230 9 Corrections and Prison Practices-—Adult Forensics
The legal system has acknowledged that persons civilly committed for psychiatric
treatment have, under specified conditions, the right to refuse medical intervention
(see Chapter 7). Is the right to refuse treatment for persons criminally confined
any different? What types of involuntary treatments do inmates typically refuse?
What constitutional protections exist for offenders exercising their right to refuse
treatment? Persons experiencing mental illness can be incarcerated and sentenced
to death. What are the constitutional limits to executing the mentally ill? What
role does a psychological competency evaluation play in a decision to carry out
an execution? What moral and ethical dilemmas do psychologists confront when
finding that a person is competent to he put to death? Some incarcerated individu-
als are convicted of various sex crimes, including molesting or otherwise violating
children. Psychologists are relied upon to treat sex offenders. Do sex offender inter-
ventions work? Is the treatment beneficial? What impact, if any, does sex offender
treatment have on recidivism (i.e., the prisoner's potential for future victimization).
in addition to the important role forensic psychologists assume regarding men-
tally ill prisoners, they also help determine how best to address related correctional
dilemmas. With advances in technology, prisoners can be electronically monitored
when placed in community settings. What do we know about the effectiveness of
such surveillance and management efforts? To what extent does the public experi-
ence a concern for safety and security given the electronic technique of monitor-
ing offenders? How, if at all, are prisoners psychologically impacted by the use of
electronic surveillance and monitoring? Violence is a part of prison life. How do
substandard correctional conditions impact prison violence? How is institutional
life psychologically stressful for inmates? What is the relationship between prison
violence and overcrowding? Reading the behavior of prisons entails understanding
how the formal and "informal" economy operates while controlling and constrain-
ing penal institutions and practices. What illicit activities are a part of prison life?
Howr is the underground economy linked to gang behavior in prisons? What is the
association between prison gangs, correctional guard relations, and the underground
economy?
The adult forensic field of corrections is replete with an assortment of contro-
versial issues or topical themes affecting prisoners and the institutions that house
them. Psychologists help provide solutions to a number of these more vexing mat-
ters. Not only are forensic experts called upon to assess how best to deal with
offenders who are mentally ill and in need of some form of therapeutic inter-
vention, they help correctional facilities interpret the overall climate in which
institutional problems surface, are resolved, and can be altogether avoided. As
the individual sections of this chapter demonstrate, by its very nature there is
a profound psychological dimension to any criminal confinement. Thus, well-
trained correctional psychologists are sorely needed if the challenges that con-
front the adult prison population are to be thoughtfully, effectively, and efficiently
addressed.