

Several studies have explored levels and sources of support for rehabilitation and custody among correctional workers. However, the vast majority of this type of research has been conducted in adult facilities, and there are few existing studies that use samples of juvenile correctional workers. To help address this gap in the literature, we use a…

This paper explores a unique and controversial case of Israeli English-language teachers working with Palestinian inmates incarcerated in prisons around Israel for involvement in terrorist activity against Israelis. This phenomenon is profoundly complex as the prisoners in question have been convicted of terrorist crimes against Israeli soldiers…

Michel Foucault's critical studies concerning regimes of power are of special interest when applied to architecture. In particular, he warned of the hazards of building surveillance into architectural structures for the purpose of monitoring people and took as his historical exemplar English philosopher Jeremy Bentham's "Panopticon," a structure…

The objective of this qualitative study was to establish the existing positive factors in the lives of 18 juvenile males living in a low-security correctional facility in order to determine approaches which foster resiliency. Urie Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, an approach to understanding human development within the context of the…