Social Casework in Jail

• Published date: 01 October 1959
• Date: 01 October 1959
• DOI: 10.1177/003288555903900205
• Author: Joseph R. Silver
• Subject Matter: Articles

SOCIAL CASEWORK IN JAIL
JOSEPH R. SILVER, Executive Director
Northern California Service League
In considering the
,
subject of social casework in jails, two ques-
t’Ons come immediately to mind, questions that must be dealt with
at once. One, can social casework make a contribution to solving the
Problems of the jail population? Two, if so, why has it not been used
more widely?
In answer to the first, there is now a growing body of experience
allIOI19 a few Prisoners Aid Agencies that provide social casework
~:r~ices to jails that there is a significant proportion of the jail popu- ,
’~~1°li that can and will make use of social services if they are made
available, and that they represent many problems that are readily
tenable to social casework treatment. For example, the Northern
California Service League, the agency with which I am most familiar,
has found that between 1/3 and 1/2 of the prisoners in the jails in
which it works, ask for its services; and of these, a high proportion
~l1é~ke effective use of these services. They represent a wide variety of
‘icl,justnlcnt problems both social and emotional, problems that the
profession of social casework is trained and equipped to deal with.
In short, the jail inmate is a far readier and far more receptive
Subject for social casework services than has commonly been believed.
The fact of the mattcr is that our jails are filled with people who are
set with problems, problems with which they have not been able
to cope by themselves, and that where social casework is being used
the jail setting it is found to be effective in helping many offenders
1’~alize a better adjustment than they formerly knew.
As for the second question, why has social casework not been
~
rnore widely used in jails, there are a number of reasons.
The
It
jail is traditionally known as the keeper of the town’s &dquo;bums.&dquo;
houses ne’er-do-wells, those people for whom the community does
not know how to provide otherwise. They are people who have com-
~7Itted less serious offenses than those who go to prison, and therefore
the community treats them with more indifference than the more
serious offender. They are people who are difficult to deal with, so
far as effecting any cures, or adequate readjustments are concerned.
s h~y are known as chronic problems, and a blight on any community’s
s
8()cial front.
Another factor is the attitude of both jail administrators and social
e
&dquo;,&dquo;eworker,s to this problem. Traditionally, in the past more than in
tllc last 5 or 20 years, social caseworkers have felt that the authori-
tfl’1an aspects of a penal institution have precluded the possibility of
the use of social casework, with its...