Correctional Recreation on Death Row

Abstract

Because of significant recent budget cuts across the U.S., various correctional services have been targeted for possible elimination (Polson, 2002). Correctional recreation (CR) often appears to be viewed by policy makers, correctional administrators and staff as an offender privilege or perhaps even a luxury, and such programs frequently struggle to maintain their existence (Finn, 1996). In this article, we explore why CR may be viewed as being expendable, the potential substantial contributions CR may be capable of making to psychotherapeutic rehabilitation efforts based on a multidisciplinary literature review, and suggestions for how such potential contributions might be realized. Our conclusion is that the rehabilitative potential of CR needs to be empirically determined, but that it is premature for policy makers and corrections administrators to give CR the death penalty.

Key Words:

• Correctional recreation
• offender rehabilitation
• leisure
• physical activity
• inmate privileges