HMP Dovegate's therapeutic community: An analysis of reconviction data

This study reports the reconviction data for n=94 prisoners who had attended Her Majesty's Prison Dovegate therapeutic community (TC) and been released back into the wider community. The 48% reconviction rate amongst those liberated was lower than previously found in other prison treatment programmes. The majority of reconvictions (74.5%) were breaches of licence involving absconding. There were no reports of serious violent offending and only one report of sexual re-offending. Most re-offenders (87.5%) did so within a year of being released into the community. Analysis also revealed that 70% of reconvictions were committed by those who had spent less than 18 months in the TC suggesting a treatment dosage effect. Whilst the results are encouraging, limitations and problems with re-offending as a treatment outcome measure are discussed.