HISTORY AND TREATMENT EFFORTS FOR A PRISON MANAGEMENT UNIT .3. PRISONGROUP-THERAPY WITH MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY-DISTURBED OFFENDERS

The experience of conducting group therapy with different groups in a state prison's Special Management Unit (SMU) for the mentally and emot ionally ill offenders has provided a definite challenge. The challenge comes from two sources: (1) the setting, and (2) the difficult, compl ex, and dual-diagnosed members of the groups. The latter aspect has be en detailed in the body of this article. Although the results have bee n meager, on balance, there is a potential for this demanding and nece ssary type of professional task.