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This study explores the concentration of convictions in Maltese families through a study of all inmates interned at the prison setting, Corradino Correctional Facility (CCF), between 1950 and 2010. The main aim of this study is to explore patterns of intergenerational crime for the first time in the Maltese islands, to understand how and why convictions run in Maltese families. In other words, the focus here is on the potential role of the family in crime continuity, the familial relationships between incarcerated inmates and the influence of these relationships on emerging crime trends. Quantitative methods are used to examine intergenerational presence and the evolvement of crime covering at least two to three generations of families. This is achieved through employing a risk factor approach to explore potential “crime promoters” that could act as transmission proxies in crime continuity. One in every three inmates registered at CCF belongs to the intergenerational cohort. Moreover, the findings from this study identify that having a sibling, a parent and/or a spouse convicted of a crime is a risk/mediating factor for crime continuity, and the risk is further augmented by the increased presence of criminal relatives. This is compounded by exposure to crime through co-offending, social networks between related inmates within the walls of CCF and also the time a person spends in their neighbourhood. The intergenerational cohort is more crime prolific as attested by intense conviction patterns and recidivism trends and is also inclined towards committing serious crimes and crimes that require more planning and organisation. The processes required for this may be accommodated by the family providing one with entrusted accomplices. The relatively larger crime families (5-node to 10+ node structures) together represent one quarter of the intergenerational cohort. As crime families increase in size, a blend of restricted and extended relationships features evidently attesting the concentration and continuity of offending. The `orma (a large group of people/children), hosting 54 related inmates symbolises the fusion of five crime families through assortative partnering; representing crime continuity across two to five generations. The occurrence of multiple risk factors for intergenerational offending in Malta that were simultaneously identified in this study include: economic inactivity; residing in neighbourhoods laden with crime families; poverty pockets and offenderresidence hotspots. These combined individual and ecological risk factors help to explain the concentration of convictions in a relatively small number of crime families.

Traditional understandings of violence by the mentally disordered largely look to mental illness to explain such behaviour. More recently, research has begun to examine the role of alternative factors in driving violent offending in this context. Masculinity is one such factor to which little consideration has thus far been given, in spite of a wealth of literature which associates the construction and maintenance of a masculine identity with violence in the non-mentally disordered context. This thesis proceeds from these current understandings, and examines the nature of the relationship between mental illness, masculinity and violent behaviour. In order to examine this issue, interviews were conducted with a group of 10 male patients diagnosed with major mental illness and with violent offending histories, in a medium secure forensic psychiatric hospital in Scotland. A group of 10 male prisoners serving life sentences in a Scottish adult male prison following convictions for homicide offences were also interviewed, and acted as a comparator group. Following an analysis of these interviews, findings emerged in relation to three key areas of patients’ and prisoners’ accounts: past experiences of violent offending, present experiences of institutional settings, and future hopes for recovery and desistance. In particular, significant similarities and divergences in the experiences of the two groups were apparent, and this thesis advances two key arguments in light of this. Considering first the similarities in patients’ and prisoners’ experiences, it is posited here that for both the mentally ill and non-mentally ill male population the task of constructing and maintaining a masculine identity is a particularly pervasive force in their life histories. It will be demonstrated that for patients and prisoners in this study, masculinity plays a significant role in past violent offending, as well as having important implications for adaptation to present institutional settings, and the creation of a recovered and desisting identity for the future. Second, in looking to the divergences in patients’ and prisoners’ accounts, it is asserted that where major mental illness is present it serves to intercede in these three areas of men’s lives. Extracts from interviews with male patients will illustrate the interceding role of mental illness in violent scenarios from their pasts. In addition, it will be demonstrated that patients’ and prisoners’ respective present situations in institutional settings vary, as diagnosis of mental illness leads patients to be placed in a secure hospital rather than the prison, and the differing nature of these environments results in divergences in adaptation to these settings. Finally, in relation to the future, while prisoners focussed on their hopes for desistance from offending, the diagnosis of mental illness led patients to place recovery from such disorders as the primary process at this point.

