Since Post Incarceration Syndrome primarily affects the inmates state of mind.
From the time a
person is arrested, booked, tried, and sentenced (regardless of the time they have to serve) the research will be on going. The initial stage will, or arrest stage will consist of an interview as to the individuals state of mind upon being arrested for their crime. Upon being booked into the system and given a cell to reside in, their activity will be closely monitored via camera, and other officers on site to state how the individual is reacting to the first few days and nights behind detained in a jail environment. The next evaluation will be at their trial and sentencing dates, according to Ward (2008) Many state courts have found remorse to be an appropriate mitigating factor to consider when assigning criminal punishment. However, many states have found the absence of remorse to be an appropriate aggravating factor when calculating an appropriate criminal punishment. Unfortunately, remorse has proven to be an increasingly ambiguous concept, which state court judges have had a great deal of difficulty applying in any coherent or consistent manner. Any lack of remorse will indicate, almost right away that the individual will not suffer from PICS, simply because PICS also refers to some sense of remorse on their part, but they are unable to break the hold that life behind bars has had on them. Being institutionalized as the term is often referred to, makes it hard to be a functioning member of society once released, and that is where more and more individuals come back into the system, because they are not prepared enough (mentally) to deal with the issues that are outside of the barbed wire fence. The timeline will end with a series of interviews at staggered intervals to get an accurate insight as to how PICS has fully affected them, and their ability to adapt to the outside world. Funding for the research will be provided by the Department of Justice, as well as the associated state institutions to where the research studies will be taking place. During the first initial stages (arrest, booking, trial and sentencing) we will ask the individual law enforcement agency to provide the funding necessary to interview and monitor the inmates, as they begin entry into the system. We recognize that this will not only help them, but every other agency in the United States, by providing key markers to look for, and being able to single out those individuals for counseling.
Ward, B.H. (2008). Sentencing Without Remorse. Retrieved from http://www.archaia.org/law/activities/publications/lljdocs/vol38_no1/ward.pdf