This thesis is of originality and value as it is the first piece of research to explore whether older male prisoners are satisfied with quality of life (QoL) and wellbeing and if the most appropriate prison regime for an older prison population could be identified. The thesis offers the most recent insight into the experience of being older in prison across three prison regimes, high secure, training, and open. A mixed methodology explored older male prisoners' satisfaction with QoL and wellbeing and is the first research study to adopt this approach with an older prison population. The mixed methodology consisted of two phases, the first phase, a quantitative questionnaire to assess QoL and wellbeing was circulated to all older male prisoners aged 50 years and over across three prison regimes. The quantitative results were then analysed via descriptive and inferential statistics. The second phase, qualitative interviews with older male prisoners and prison staff, explored their experiences of being older in prison and aspects of prison life that reduced and increased their satisfaction with QoL and wellbeing. Interviews were then analysed using thematic analysis. The main quantitative findings suggest older prisoners are more satisfied with their QoL and wellbeing in an open prison regime than training and high secure. The main qualitative findings illustrate aspects of humanity and the opportunity to promote positive identities contribute to a good QoL and high wellbeing in the older prison population. However, the experience of constraints within the prison regime limits older prisoners' potential and subsequently reduces their satisfaction with QoL and wellbeing. These original findings are discussed in reference to previous academic literature on older prisoners and recommendations for prison policy are made to ensure older male prisoners are located within an age appropriate prison regime that accentuates the positive aspects of being older in prison.

This thesis explores two-year incidence and trends of reconviction among a national cohort of prisoners released from prisons in the Republic of Ireland between 2007and 2009. Findings from international research studies that explore predictors and protectors of recidivism among ex-prisoners were used to inform the methodology for the current study. Anonymised data were obtained on all prisoners released from prisons in the Republic of Ireland during the years 2007-2009 through the Central Statistics Office in Ireland. A number of static and dynamic predictors and protectors of recidivism were examined across personal factors, family factors, medical/social history, criminal history, reason for committal and post-release engagement. Reconviction for a first new offence in a Court of Criminal Law within two years following release was the primary outcome of interest. The overall population released from prison during the study period consisted of13,156 offenders, comprising 11,975 (91.02%) males and 1,181 (8.98%) females. Violent crime accounted for 1,347 index offences, drug crime for 1,035 offences, sex crime for 255 offences and property crime accounted for over 2,878 of recorded index offences. A total of 5,041 (38.32%) ex-prisoners were re-convicted in a Court of Criminal Law within two years following release from prison. Multivariable logistic regression demonstrated that younger age, index offence type (property crime),homelessness and race/ethnicity were independently associated with higher odds of first reconviction within two years (p<0.05). The study found no independent association between gender, educational level or employment/occupation and subsequent reconviction (p>0.05). Factors independently protective of re-conviction included increasing age and an index sex crime (p>0.05). The findings from this nationally representative cohort study are broadly in-keeping with international rates and predictors of recidivism. The current study provides robust empirical evidence relating to factors that are both protective and predictive of recidivism. At policy level, there is an increasing focus on designing rehabilitation programmes that are evidence based. These findings provide a sound basis for designing rehabilitation programmes focusing on target populations and key risk factors. Successful reintegration of ex-prisoners reduces the harmful effects of social exclusion and increases levels of trust and community participation, components of community-wide social capital that are central for keeping crime rates low and for the general welfare and safety of community.

No description available.

