Closed Thinking Not Receptive to Feedback from Others, Not Selfcritical;

events, thoughts, feelings and behaviors. In addition, it uncovers dysfunctional thinking patterns that lead to bad feelings and antisocial behaviors.

This is compatible with religious training because the same principles can be supported from a biblical perspective. Proverbs 1:7 (new revised standard version) states, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." The same concept is expressed in Romans 12:2 (new revised standard version), which states, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God what is good, and pleasing and perfect."

As Rebecca Propst points out in her book, Psychotherapy In a Religious Framework: Spirituality In the Emotional Healing Process, cognitive therapy techniques and Christian ideas can be blended to provide an effective healing environment. Propst notes that cognitive therapy helps in the healing partnership by giving the client a rationale for the treatment procedures, encouraging selfawareness and teaching new ways of thinking more flexibly and productively. Stanton Yochelson and Samuel Samenow contend that offenders think differently than prosocial people inmates do what they do because of the way they think. Yochelson and Samenow identified 10 thinking errors that are exhibited to a higher degree by inmates than nonoffenders:

· Closed thinking not receptive to feedback from others, not selfcritical;

· Victim stance views self as a victim and blames others;

· Views self as a good person fails to acknowledge own destructive behavior, builds self up at others' expense;

· Lack of effort unwilling to do anything perceived as boring, has an "I can't" attitude;

· Lack of interest in responsible performance responds only if there is an immediate payoff;

· Lack of time perspective does not learn from the past, inability to delay gratification;

· The fear of fear denies fear in self and attacks fear in others;

· The power thrust uses intimidation to control others;

· Uniqueness different from and better than others, rules do not apply to them; and

· Ownership perceiving all things and people as objects to possess.

Correcting thinking errors requires attacking them from several fronts at once. Yochelson and Samenow formed therapeutic communities with a high level of accountability. Inmates were taught to recognize thinking errors and begin to put on mental brakes whenever they caught themselves engaged in one. They spent several hours a day, several days a week in group therapy reporting their thinking patterns. When not in the group, they were asked to recognize and keep a log of their thoughts and actions, which were reported back to the group. A strict code of honesty, even about apparent, trivial matters, was mandatory in order to develop prosocial patterns of thinking and behaving. This approach, developed with offenders who were on probation or parole, resulted in lower parole violations and reduced recidivism.'

Boyd Sharp, while working as a clinical supervisor of the Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program at Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker City, Ore., set up a 50bed therapeutic program based on Samenow and Yochelson's model. When treated inmates were compared with matched untreated inmates, the program demonstrated reductions in reincarceration and conviction for the first two years after release from prison. Overall, depending on the measure and the period of observation, inmates treated in the program had recidivism rates between 5 percent and 40 percent lower than comparable untreated offenders. Two years after release from prison, clients had 33 percent fewer convictions, and 24 percent fewer revocations than their matched comparison group.'

Wyatt Mullinax is a social worker and pastoral counselor in the Fort Wayne, Ind., area who specializes in counseling individuals and families in trouble with the law. He too applies the principles of cognitive restructuring to help clients recognize and correct antisocial attitudes. Adapting material from Yochelson and Samenow, Mullinax developed a curriculum for the Indiana Department of Correction that explains the common thinking errors that lead people to deviant behavior and then shows how the Bible addresses each of these errors.

Effective Programs

In August 1999, the National Institute of Corrections conducted a three-day workshop in Indianapolis titled "Promoting Public Safety Using Effective Interventions With Offenders." The conference was sponsored by the Indiana DOC and the NIC What Works Committee. At this conference, Edward Latessa, head of the Division of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, identified program targets that were characteristics of the effective programs he has evaluated in his role as an NIC consultant. According to Latessa, the most effective programs begin by assessing the factors that contribute to each offender's probability of continued criminal activity, and then targeting these needs with appropriate programming. Some examples of risk factors include antisocial attitudes, associates, personality characteristics, values and beliefs, and a history of substance abuse and general problems at home, school or work. Some promising targets for change based on these risk factors include changing antisocial attitudes, managing antisocial feelings, reducing antisocial peer associations, promoting familial affection/communication, increasing selfcontrol and problemsolving skills, replacing the skill of lying, stealing and aggression with more prosocial alternatives, reducing chemical dependencies and substance abuse, and ensuring that the client is able to recognize risky situations and has a concrete and well-rehearsed plan for dealing with those situations.

Latessa also addressed the effectiveness of various treatment modalities used to target these risk factors and deduced that cognitivebehavioral treatment approaches were the most effective because they address the connection between criminal thinking and criminal behavior.

A third factor in effective programs is paying attention to responsivity, which involves trying a variety of approaches to meet individuals' needs in order to increase the probability of cooperation in the treatment program. In their book, Motivational Interviewing, William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick suggest five principles that contribute to client cooperation: express empathy, develop discrepancy between present behavior and important goals, avoid argumentation, roll with resistance and support self-efficacy as the client is responsible for choosing and carrying out personal change.

