ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL CONFLICTS IN CORRECTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

The role of the mental health professional in a prison setting has cha nged to reflect the prevailing ideology of the correctional administra tion that deemphasizes treatment and emphasizes security and custodial concerns. As a consequence, mental health professionals who work in c orrections have experienced unique ethical and professional conflicts. Standards were developed to address the conflicts and provide guideli nes for professional conduct, but dilemmas continue to exist. The auth ors believe this can be attributed to (a) the standards being vague an d (b) correctional personnel not understanding or supporting the stand ards or the psychologist's role as a mental health professional. This article examines these propositions in more detail, using vignettes an d discussion, and offers other approaches to resolving the dilemmas an d improving the delivery of mental health services to incarcerated ind ividuals.