BEGINNING GROUP THERAPY IN A PRISON

Abstract

This paper is based on group psychiatric experience, extending over a period of about one year, with inmates in a state prison. The experience began as a simple clinical procedure, but certain of the problems which arose led to theoretical speculations and the informal testing of hypotheses thus generated. This paper, essentially descriptive, presents this experience. We wish to acknowledge, at the outset, our appreciation to Doctor Leon Shapiro, Director, Division of Legal Medicine, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and the officials and staff of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Walpole, Massachusetts for their friendly cooperation and personal kindnesses.