, group counseling, social skills training, stress reduction training, conflict management programs); (3) recreational programs (sports); and (4) spiritual programs (church ministries, spiritually-oriented meditation programs, etc.)
While there has been fairly extensive investigation of the effects of various prison treatment/rehabilitation programs (Casarjian, 1998), there has not been much research that has asked inmates and/or other prison-related staff (Human Service Personnel and Correctional Officers) what they believe to the kind of programs inmates really need. In other words, there has been little investigation of what inmates, staff, and correctional officers see as the treatment priorities with respect to rehabilitation.
The proposed study attempts to add to the knowledge base in this area by examining the perceptions of inmates, prison human services staff, and correctional officers to determine perceptions views of treatment priorities with respect to prison rehabilitation programs. Because existing research has indicated that racial/ethnic background is sometimes associated with attitudinal differences regarding various rehabilitation programs (see: McIntosh, 1986; Everhart, 1992), a subsidiary purpose of the study will be to explore for attitudinal differences as a function of racial differences.
In addition to examining for attitudinal differences in relation to race, a number of other sociodemographic variables will also be explored for their relation to attitudes toward treatment priorities in rehabilitation programs. These variables will be: age, sex, educational background, and religion.
The research problem proposed for investigation can be re-characterized as an attempt to answer the following research questions:
1. Do perceptions of rehabilitation treatment priorities significantly differ as a function of Prison Status (Human Service Personnel, Inmate, or Correctional Officer)?
2. Do...