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33 Fed. Probation 44 (1969)
Plastic Surgery in Corrections

handle is hein.journals/fedpro33 and id is 224 raw text is: Plastic Surgery in Corrections By RICHARD KURTZBERG, HOWARD SAFAR, AND WALLACE MANDELL* Wakoff Research Center, Staten Island Mental Health Society, Staten Island, N. Y. A NUMBER of studies in recent years have indicated that a plastic surgery program A can be an effective aid in the rehabilitation of disfigured offenders. Particularly effective with disfigurements of the face, plastic surgery has been related to reductions in rate of return to prison and improved psychosocial adjustment. Lewison,1 Pick,2 Velasco, et al.,3 and the most recent of these studies, a 3-year experimental investigation conducted by Mandell, Lewin, Kurtzberg, and Safar,4 indicate that disfigured offenders who received plastic surgery returned to prison at a significantly lower rate than those who did not receive surgery. This latter study also con- firmed the results of almost all of the earlier clinical research studies. Plastic surgeons may be able to correct both functional deformities and cosmetic or socially handicapping disfigurements. Functional deformities are those which impair physical functioning of an individual. Common ex- amples are damaged nerves which result in loss of the use of all or part of a hand and burn scar contractures which impair the use of hands or arms. Cosmetic disfigurements are those which do not necessarily impair the physical functioning of an individual but may handicap him in social or vocational adjustment. These disfigurements in- clude scars, large nose, protruding ears, the needle marks of former narcotics addicts, and may even include certain visible tattoos. Some of these cosmetic disfigurements, such as facial scars or tattoos, are viewed by employers and the com- munity as indicators of a criminal life and may result in reduced opportunity for employment. Initiating the Program By their very nature, correctional plastic surgery programs are multidisciplinary and re- quire close cooperation between several disciplines * At the time this article was written the authors were members of the research staff of the Louis M. Wakoff Re- search Center. This project, Surgical and Social Rehabili- tation of Adult Offenders (RD-1568M), was supported in part by a grant from the Social and Rehabilitation Service, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D. C. if they are to be maximally successful. Correc- tional and rehabilitation workers, plastic surgeons and behavioral scientists all can contribute to the program. Plastic surgery should be performed as part of a total correctional rehabilitation program planned by correctional and rehabilitation work- ers. Aside from the surgery, careful psycho- logical screening is needed. Correctional and rehabilitation officials inter- ested in initiating plastic surgical programs should contact plastic surgeons in their geographi- cal area. One way of doing this would be to determine whether there is a medical center with a plastic surgery teaching facility within a reasonable travelling distance.-Most large hospi- tals also have a plastic surgeon on their staff or have access to one. Plastic surgeons 'are usually interested in cooperating with such programs. Once an interdisciplinary team has been formed, the next step is to select a site for the program and arrange for its financial support. The most obvious place to conduct a correctional plastic surgery program is within the correctional facility itself. Such programs require fully equip- ped operating facilities and provisions for ade- quate medical and surgical followup. Programs conducted in long-term institutions are likely to result in greater control of patients and fewer hospital management problems. These programs are less expensive than programs conducted in civilian hospitals. In addition, some help is often available within the institution for providing nursing care and psychological support necessary during the surgery period. Such personnel, when properly trained and briefed, can greatly expedite the program. The 'advantages of conducting a program out of prison (after release) are better medical care 1 Edward Lewison, An Experiment in Facial Reconstructive Surgery in a Prison Population, Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, 1965, 92, 251. 2 James F. Pick, Change the Face of the Criminal and You Can Change His Behavior. Commentary, November 1961, 55. 3 Jose Garcia Velasco, Robert M. Woolf, and T. Ray Broadbent, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in a State Prison, Rocky Mountain Medical Journal, January 1967, 40-43. 4 Wallace Mandell, Michael L. Lewin, Richard L. Kurtzberg, and Howard Safar, Surgical and Social Rehabilitation of Adult Offenders: I, The Project: A 3-Year Experimental Investigation; II, Proceedings of the Montefiore Conference on Correctional Plastic Surgery. Report of investigation supported in part by Research Grant RD 1568 M from the Social Rehabilitation Service, U.S. Department of Health, Educa- tion, and Welfare, Washington, D. C. 20201.

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