The broad aim of this research was to understand how prisoners and prison officers construct the staff-relationship, using positioning theory to explore these relationships within the prison context. Taking a more dramaturgical notion of prisons and the prison environment, this study was one of positioning and discourse, with particular consideration being given to the relationships that this discourse was either enabling or disenabling. Engaging with both prisoners and prison officers provided a sound understanding of the ways in which both parties were constructing the one relationship. The findings of this research suggest that prisoners and prison officers seek to find ways of ‘crafting’ time within prison in order to enable this time to be ‘easy’. As such, this research leads us to a point of thinking whereby prisoners and prison officers are constructed as interdependent groups whereby one cannot exist without the other. Although the staff-prisoner relationship represents an imbalance of power, this research suggests that it is nonetheless an intimate relationship due to their collective and collaborative performances. According to this research, prisoners and prison officers have moved towards a process of collusion in their performance of ‘easy time’. This seemingly undermines the aims of the Prison Service, with ‘formal compliance’ being favoured over ‘substantive compliance’ and rehabilitation. However, this is problematic in terms of criminal justice policy and practice. The research informs us that in order to address the shortcomings of the staff-prisoner relationship; as outlined through the participants’ talk; more needs to be done to better articulate and understand the remit of the ‘modern’ Prison Service and the roles of the prison officer and the prisoner within this system. This involves challenging the notion of ‘easy time’, and supporting prisoners and prison officers to ‘craft’ prison in a productive way.

Background: Inmates and ex-inmates might represent a ‘biologically damaged’ population, having a disproportionately high burden of disease when compared to the general community. Moreover, people living with HIV might be considered a ‘special population’ within the carceral setting, having increased access to medical, social, and fiscal resources when compared to the general inmate population. This research investigates the role of medical, welfare, and penal systems as they frame the ‘lived experience’ of HIV-positive inmates. More generally, this research explores the social relationships between inmates and various security and medical personnel as they negotiate for individual health and agency. Methods: Ethnographic research explored the ‘lived experience’ of 34 HIV-positive male and female inmates as they moved through a state jail / prison system and back to the public community. For about 12 months during 2011- 2012, 77 semi-structured interviews and participant observations were conducted across seven penal facilities and community-based organizations in New England, United States. Participants (N=72): short- and long-term inmates in jail / prison (n=26); prison healthcare providers (n=14); correctional officers and administrators (n=17); ex-inmates and family of inmates (n=9), and physicians and social workers (n=6). Analysis and interpretation of data involved interview transcription and thematic content analysis through coding with Nvivo 9 software. Results: Inmates’ social relationships with staff were often centred on the coproduction of a particular form of ‘violence’, which I conceptualise as ‘degradation.’ Inmate recidivism and engagement in self-inflicted degradation (e.g. swallowing razor blades, urinating in one’s cell, faking medical symptoms) may be considered a behavioural and social tactic used to gain agency within prison, as well as access to community-based welfare and medical institutions upon re-entry into the public community. In prison, practices of degradation might be most visible through a common social interaction of ‘prison games.’ I interpret prison games to involve inmates’ deployment of ‘abjectionable’ and anti-social behaviour for social and capital gains while prison staff attempt to manage this behaviour. Collectively, the practice of degradation might provide insight into a ‘degraded citizenship’ experienced by millions of people who pass through a U.S. jail or prison each year.

No description available.

