SOCIAL WORK AND CORRECTIONS Comments on an Uneasy Partnership

This paper offers a summary of social work contributions to correctional treatment and provides a refutation to charges that social work in corrections is ineffective and adds a therapeutic veneer that prolongs the life of an outmoded, deficient system. Fundamental theories and practices of social work are consistent with the shifting emphasis from punishment to rehabilitation and community integration through focusing on the client within a social framework, attempting to influence the functioning of the social system, and coordinating new resources to met emerging needs. Postponing access to social services until after discharge from prison prevents the most rootless and disorganized among the prison population, with the highest probability of recidivism, from receiving necessary services, which might help to break the vicious cycle.