Citation

Newton M. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 1998; 3(2): 209-223.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.2044-8333.1998.tb00362.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purpose. The impact of treatment in the therapeutic communities at Grendon Prison is assessed in terms of changes in personality, hostility and locus of control, and the effect of length of stay is examined.Method. Ninety-four men were tested on reception and discharge from Grendon, using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Caine, Foulds & Hope's (1967) Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire and Rotter's Locus of Control (I-E) Scale.Results. Mean scores on discharge were significantly closer to normal on all scales, i.e. prisoners showed lower levels of Psychoticism, Neuroticism, intro-punitive and extrapunitive hostility, higher levels of Extraversion and more internal locus of control. For Neuroticism, the degree of change was significantly related to length of stay. For all scales except Psychoticism, the proportion showing statistically reliable change was greatest for men who had stayed for at least a year.Conclusions. Residence at Grendon is accompanied by changes in personality, hostility and locus of control. The tendency for some changes to be greatest, or to affect more individuals, after relatively long periods at Grendon (in the region of one to two years) would be in keeping with a progressive treatment effect and supports the results of reconviction studies and also the time-scale suggested by Genders & Player's (1995) model of a 'therapeutic career'.

Language: en