Internship training opportunities in correctional psychology: a comparison of settings

Seventy-nine training directors of internship programs based in prisons, jails, and selected foren-sic settings received surveys concerning several aspects of their programs. Fifty-three responded for a return rate of 67%. Whereas these programs are seen to exist on a continuum with few sharp lines of distinction between them, there are enough differences to warrant applying the term cor-rectional psychology internship specifically to those programs offering training experiences pri-marily in general population prison/jail settings. Different training emphases and staffing pat-terns were among factors distinguishing corrections-based internships from their more traditionally forensic counterparts. Both forensic and prison programs offer a wide variety of training experiences and continue to enjoy administrative support. How does one train for prison work? What should be taught?Ditton (1999) has reported that there are now 283,000 seriously mentally ill inmates in correctional settings. Are psychologists pre-pared for providing mental health services to patients in these set-tings? The terms forensic and correctional are commonly and under-standably joined in the minds of prospective interns. For example, 332 AUTHORS’NOTE: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors only and do not reflect the official position of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Portions of this article were presented in August 1999 at the 107th annual convention of th