Citation

Wong SC, Veen SV, Leis TA, Parrish H, Gu D, Liber EU, Middleton HL. Int. J. Offender Ther. Comp. Criminol. 2005; 49(4): 362-375.

Affiliation

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

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0306624X05274501

PMID

15983052

Abstract

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.

Language: en