Report to the Governor of HMP Lowdown expressing the multiple uses of forensic psychologists in the Prison service in an attempt to initiate a recruitment drive of psychologists at HMP Lowdown.
Report to the Governor of HMP Lowdown expressing the multiple uses of forensic psychologists in the Prison service in an attempt to initiate a recruitment drive of psychologists at HMP Lowdown.
Introduction to forensic psychology
Forensic Psychology has often been defined as being concerned with the application of psychology to police investigations in addition to the procedures of the courts of law and professional practice within the legal system. References to research on behaviour related to legal processes, including criminal behaviour have also been made (Connolly & Mckellar, 1963; Bartol & Bartol, 1987). However, the APA and the American Psychology-Law Society have come to a joint definition of forensic psychology being: "all forms of professional conduct when acting, with definable knowledge, as a psychological expert on explicitly psycholegal issues, in direct assistance to courts, parties to legal proceedings, correctional and forensic mental health facilities, and administrative, judicial, and legislative agencies acting in an adjudicative capacity" (Committee on Ethical Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists, 1991). Although this definition of Forensic Psychology includes giving evidence to criminal proceedings as well as research concerning criminal behaviour, forensic psychologists are also concerned with working with offenders; this work can include individual assessments of offenders, interventions in the form of treatment programmes aimed at reducing the chances of prisoners offending again once their sentence has been served and they are released (especially with prisoners who have been given a life-sentence - assessing whether they are able to progress through the categorical system)
There has been a rising demand for forensic psychologists within the HM Prison Service and this has largely been due to the aims of the government to lessen to chances of re-offending by increasing interventions that focus on structured group work. Demand has also risen because of aims to increase individual work with prisoners serving life sentences. Work with lifers focuses on assessing and reducing prisoners' level of risk with regards to re-offending. Psychologists are also useful for assisting in the management of suicidal prisoners (Ashmore, 2003). That is not to say that young offenders and juvenile prisoners and even women do not benefit from intervention programmes provided and implemented by forensic psychologists. It is evident that psychologists provide assistance in a wide range of tasks within the prison service.
From a Governor's perspective, psychologists can be useful in providing assistance to staff, in undertaking tasks by contributing to achievement of objectives outlined in any manifestos prisons may have, thus performing two jobs - the first being the assessment of offenders and training of staff and the second being the performance of other such menial tasks that assist in the administration of order in prisons. The use of risk-assessment methods and tools by psychologists (often referred to as the multi-modal approach, are skills specific to contributing to the rehabilitation of prisoners.
Types of Risk-Assessments psychologists may be required to make.
By the identification and accurate definition of appropriate predictor and criterion variables, psychologists are able to assess and predict outcomes such possibility/probability of prisoners re-offending (criterion variables). Risk Assessment work with lifers in particular is an important part of the role psychologists can play in prisons. In addition to the structured groupwork interventions mentioned before, individual interventions may also be made in the cases of prisoners who perhaps need more attention than is possible to give in group sessions. Risk-assessment also extends to the examination of interventions to try and reduce the number of fights within the prison itself, trying to encourage prisoners not to engage in such conflicts, making them aware that all they are doing is reducing their chances of getting probation earlier than recommended, amongst other things.
According to Miller and Evans (1987) evaluation, prevention and treatment of inmate problems in additions to the contribution to a safe and human manner is the main aim of the work that psychologists do in prisons. These problems are not restricted to mental health disabilities, rather they attempt to address deficits in cognitive, interpersonal and coping skills and concentrate on the development of a more fully rounded individual both inside and outside of the prison.
Contributions of psychologists to staff training
Patrick (1992) acknowledges that there is a considerable amount of psychological research that is relevant ...
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According to Miller and Evans (1987) evaluation, prevention and treatment of inmate problems in additions to the contribution to a safe and human manner is the main aim of the work that psychologists do in prisons. These problems are not restricted to mental health disabilities, rather they attempt to address deficits in cognitive, interpersonal and coping skills and concentrate on the development of a more fully rounded individual both inside and outside of the prison.
Contributions of psychologists to staff training
Patrick (1992) acknowledges that there is a considerable amount of psychological research that is relevant for the training of staff in prisons. For example, research focussing on the behaviour of individuals in group settings, and the connections between an individual's attitude and their behaviour, theories of the acquisition of skills and general learning, even the methods through which an individual's performance on important indicative tasks can be assessed all contribute to making staff more aware of the ways in which they can effectively support prisoners achieve rehabilitation.
Psychologists can assist in the designing of courses in staff training, for example in the training of 'tutors' for groupwork intervention programmes and raising the general awareness of the nature and demands of programmes as well as giving expert advice to staff on hostage negotiation training, since they are able to give constructive advice drawn from experience. High levels of expertise in areas such as suicide prevention and working with lifers as well as other general areas helpful to the management of prisons also accounts for the invaluable contributions psychologists can offer in the enrichment of staff training programmes.
