According to the Citizens United For The Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) (1998), there are approximately 1.7 million persons in American prisons and jails, a figure that is dramatically up from the 744,000 inmates that were in American jails and prisons in 1985. This increase is said to be the equivalent of 1,075 more inmates each week.
Moreover, CURE (1998) reports that the United States now incarcerates at least six times as many people, per 100,000 population, as most civilized countries. England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, and Japan all incarcerate only between 37 and 100 persons per 100,000. The increased rate of incarceration in the U.S. has created a massive prison industrial complex that absorbs approximately 30 billion dollars per year (Elikan, 1996).
Casarjian (1998) provides a typical prisoner profile, noting that most of inmates are male. Indeed, according to Casarjian, approximately one out of every 25 American males is in prison; for Blacks, this figure rises to one out of every three while for Hispanics, the number is one out of every eight males.
About 66 percent of these prisoners have been incarcerated for alcohol or drug-related offenses. On the average, they are unemployed, under-educated, from broken homes, and have parents and/or siblings who have themselves served time. In general, about 94 percent of prisoners will eventually be out of the streets. And, according to Casarjian (1998), whether they continue committing crimes once out is going to depend upon the extent to which they have been rehabilitated.
Statistics such as those just delineated highlight the need for effective rehabilitation efforts. Over the years, diverse treatment programs have been developed to rehabilitate offenders. Elikan (1996) reports that these include: (1) educational programs such as literacy programs, math programs, college programs, and so forth.; (2) psychosocial programs (e.g....