Effects of imprisonment

Effects of imprisonment

1. Restorative justice

   • Righting of wrong done to victims
   • Offender reflects on harmful behaviours + accepts responsibility
   • Reconciliation + mediation

2. 16th C: place for people awaiting trial + punishment; all imprisoned together; poor conditions

3. 18th C: 'bloody code' era; hard labour; separate genders; proper diet

4. 19th C: Imprisonment replaced capital punishment for most; abolition of hard labour

5. 20th C: Children separate; open prisons; no discrimination

6. Common prisoner characteristics

   • Ran away from home as kid
   • Excluded from school
   • No qualifications
   • Unemployed
   • Homeless
   • Low numeracy/reading
   • Mental health disorders

7. Roughly 20:1 male:female ration in UK prisons

8. 52% recidivism in UK

9. Overcrowding

   • Stress + conflict
   • Neg mental health
   • Relationship with inc reoffending

10. Prison behaviour

    • 115,000 offences in prison; 7,000 self-harm
    • 57% awaiting trial (only 19% of prison pop)
    • 1/4 suicides in first week
    • UK: ave suicide rate 2/week; US: 4x as common as in community
    • US prison homicide rate 10x higher than UK

11. Brukstel + Kilman: 90 studies about prison effects

    • Crowding, sentence + peer groups affect personal functioning
    • Deterioration is from poor adaptation to surroundings
    • Passive + dependent personalities adjust well
    • Indeterminate sentencing = adjustment problems

12. (Towl) Strategies to reduce prison suicide

    • Reduce no. of remand + mental illness prisoners
    • Try avoid neg consequences for prisoners reporting suicidal thoughts
    • Train staff to identify + assist with suicidal feelings

13. (Toch) Main environmental concerns

    • Safety
    • Support
    • Social stimulation
    • Activity
    • Privacy
    • Structure
    • Emotional feedback
    • Freedom

14. Redondo - studies of effectiveness of prison/community treatment programmes

    • Reoffending diff of 22% between treated + untreated offenders
    • Best outcomes for educational programmes + CBT
    • Programmes in community had greatest effect - deal with everyday triggers
    • Most effect for sex offenders
    • Sometimes longer in prison, more likely to reoffend