Wisconsin Service Association
Abstract
Wisconsin Service Association SAGE Publications, Inc.1945DOI: 10.1177/003288554502500415 RuthBaker Since a,ll human behavior is prompted by basic desires and motivations, our first job with the prisoner is to induce in him a desire for rehabilitation. Experienc'e indicates that this must be done gradually. The first step is to gain the prisonf'r's confidence, to learn his attitudes and how he came by them. Education away from his anti-social attitudes comes next. But unless he believes in you, and will reveal himself, you are powerless to help. Here in the Wisconsin Service Association we have been successful in helping 80% of our clients. A study of five years of prison records revealed that only 20h of those we helped became repeaters. Rehabilitation as against purely punitive methods is a comparatively new development in per~ology. Rehabilitation has been the primary objective of our work for many years. Our program is almhaped to gain this objective in these ways: ' (A) Work with prisoners in institutions _ . (13) Work with paroled and discharged prisoners (C) Educational and promotional work to increase understanding of prisoners and their problems. In working with prisoners and parolees, close cooperation is maintained with prison authorities. We find