Applications of psychology in prisons - Hostage Negotiations
Psychologists are useful in aiding the hostage negotiator of a prison in situations where one offender takes either another offender or a member of staff hostage because they are able to objectively act as an advisor supporting the process of negotiation, this has been the primary role for psychologists working within the prison system since the 1980s (Ashmore, 2003). This usually requires the psychologists to actually be at the scene of the incident or within the command suite. The role that the psychologist plays is one of the hostage-negotiator advisor and has been aptly summarised as 'supporting the incident commander in designing negotiation strategy and tactics, and then helping the negotiators with the implementation of these tactics by advising on suitable techniques' (Evans and Henson, 1999). Psychologists are also effective in monitoring the Stockholm Syndrome (in which the hostage becomes an ally of the perpetrator, thus creating difficulties in the situation) as well as monitoring members of command and negotiation teams in addition to profiling of the perpetrator(s). Psychologists who are not involved in the incident can offer post-incident support for the victims and staff as well as the negotiator himself, suggesting ways of dealing with the stress induced by the event (Wardlaw, 1983).
Attempting to Reduce Recidivism
Recidivism refers to a previously convicted person committing and offence-related behaviour, be it legal of illegal during a specified time period (friendship and Falshaw, 2003). There are a broad range of reasons why people offend and Andrews and Bonta (1994) identified numerous factors including inability to get employment, lack of education, breakdown of family relationships, criminal social networks, substance abuse, poor community functioning, personal and emotional factors and anti-social attitudes. The greater the number of the above factors in any person's life, the more likely they are to become a perpetrator of the law.
Although there has been a huge increase in offending-behaviour programmes in prisons such as Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) and Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R&R) - and are generally seen to have a significant effect on the reduction of recidivism amongst prisoners who complete the programme successfully, they do not address all of the factors listed above. With regards to the employment factor, understandably, young offenders who find employment as soon as they are released are least likely to re-offend and concentration on improving the likelihood of gaining employment on release may be effective in minimising the chances of perpetrating again.. if programmes that provide help for prisoners with advice on how to combat the factors that have been instrumental in causing them to offend, offending behaviour programmes may be able to be evaluated as being rather effective in reducing recidivism in offenders. This has been the basis of the "what works" debate that has dominated prison based research for the past few decades. Before we consider what methods do work in reducing recidivism in an effective manner, it may be easier to determine what does not work.
General psychological literature suggests that punishment can be effective in reducing and perhaps preventing behaviour although there is more evidence suggesting that using positive reinforcement to induce changes in behaviour is more effective. The conditions under which punishment is most effective include: Inevitability - this means that when an undesirable behaviour is witnessed, there is no doubt whatsoever that punishment will follow; Immediacy - the punishment should be administered as soon as the offensive behaviour is manifested; Severity - the more severe the punishment, the more effective it is likely to be. Also the punishment needs to make sense, i.e. it must relate to the offending behaviour in order to be effective. Finally punishment only works when there are alternative responses to 'criminogenic factors' which can be learnt and reinforced. The conditions in prison are not considered as inductive of an effective punishment and many researchers have concluded that 'treatment' based programmes are more effective in the reduction of recidivism (Grendeau et al., 1993; Mackenzie & Souryal, 1994). The conclusive findings of research is that punishment on its own will be effective in identifying and treating criminogenic factors that are specific to the individual offender and may do more damage by limiting the skills and avenues of support the offenders are exposed to. Rice et al. (1990) found that incentive based programmes do not produce a lower rate of re-offending, perhaps because of the fact that programmes such as the Prison Service's Incentives and Earned Privileges System is not typical of the strict behaviourist regime of token economies that the IEP system is based on.
If treatment of criminogenic needs seems to be the only effective method of reducing recidivism, the need for psychologists in prisons, to assist I the implementation of these treatment programmes is imperative. Ross and Fabiano (1985) found that persistent offenders lack cognitive skills and programmes that are successful at reducing reoffending behaviour tend to have component that deals with the treatment of cognitive skills. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy works on the belief that behaviour is the product of cognitive processes and the modification of thought, attitudes, reasoning and problem solving skills can change behaviour and eventually the frequency of offending behaviour. Programmes that are cognitive skills based work on the following principles. Firstly, offenders must be sent on a programme that matches their level of risk and that targets criminogenic needs that have affected them. Level of risk assessment and identification of relevant criminogenic needs that need to be addressed can be and is usually done by psychologists, reconfirming the advantages of employing a psychologist to work within a prison. The multi modal Reasoning and Rehabilitation Project (Ross, Fabiano and Ewles, 1988) combines various social cognitive skills training techniques that encourage offenders to think before acting in a rash manner, to consider the consequences (for others as well as themselves) of their behaviour and to implement different ways of reacting to interpersonal problems. It is also important to match the learning styles of the offenders to the type of training programme they are enrolled in, and also to have sills based programmes. The use of manual based programmes is also effective because they keep offenders continuously engaged, thus preventing non-compliance, reversal and drifting.
Meta-analytic studies have suggested that community based programmes are more effective than prison based ones, however there is some dispute over whether this is the case or not.
