Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is a grim and problematic issue that contributes to the

overall relapse in those who are addicted to drugs or other harmful substances and mentally ill offenders
who have been recently released from correctional institutions. As of now almost 60% of prisoners have
been a resident of a state prison more than once, and the evidence is growing to support that the Post
Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is a major contributing factor to the ever increasing rate of recidivism.
The concept of a post incarceration syndrome (PICS) has emerged from clinical consultation work with
criminal justice system rehabilitation programs working with currently incarcerated prisoners and with
addiction treatment programs and community mental health centers working with recently released
prisoners. The claim we will attempt to establish will be a defining link in the realism of Post
Incarceration Syndrome (PICS), to the still growing national rate of return offenders into the criminal
justice system. This will be accomplished through interviewing inmates in a state correctional facility,
describing to them Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS), and ask how it has played a part to their re-entry
into the prison system. To accomplish this, we must first define Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS).
According to "Recidivism And Re-Entry" (2009) PICS: is a set of symptoms that are present in many
currently incarcerated and recently released prisoners that are caused by being subjected to prolonged
incarceration in environments of punishment with few opportunities for education, job training, or
rehabilitation. The symptoms are most severe in prisoners subjected to prolonged solitary confinement
and severe institutional abuse. The severity of symptoms is related to the level of coping skills prior to
incarceration, the length of incarceration, the restrictiveness of the incarceration environment, the number
and severity of institutional episodes of abuse, the number and duration of episodes of solitary
confinement, and the degree of involvement in educational, vocational, and rehabilitation programs. The
Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is a mixed mental disorders with four clusters of symptoms: (1)
Institutionalized Personality Traits resulting from the common deprivations of incarceration, a chronic
state of learned helplessness in the face of prison authorities, and antisocial defenses in dealing with a
predatory inmate milieu, (2) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from both pre-incarceration trauma
and trauma experienced within the institution, (3) Antisocial Personality Traits (ASPT) developed as a
coping response to institutional abuse and a predatory prisoner milieu, and (4) Social-Sensory Deprivation
Syndrome caused by prolonged exposure to solitary confinement that radically restricts social contact and
sensory stimulation. (5) Substance Use Disorders caused by the use of alcohol and other drugs to manage
or escape the PICS symptoms. PICS often coexists with substance use disorders and a variety of affective
and personality disorders (para 3).
If the theory is proven right, it will provide the established link of substance abuse, mental
disorders, personality traits, and the institutionalized behavior that re offenders suffer from. It will also
provide a reason to increase the amount programs available to state institutions as well as federal
institutions to provide counseling and professional help to those offenders who are deemed an overall risk
to themselves, as well as the community if, and when they are released back into society. In combination
with the results, and the additional programming that would be made available those most at risk will get
the help they need to not fall back into the 60%, and reverse the cycle of coming back to prison.
If the theory is proven wrong, the mental status or defect of the inmate will no longer be an
excuse as to why they have re entered the prison system after being released. It will also create a need to
find the elusive why because if you can no longer link an inmates mental status to the reason he or she
keeps coming back to prison, then you have to look into their environment, their peers and role models,
the kind of music and movies they prefer to establish some kind of link to re offending, and Post
Incarceration Syndrome (PICS).

References
Recidivism and Re-entry. (2009). Retrieved from
http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431975



a. Describe what specific claim, hypothesis, or model of criminal justice you will evaluate with these
questions.
b. Explain what the hypothesis will suggest about criminal justice theory if confirmed.
c. Explain what the hypothesis will suggest about criminal justice theory if not confirmed.