Social Casework in Detention Centres
| Author | Colin Fishwick |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057101700202 |
| Published date | 01 June 1971 |
| Date | 01 June 1971 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
36
SOCIAL
CASEWORK
IN
DETENTION
CENTRES
Colin
Fishwick
now
Senior
Lecturer,
Birmingham
Polytechnic
THIS
ARTICLE
is
designed
to
indicate
some
of
the
adjustments
necessary
from
casework
practice
in
the
field
to
casework
practice
in
institutions,
and
to
say
something
about
the
social
casework
role
in
detention
centres.
Social
casework
hats
a
generic
basis,
but
clearly
its
nature
and
application
will
vary
according
to
the
setting.
I
think
there
are
several
adjustments
that
the
fieldwork
probation
office
has
to
make
when
he
moves
into
an
institution
geared
to
short-term
confinement.
The
first
of
these
relates
to
the
problem
of
the
captive
clientele.
By
virtue
of
being
in
an
institution
the
caseworker
is
surrounded
by
a
group
of
people
who
have
social
problems
of
one
sort
or
another,
of
a
more
than
usually
serious
kind.
If
the
caseworker
so
wishes
he
has
deep
and
extensive
waters
into
which
he
can
plunge
and
exercise
his
skills.
This
very
opportunity
creates
intense
pressure
for
social
caseworkers,
who
by
the
very
nature
of
their
calling
are
people
who
relish
involvement
with
their
clients - who
indeed
must
have
a
capacity
for
involvement
if
they
are
to
function
effectively
at
all.
Along
with
this
pressure
of
opportunity
goes
frustration
at
being
in
such
close
proxi-
mity
with
problems,
but
being
aware
of
the
limited
resources
of
energy,
time
and
skill
at
our
disposal.
This
leads
us
to
a
second
adjustment:
the
need
to
say
&dquo;No&dquo;.
Social
case-
workers,
nurtured
in
fieldwork
practice,
grow
attuned
to
being
infinitely
res-
ponsive.
There
are
conscious
and
unconscious
ways
of
saying
&dquo;no&dquo;
available
to
the
fieldworker,
but
for
the
institution
worker
it
has
to
be
a
much
more
deliberate,
guilt-laden
act.
The
worker-client
relationship
in
an
institution
can
also
have
an
added
intensity.
Phantasy
may
aggravate
the
situation
where
an
impotent
client
will
invest
greater
than
normal
power
in
the
worker.
Expectations,
false
or
real,
create
intensity.
In
the
short-term
confinement
situation,
there
is
the
intensity
also
that
springs
from
t~he
daily
repeti~tiveness
of
much
of
one’s
work.
To-
morrow
will
come,
and
bring
more
and
more
and
more
clients,
and
while
we
are
trained
to
establish
as
purposeful
a
relationship
as
possible,
each
new
client
is
a
reminder
that
we
can
meet
him
or
her
only
partially.
There
is
also
sometimes,
I
think,
a
sense
of
intensity
arising
from
an
apparent
feeling
that
there
is
less
variety
in
breadth
in
the
work
social
workers
in
short-term
institutions
are
undertaking.
This
feeling
can
often
be
more
apparent
than
real
as
new
and
interesting
situations
frequently
arise.
A
further
adjustment
relates
to
the
problem
of
limited
omnipotence.
In
fieldwork
practice
probation
officers
have
their
own
caseload,
with
fairly
exclusive
relationships.
In
detention
centre
the
situation
is
very
different.
It
is
a
situation
involving
shared
relationships
s
with
shared
responsibility
and
shared
involvement.
It
is
a
situation
involving
working
through
others,
especi-
ally
fieldwork
colleagues
and
prison
officers.
Reared
on
the
essentials
of
the
casework
relationship,
it
is
a
difficult
adjustment
for
social
workers
to
feel
they
are
working
for
their
clients
when
not
actually
in
face-to-face
contact
with
them.
In
fieldwork
practice
it
would
be
hard
to
contemplate
someone
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