Background Female prison populations, when compared to a general population, appear to contain higher prevalence’s of trauma histories with the majority of women in prison having experienced sexual or physical violence in childhood or during their adult lives (Moloney and Moller, 2009). Resultantly, many women in prison exhibit psychological difficulties as a consequence of past victimization including conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, emotional dysregulation, depression, insomnia and also physical morbidity (Zlotnick, 1997). Objective The objective of this investigation at an HMP was to recognise the experiences and mental health of women who access psychological support in prison and to provide a preliminary understanding of the effectiveness of group psychological intervention to improve symptoms of trauma and insomnia. Design This HMP investigation was a cohort feasibility study, which utilized a mixed-method approach to enhance the understanding of the participant’s experiences of accessing psychological support in prison (Sandelowski, 2000). The 71 women invited to participate in the study were designated into one of four psychological group interventions through a process of purposive sequential sampling. The psychometric evaluations of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale (PSS-SR), the General Health Questionnaire – 28 (GHQ-28) and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were administered to measure symptoms of trauma and insomnia before the commencement of the respective psychological group interventions, and three weeks subsequent at the participant’s attendance in the matching intervention focus group. Results Descriptive statistics were used to interpret the clinical effectiveness of the 4 group interventions; and at the 3-week follow-up points the group mean percentage outcomes indicated the ‘exercise as therapy’ (PSS-SR, -16%; GHQ-28, -14%; ISI, -12%) and the ‘improving your sleep’ (PSS-SR, -12%; GHQ-28, -12%; ISI -36%) groups to be more effective at treating the patients symptoms of trauma and sleep than the ‘introduction to anxiety management’ (PSS-SR, -11%; GHQ-28, +8%; ISI, +4%) and the ‘introduction to mindfulness’ (PSS-SR, +1%; GHQ-28, +3%; ISI, +21%) interventions. The quantitative approach also provided information about group intervention non-participation and this illustrated that 30% of women were released or transferred prior to their clinical appointment. Whereas, the qualitative findings from undertaking thematic analysis of the focus groups discourse provided the emergence of six themes that helped to explain the women’s experiences of accessing psychological treatment in prison. These themes were, ‘a pathway to care’, ‘stigma as a therapeutic barrier’, ‘the patient or prisoner paradox’, ‘the retraumatising nature of prison’, ‘the significance of sleep’ and ‘women as stakeholders’. Conclusion The findings of the HMP investigation indicate that prison is an unhelpful environment for women who have trauma histories, as prison can be a factor for the continuation or exacerbation of trauma symptoms and insomnia, even when the women have access to group psychological support. The HMP investigation recommends a series of interim interventions to address the prison culture unhelpful to the psychological wellbeing of detained women. The study’s ultimate recommendation proposes the transformation of HMP into a specialised trauma-focused hospital to manage women detained within the criminal justice system who exhibit symptoms of trauma and insomnia.

Reducing drug-related crime through increasing participation in drug treatment is a key feature of the current National Drug Strategy. Prison has been identified as a point of entry to drug treatment; an important setting in which to deliver drug treatment and support; and an opportunistic location to engage drug users in treatment. However, if the system fails to maximise the potential of this situation and actively or substantively engage the drug user with treatment, then a valuable opportunity may be missed. Additionally, if the experience is viewed negatively, it may impact on drug users' attitudes toward engaging with drug treatment in the future. This research primarily seeks to look at factors that influence engagement with prison-based drug treatment, with a focus on providing insight into the influence of the relationship or 'therapeutic working alliance' between prison drug workers and drug-using prisoners. Semi-structured interview data was collected from 63 drug ­using prisoners and 11 prison drug workers from two 'local' prisons. Observational data were also gathered during the year in which the fieldwork and data collection was conducted. Thematic Analysis was used to analyse the data, and three key themes in terms of barriers to treatment engagement and the formation of therapeutic working alliances in prisons were identified. These were environmental barriers; procedural barriers; and personal barriers relating to the drug-using prisoners and to the prison drug workers. Several features of the prison environment and regime were identified as making and maintaining confidentiality difficult and were identified as factors potentially affecting treatment engagement and the strength of the therapeutic relationship between drug-using prisoners and their drug workers. The high ratio of clients to practitioners was identified as detrimental to the intensity of treatment and support that was available. It was also found that appointment systems were uncommon, which meant that prisoners could not prepare adequately for sessions with their drug workers. For some participants, poor support post-release affected their confidence and self-efficacy in achieving changes, and this influenced their engagement with prison-based drug treatment. Whilst there were certain consistent features relating to the drug workers that were identified as important in strengthening therapeutic relationships, sometimes relating to specific characteristics of the client, there was little attempt to match the practitioner to the client to exploit those features that were identified. For example, some prisoners preferred civilian drug workers whilst others preferred uniformed drug workers, but these pairings were rarely deliberately made. The reasons behind these preferences were sometimes founded on the legitimacy with which the client perceived the worker. Uniformed drug workers were seen as less legitimate by some drug-using prisoners, and consequently this posed a barrier to treatment engagement for them. Conversely, longer experience of working in prisons and the perception that uniformed drug workers had a better understanding of what life was like for prisoners than civilian staff did, gave uniformed staff a greater degree of perceived psychological legitimacy for other drug-using prisoners. Likewise lack of life experience in some civilian drug workers was seen as detrimental to perceptions of legitimacy, but having actually 'lived the experience' was seen as increasing psychological legitimacy. Methadone prescribing was also identified as a potential influence, both positive and negative, on treatment engagement and the formation of therapeutic working relationships. Finally, the research also draws on theories of legitimacy, procedural justice and compliance within wider criminal justice interventions, and compares these to the more therapeutic concept of the working alliance. Crewe's typologies of prisoner compliance are used to explore and explain how the therapeutic working alliance could vary in quality and strength between different drug workers and prisoners. Importantly, it has previously been reported by the author of the most widely used concept of the therapeutic working alliance (Bordin, 1979) that a different kind of alliance is evident in prisons. This more collusive type of relationship is discussed and evidence that it may only apply to certain relationships in certain situations is described.