The UK has incorporated cognitive skills based programmes in an almost over zealous acceptance of its effectiveness. Studies are showing that there seems to be an over-reliance on cognitive skills and the programmes seem not to be placing enough emphasis on context. Different programmes that are better structured to attending to a variety of offenders needs (criminogenic and non-criminogenic), taking into account contextual factors will ultimately produce better results. A note needs to be made here that the use of recidivism as the sole measurement of change in the behaviour of prisoners is not necessarily correct. Prisoners are typically sent on programmes that last six to eight weeks usually consisting of only a 2 hour session on any one day. Spending two hours a day for six to eight weeks of a 7 year sentence is not likely to have life-changing implications.
Also, prisoners deemed as 'untreatable' (by untreatable we refer to psychopaths - the beliefs of the prison system is often of the thread that since there is no cure for them, there is no need for participation in a programme) or 'lacking in motivation' are excluded from programmes. Are these not the very people that need treatment? Perhaps more so than prisoners that are motivated and want to reform. The large scale implementation of programmes reduces their effectiveness since it makes it difficult to maintain progress and check-up on training. There is a definite need to concentrate on the specifics when assessing what works when aiming to reduce recidivism and understanding why certain strategies work and others do not will ultimately lead to more effectiveness in the treatment of offenders.
Psychologists working with life sentenced prisoners
When working with prisoners who have been given life sentences (average length in the UK being 14 years for a single sentence), psychologists are mainly concerned with clinical risk-assessment procedures since the release of lifers on license is based on the consideration of their risk of ... re-offending. Needs & Towl (1997) outline principles that are important in achieving successful risk assessment. They insist upon the importance of 'specifying precisely' the behaviour that the psychologists are trying to estimate the chances of taking place. They also argue that the accuracy of risk assessments is greater when estimating shorter time periods for assessing chances of recurrence, thus highlighting the importance of monitoring, intervention and re-assessment. Needs & Towl (1997) also advocate that psychologists need to explore deeply the factors that may increase the risk of re-offending behaviour of individual cases and the degrees of which the factors have an effect on prisoners must be clearly described advising that 'details of both objective and subjective factors may, if expressed in assessment reports, serve as useful pointers for other practitioners who may come into contact later with the lifer.' Finally, they state that it is important to detail the factors that may be instrumental in decreasing the risk of grave re-offending.
In addition to risk assessment with lifers in prison who are trying to work their way through the different categories of detainment, sometime psychologists may also be required to work in accordance with the supervising probation officers in the risk assessment and management of lifers in the community.
Conclusions
Psychologists have many uses in prisons. When employed in a prison, forensic psychologists are useful in training staff, using their expertise to help staff identify effective methods of implementing offending behaviour programmes and since the UK has allocated £3 million of the national budget to setting up and implementing such programmes, it follows that the an increasing number of prison staff will need to be trained in the administration techniques of such programmes
The main aim of the work that psychologists do within the Prison Service is to effectively reduce the risk of the offenders perpetrating the law again after they are released from prisons. There are many methods that have been applied and researched and the general consensus is that whilst Cognitive Behaviour Therapy inspired programmes are more effective than previous methods, contextual considerations need to be taken with regards to the factors that affect individual prisoners' temperament and chances of 'staying clean' when rejoining the community. It is important for the effectiveness of offending behaviour programmes that implicit consideration is given to determining factors affecting the individual cases of prisoners rather than placing all into one programmes. This need for better detailed risk assessment reports by psychologists is further amplified when working with lifers who suffer from many other factors including mental health problems (Moore, 1996).
The work that psychologists do with women, young offenders and suicidal prisoners must not be underestimated since they play a major role in the treatment of prisoners who have displayed suicidal tendencies and there has been much research as well as practical application over the past decade into securing safer conditions in prisons to minimise the ease with which prisoners are able to injure and even kill themselves.
References
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Bartol, C. R., and Bartol, A. M. (1987) History of Forensic Psychology. In I. B. Weiner and A. K. Hess (eds), Handbook of Forensic Psychology. New York: Wiley
Connolly, K., and McKellar, P. (1963) Forensic Psychology. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 16, 16-24
Evans, J., and Henson, C. (1999) The Role of Psychologists in Hostage and other Serious Incidents. In Towl and Mcdougall (eds) (1999)
Grendau, P., Paparrozzi, M., Little, T. and Goddard, M. (1993) Does 'punishing smarter work? An assessment of the new generation of alternative sanctions in probation. Forum on Correction Research, 5 (online at http://www.csc.scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/forum)
MacKenzie, D. L. and Souryal, C. (1994) Multisite Evaluation of Shock Incarceration: Evaluation Report. Washington DC: National Institute of Justice
Milan, M. A., and Evans, J. H. (1987) Inttervention with incarcerated offenders. In I. B. Weiner and A. K. Hess (eds), Handbook of Forensic Psychology. New York: Wiley
Moore, B. (1996) Risk Assessment: A Practitioners Guide to Predicting Harmful Behaviour, London: Whiting and Birch Ltd.
Needs, A., and Towl, G. (1997) Reflections on Clinical Assessments with Lifers. Prison Service Journal, 113, 14-17
Rice, M. E., Quinsey, V. L. and Houghton, R. (1990) Predictin Treatment Outcome and Recidivism Among Patients in a maximum security Token Economy. Behavioural Sciences and the Law, 8, 313-326
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