”Give them a chance!” The social representation of the counsellors’ institutional role in prison-based drug treatment programs in Finland
Julkaisun nimi:
”Give them a chance!” The social representation of the counsellors’ institutional role in prison-based drug treatment programs in Finland
Tekijä:
Tourunen, J. Kaskela, T.
Ingressi:
This article outlines how the social representation of a counsellor’s role is construed during interviews: how counsellors rationalize prison-based drug treatment programmes, how they describe their roles and tasks in the implementation of programmes, and how they address control and sanctions related to treatment within the prison context.
Julkaisukieli:
Englanti
Julkaisutyyppi:
Järjestötutkimus
Julkaisuvuosi:
2014
Julkaisun tiedot:
Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kriminalvidenskab 101 (2); 138-157
Lyhyt kuvaus:
The article is based on interviews of counsellors both individually and in focus groups, as well as observations of group meetings in drug treatment programmes in three Finnish prisons.
The social representation of the counsellor’s institutional role seems very coherent. The counsellors generally confirmed the official rationales heard in the political discourse, but paid more attention to the positive personal consequences related to individual prisoners. They viewed their main role as “giving them a chance”, i.e., helping prisoners to work on themselves.
The counsellors did not see any major conflict between control and rehabilitation or any major constraints hindering the implementation of programmes in the prison context. The roles of counsellors and guards appeared to be surprisingly flexible in the Finnish prisons observed, and many of those interviewed had worked in both roles.
The counsellors defined themselves more as prison officials employed by the prison service than as therapists. The social representation of the counsellor’s institutional role confirms the core ideas of penal welfarism: drug rehabilitation is viewed as a crucial means of individual deterrence that serves the rehabilitative function of imprisonment.
However, penal welfarism appears to take a new form, borrowing ideas of managerialism and client-orientated thinking. When seeking rehabilitation and changes to their lives, prisoners can utilize their time in prison by participating in accredited, structured, and supervised programmes.
Despite this, the rhetoric of the importance of drug treatment programmes still conflicts to some extent with the realities, resources, and practices of everyday prison life.
Keywords: counsellor, prison-based drug treatment program, rehabilitation
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