The Attitudes of Minority Inmates Towards Recreation Programs As a Rehabilitative Tool

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of three Oregon State Penitentiary minority inmate groups—Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans—towards the Recreation program as a rehabilitative tool. Two other purposes were to (1) determine significant differences among group attitudes, and (2) determine the degree to which each group accepted/rejected rehabilitation achievement. A survey questionnaire of fifty items representing rehabilitation achievement in three areas (program management, facility/equipment provision, and habits/participation) validated by Delphi technique, was utilized. A one-way ANOVA was applied for data analysis and hypothesis testing. Where significance was achieved at the .05 level or beyond the Student-Newman-Keuls' post-test was used. The Chi-Square technique was also used to determine the degree of rehabilitation achievement among the three groups. Findings regarding rehabilitation achievement indicated that (a) Black attitudes were significantly different from Native American and Hispanic attitudes through program management, (b) Blacks' attitudes were significantly different from Native Americans through facility/equipment provision and (c) Black and Hispanic attitudes were significantly different from Native Americans through personal habits/participation. The concept of rehabilitation achievement for the recreation program was rejected by Hispanics and Native Americans while Blacks were evenly split in their responses.