A national survey of correctional psychologists

Eight hundred psychologists working in U.S. prison systems were surveyed to provide a comprehensive profile of correctional psychology. The number of prison-based psychologists has doubled in the past 20 years. They are predo minantly Caucasian males who work with offenders representing a wide spectr um of security levels and psychological problems. Administrative duties hav e grown and now occupy about one third of professional time. The authors al so report preferred therapy modalities, mental health issues addressed in t reatment, use of assessment instruments, and professional issues such as tr aining and predictions of future correctional work. The authors discuss the se results highlighting issues of professional identity, concerns about tre atment for the severely mentally ill, calls for group-based treatments, and uses of task-specific assessment instruments. The authors also suggest att ention be devoted to outcome assessment and to the issues of training and r ecruiting well-prepared psychologists for the challenging and critical role of correctional psychologist.