Research indicates that certain elements in a person's life have a high correlation with criminal activity. Andrews and Bonta have developed an instrument, the Level of Service InventoryRevised, which predicts infractions within the correctional setting and recidivism upon release by examining 10 areas of a person's life: criminal history, education/employment, financial situation, family/marital relationships, accommodation, leisure/recreation pursuits, companions, alcohol/drug problems, emotional/personal problems and attitudes/ orientation. The top five major risk factors are antisocial attitudes, values and beliefs, antisocial associates, a history of antisocial behavior, antisocial personality characteristics, and general problems at home, school or work.'

When an offender is imprisoned, some of the risk factors associated with recidivism are temporarily beyond control. However, several of the factors can be addressed. Most prisons have educational and vocational programs, substance abuse treatment and other programs aimed at helping to change antisocial attitudes and thinking.

Since NIC was established, a lot has been learned about what works and what does not work in correctional programs such as substance abuse treatment, therapeutic communities that address criminal thinking and various types of community corrections. However, to date, NIC has not conducted a study of religious programming as a separate entity. Most, if not all, of the facilities it has evaluated offer religious services to the inmates, but the impact of those services as a separate component of treatment has not been evaluated.

of cooperation in the treatment program. In their book, Motivational Interviewing, William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick suggest five principles that contribute to client cooperation: express empathy, develop discrepancy between present behavior and important goals, avoid argumentation, roll with resistance and support self-efficacy as the client is responsible for choosing and carrying out personal change.

OutcomeBased Measures

The Center for Social Research Inc., a nonprofit research company that helps organizations develop, fund and evaluate social programs, conducted a study of the impact of religious programs at Lieber Correctional Institute (LCI), a maximumsecurity adult male facility in Lieber, S.C. The study, which was funded by Prison Fellowship, the South Carolina DOC and the Center for Social Research Inc., examined religious programs and services and their impact on infractions at LCI. From Jan.1 through Dec. 31, 1996, LCI's chaplain's office entered data into a computerized system that maintained the number of times each inmate attended any religious program by month. It also recorded what activities were held every month. In addition, data of the infractions committed by inmates during the year were provided by the facility. The study found that mere attendance at religious programs versus nonattendance was not statistically significant as a predictor of infractions, but the rate of attendance was.

The authors of the LCI study report noted that, "There was no difference between the religious and nonreligious groups in the likelihood of having an infraction. However, we did find that the more religious sessions an inmate attended compared to how many he possibly could have attended, the less likely he was to have an infraction. This means that religious programming does help to reduce infractions. That is, the impact of religious programming derives not from the fact of attending religious programs but from going to religious programs more often." This study did not look at the content of religious study but rather the level of attendance and the outcome in terms of behavior. The report's authors theorize that two basic components of the religious programs were responsible for their impact: the prosocial modeling provided by the religious volunteers who were described as highly involved and attached to family, work, education, politics and church; and the transformation of a person's life as a result of religious conversion.

Putnamville Correctional Facility

At Putnamville Correctional Facility in Greencastle, Ind., the chaplain conducted a formal study of the effectiveness of a faithbased program that focused on changing criminal thinking and behavior. Putnamville is a low to mediumsecurity adult male facility with about 2,000 inmates. Materials developed by Mullinax for his program, Biblical Correctives to Thinking Errors, were adapted for the curriculum. Individuals selected for the study shared the following characteristics:

· Not currently involved in treatment programs offered by other departments (e.g., vocational training, education and substance abuse treatment);

· Participated regularly in a variety of chapel programs;

· Graduated from the Christian 12Step Program offered by the chapel; and

· Expressed a desire to be a participant in this program.

These criteria were important for a number of reasons. These individuals were selected because they were not influenced by other programs, had shown a commitment to study and work on their spirituality and demonstrated a willingness to look at the connection between one's thinking and one's actions. In addition, the "stinking thinking" that 12step programs discuss is similar to the thinking errors that cognitiverestructuring programs address, so it was important that graduates of the Christian 12Step Program participated. This criteria combined with the desire to participate were part of the receptivity factor that studies on effective correctional programs have identified as a crucial ingredient.

Once the criteria were set and opportunities to sign up were announced, 46 inmates responded. Of this group, eight were transferred or discharged during the study, reducing the total number to 38. The experimental group comprised 10 people who received instruction on correcting thinking errors. The remaining 28 were placed on a waiting list and became the control group.

The study found that mere attendance at religious programs versus

nonattendance was not statistically significant as a predictor of infractions, but the rate of attendance was.

Facility infractions were selected as the measurement criteria. Research by Andrews correlates infractions within a correctional facility with recidivism after release? The more an offender breaks the rules while incarcerated, the more likely that person is to break the law upon release and return to prison. In Indiana, an infraction is the violation of any of the offenses listed in its publication, Adult Disciplinary Procedures No. 0204101. For the purposes of this study, the number of infractions committed by members of the experimental and control groups during the period of the study was documented (see Table 1).

The actual data collection extended about three weeks past the final class date. To collect the data, the unit team manager was provided a list of the participants who were in both the experimental and control group. The list was then distributed to casework managers who supervise correctional counselors assigned to individual housing units. They did not know who

was in which group. At the end of the threemonth period, a memorandum listing any infractions and the code number of the offense from the Adult Disciplinary Procedures was given to the chaplain. The class on Biblical Correctives to Thinking Errors met once a week for