Reviews : Commitment to Change JACKIE POWELL, DIANE MCGOLDRICK, ROBIN LOVELOCK Social Services Research & Intelligence Unit, Portsmouth, 1986, £5.25; pb; pp281
| Author | C.N. Davison |
| Published date | 01 September 1987 |
| Date | 01 September 1987 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058703400318 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
115
the
work
does
not
add
anything
to
the
canon
of
prison
literature,
but
why
should
it?
We
have
known
for
long
enough
that
imprisonment
is
our
most
ineffective
response
to
the
majority
of
offenders
Campbell
has
written
a
compassion-
ate,
literate
book
JIM
TODD
Probation
Officer,
Sheffield
Commitment
to
Change
JACKIE
POWELL,
DIANE
MCGOLDRICK,
ROBIN
LOVELOCK
Social
Services
Research
&
Intelligence
Unit,
Portsmouth,
1986,
£5.25; pb; pp281
Memories
of hearing
about
Alpha
House
m
the
early
seventies
are
confused
m
my
mmd
with
religious
bramwashmg,
placards,
encounter
groups,
One
Flew Over
the
Cuckoo’s
Nest
and
’failing
to
respond
to
treatment’.
Psycho-social
theory
then
reigned
supreme
and
faith
m
’treat-
ment
within
institutions’
was
still
high.
A
basic
concept
was
that
addicts
had
experienced
poor
or
abnormal
family
relationships.
One
had
to
remove
them
from
society
for
a
long
period,
give
them
an
experience
and
put
them
back
into
society,
cured.
This
book
is
an
evaluation
of
a
two
year
study
where
the
researchers
went
m
alongside
the
staff
and
clients.
It
is
a
fascmatmg
study
of
an
extremely
intensive
regime
which
seems
to
have
been
encapsulated
m
time.
It
is
still
by
modem
standards
a
long
programme
te
two
years.
It
is
very
intensive;
the
drop-out
rate
is
high.
Contact
with
families
is
limited
to
four
times
per
year.
A
typical
day
begms
at
6.50am
and
the
final
item
m
the
programme
begms
at
9. l5pm.
Weekends
are
also
structured.
Encounter
groups
are
held
twice
a
week
and
a
personal
exammnation
group
is
held
each
Wednesday.
Clients
are
told
off
by
being
shouted
at
by
each
staff
member
m
turn.
Confrontation
is
a
major
word
m
this
establishment.
Controversial
from
the
beginning,
controver-
sial
over
the
years
through
changes
m
funding,
supervising
committee,
directors
and
staff.
I
still
find
it
alarming,
controversial
and
anachronistic.
My
mam
concern
is
the
seenungly
overwhelm-
ing
need
to
keep
the
sacred
flame
of
the
original
concepts
of
the
1950s
still
burning
brightly
into
the
1990s
’Comrmtment
to
Change’
is
for
the
client,
it
is
certainly
not
for
this
institutions.
C
N.
DAVISON
SPO,
York
Bricks
of
Shame:
Britain’s
Prisons
VIVIEN
STERN
Penguin
Special,
1987;
£3.95;
pb;
268pp
I
found
this
an
intriguing
and
surprising
book.
Intriguing
because
of
the
way
it
portrays
in
considerable
and
vivid
detail
the
nature
of
our
prisons,
the
conditions
of
life
for
those
mside
them
and
the
political
humbug
that
has
been
spoken
over
several
decades
about
reducmg
the
prison
population,
whilst
it
has
persistently
mcreased.
Surprising
because,
being
written
by
the
Director
of
NACRO,
one
would
expect
her
to
hit
hard
at
prisons
and
propose
radical
alternatives
to
incarceration
However,
she
pro-
poses
measures
that
would
certainly
help
to
make
prisons
more
humane,
but
would
not
make
any
significant
inroads
into
the
steady
population
rise.
I
found
also
that
her
proposals
were
not
easy
to
identify.
Over
half
the
book
amasses
a
weight
of
evidence
about
the
inadequacies
of
the
prison
system,
and
although
it
makes
interesting
read-
ing,
I
began
to
wonder
when
she
was
going
to
get
to
the
point.
The
messages
for
those
who
have
the
power
to
affect
the
prison
system
m
the
way
she
tells
us
we
should
all
want,
will,
I
think,
have
some
difficulty
m
identifying
exactly
what
they
should
be
doing.
The
proposals
are
rather
lost
m
a
mass
of
discursive
evidence.
There
is
no
punch
to
them.
They
are
not
highlighted
m
the
text
or
m
the
chapter
headings.
I
felt
a
sense
of
frustration
with
the
author
for
wrapping
up
her
points.
I
wanted
a
section
somewhere
that
told
me
exactly
what
she
proposed
pomt
by
point,
but
it
was
missing.
PETER
THOMAS
Probation
Officer,
Rotherham
The
Interview
Game
(Video)
BBC
ENTERPRISES
For
sale in 5
parts,
at
£85
each,
from
80
Wood
Lane,
London
W12
6TT.
These
tapes
derive
from
a
series
broadcast
m
1985
covering
interviewing
in
a
number
of
different
contexts-
staff
selection,
a
housing
department’s
dealings
with
the
pubhc,
and
medical
consutlations.
Programme
5
(the
one
I
saw)
looks
at
the
silent
ways
m
which
interviewer
and
interviewees
convey
attitudes
and
feelings
through
body
language
On
the
basis
of
that
single
programme
the
material
seemed
reason-
ably
well-presented
but
a
little
thin.
Although
advertised
at 25
minutes,
the
version
I
saw
was
no
more
than
20
minutes
and
the
content
seemed
unllcely
to
be
new
to
probation
officers
or
personnel
staff.
Generally,
I
think
this
series
is
unlikely
to
be
a
good
mvestment
for
Probation
Services
How-
ever,
it
is
accompanied
by
a
paperback,
The
Interview
Game
by
Cella
Roberts
(£2.95)
which
is
rather
better
value
for
money.
GRAHAM
NICHOLLS
SPO,
Worksop
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