Participant Observation of a Therapeutic Community Model for Offenders in Drug Treatment

This paper reports the participant observation of a Brazilian psychologist and a Brazilian psychiatrist during a 1-month period in two therapeutic communities (TCs) for drug-using offenders. A description of the activities undertaken by the prisoners who are serving their sentences at the Multi-Purpose Criminal Justice Facility in Wilmington, Del., is complemented with a theoretical understanding of the process. Clinical and developmental psychological approaches are used to explain the functioning of TCs when applied to a correctional environment. The theory of scripts and the use of metacommunication as a therapeutic tool are used in the explanation of these therapeutic procedures.