The Ideal Client: Selecting Candidates for Drug Treatment in Prison

Abstract Therapeutic interventions have been implemented in many prison systems around the world, in an attempt to address high rates of harmful substance use amongst people in prison. This article analyses the criteria for acceptance to drug recovery units in Norwegian prisons, based on an ethnographic study of four high-security prisons and 22 interviews with prison staff. The main criteria that were considered by staff during the assessment of potential candidates, were the timing and type of sentence applicants held; the type of offence applicants were convicted for; the types of medications they used and their perceived motivations for entering treatment.