Review Of One- to Three-Year Recidivism Of Felony Offenders Treated With MRT ® In Prison Settings

Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT®) was one of the first (if not the first) cognitive-behavioral programs implemented with offenders housed in prison settings. While many components of the approach were utilized in a 1979 trial in a Federal prison, the first formal implementation of MRT was performed in a prison-based therapeutic community in 1985. In this implementation, MRT groups were easily established as one of the routine groups program participants attended, however, the MRT groups soon became a focal point of all the program activities. As the method and materials were gradually refined and researched, the first MRT publication was made in 1988 (Little & Robinson, 1988). The initial results of MRT were drastic and immediately positive with increased minority participation in the program, a lower dropout rate, and more positive attitudes obvious in both staff and program participants. The ongoing drug therapeutic community program was quickly expanded and a new therapeutic community was established within the same prison fo