This research considers the difficulties that are encountered when visiting a loved one or relative who is in prison. Early research in this area drew attention to the Prison Service's lack of consideration for families visiting prisons (see Matthews. 1983 1989). Following the Woolf Report (1991) and subsequent reforms, commentators were optimistic that, at last, the Prison Service was starting to address issues relating to prisoners' families. However, much has happened within the prison system since this time - numbers in prison have increased, there has been a renewed emphasis on security, order and control in prison, and a requirement to reduce drug misuse amongst prisoners. The present study reviews the situation in view of these developments. Theoretically, this research draws upon recent feminist work to emerge from North America that focused on the 'hidden' implications of crime control policies for women outside the criminal justice process (see Miller. 1998 Danner. 1998 Massey et al. 1998). Prisoners' families constitute one group with whom this new approach is concerned. This latest feminist endeavour aims to change criminal justice policies and practices so as to lessen the costs to women and children. This aim also formed the rationale for the present study. A multi-method approach was employed. This included a survey of 133 prisons in England and Wales (a response rate of 67% was obtained) and interviews with thirty prison visitors at two prisons. Observational data was also collected at these two prisons. The findings suggest that prisoners' families continue to be ignored by a prison system that treats them as little more than a resource, removed from penal considerations yet entwined into policy when their assistance is required. A number of recommendations for changes to penal policy and practice designed to improve the situation for prisoners' families are proposed.

Higher-level education in prison is offered mostly through distance learning. Previous research found many barriers to studying this Prison-based Higher-level Distance learning (PHDL) but also suggested that prisoners who persevered with their study appeared changed in some way and perceived themselves to have more chance of a better future. There is, however, very little understanding of how such change occurs or whether it actually makes a difference to them after prison. This thesis presents research which investigated in what ways PHDL is transformative and what role it plays in learners’ lives after release. Qualitative, ethnographic and longitudinal in approach, the research was split into three phases. The pilot phase involved interviewing 10 ex-prisoners who had completed PHDL. The in-prison phase involved ethnographic fieldwork in 10 prisons in England and Wales with 51 serving prisoners who were due for release and had either completed PHDL or had considered but not engaged with PHDL, this second group providing comparative analysis. The post-release phase traced 28 of those prisoners after release, and engaged with many for up to one year, as they attempted to integrate back into society. An additional perspective was gained from 63 others such as staff, educators and family. A thematic analysis of the complex data identified physical, infrastructural and organisational factors affecting the participants which were mostly barriers to learning and integration. These were mediated by social support factors of family, individual staff, and the perception of being part of a learning community. The psychological outcomes from the interaction of these factors included a positive student identity, resilience and hope which were carried with participants upon release. The immediate post-release environment was chaotic and most participants failed to continue studying, temporarily losing their positive student identity. There was very little social support at this time and it was the participants’ own resilience and hope which helped them to survive until life began to improve. Ultimately it was found that those who were able to capitalise on their learning were better placed to integrate into society.