Paranoia is increasingly considered to be a common phenomenon in the general population and is not just a symptom of diagnosable psychiatric disorders. Recently, Ellett, Allen-Crooks, Stevens, Wildschut & Chadwick (2013) argued that distrust-based competition in the Prisoners Dilemma Game (PDG) is a novel behavioural marker for nonclinical paranoia. The present study sought to replicate the finding of Ellett et al. (2013) and to extend their research by looking to the social psychology literature on human values as additional potential motivations for competition in the PDG. Additionally, the study sought to examine relationships between paranoia in the nonclinical population and human values, and offer support for a recently refined theory of human values (Schwartz et al., 2012). Consistent with prediction, higher trait paranoia was associated with valuing face, that is, holding a commitment to security and power through maintaining one's public image and avoiding humiliation, and lower trait paranoia was associated with valuing universalism-tolerance, that is, showing acceptance and understanding for others. Secondly, and consistent with prediction, the current findings replicated that of Ellett et al. (2013) to show that distrust-based PDG competition is a behavioural marker for nonclinical paranoia. Thirdly, the present research offered a secondary behavioural marker for nonclinical paranoia based on a commitment to valuing power. Lastly, the study offered support for the circular structure of values in Schwartz's (2012) refined theory. Collectively, the current findings provided further evidence for the role of the PDG in the measurement and investigation of nonclinical paranoia, and more specifically provided a foundation for further research into the role that values could play in furthering this understanding.

Work routines are integral to prison life. One recent development, at the behest of the government, especially in privatised prisons, has been the contracting out of work by private companies to prison. This type of work is usually organised under the guise of rehabilitation, employability and skills development to help offenders enter the labour market upon release. This thesis aims to provide an insight into the experiences and everyday existence of what I term ‘orange-collar workers’ - prison inmates who carry out privately contracted work in a prison setting. The research uses an ethnographic approach to explore this phenomenon; forty semi structured interviews were conducted as well as participant and non-participant observation in a private prison, Bridgeville. The themes that developed through the fieldwork included boredom, unskilled work, humour, masculinity and hierarchical structures within the workshops. The discussion of these themes illustrates the mundanity, the lack of skill and the particular culture in the orange-collar workshops which is not conducive to rehabilitating prisoners as it does not acclimatise them to a real work environment. It is found that orange-collar work does very little in terms of rehabilitating prisoners. Instead, it merely provides them with the immediate benefit of keeping busy which is considered better than the alternative of being ‘locked up’. With regard to rehabilitation, the primary triumph of orange-collar work is preparing prisoners for low-skilled, low-paid work, dominated by hierarchical conflict, little autonomy and few prospects - the characteristics of the work most likely to greet them on release. This serves to reinforce their antipathy to the mainstream world of work and (coupled with their exposure to alternative avenues of earning money in criminality) only discourages many prisoners from entering legitimate employment. But prisoners admire the private firms who are utilising their labour. They respect the ability to make money by whatever means necessary and they see exploitation as part and parcel of economic success.

The research question is: How do young people experience having a family member in prison? This question is posed within the Scottish policymaking context, in which high rates of imprisonment and reoffending are entrenched problems for the Scottish Government. In relation to children and young people, there has been a focus on the performance measurement of holistic policies accessed through the universal services of health, education and social work. Although there has been a growing awareness of some key issues that affect families affected by imprisonment, concern tends to be focused on parental imprisonment, ignoring wider family relationships. In addition, older teenagers and young adults have largely been overlooked. This stage of development is an important one, because it represents the time when young people make the transition into adulthood. As such, it is highly intertwined with issues relating to self-­‐identity. The thesis addresses the policies that are most relevant to young people, as well as the policies that more generally relate to families affected by imprisonment. It takes an approach informed by critical discourse analysis to critique the construction of young people and families, arguing that Scottish policymaking fails to address the core needs of these young people, and that the Scottish Government only deals with families affected by imprisonment at arms length. This leaves a policy gap, which third sector organisations step in to fill. The research includes empirical data from young people, who described their experience in open-­‐structured interviews. A thematic analysis of the interview data shows the complexity of the emotional state that young people enter when faced with the imprisonment of a parent, sibling or partner. A discussion of the resultant psychological effects, with reference to classic sociology of imprisonment literature, demonstrates that imprisonment is potentially traumatizing, causing feelings of isolation and a sense of being ignored or even silenced. The empirical data also includes semi-­‐structured interviews with professionals from third sector organisations, whose evidence shows that the policy environment presents a number of obstacles that block the way to providing appropriate services to young people. In addition, the topic of family imprisonment is under-­‐explored by the professionals and this increases the risk that young people will feel the need to stay silent. In conclusion, the thesis reviews the theoretical framework, the policymaking environment and the lived experience of the young people and the professionals who work with them to conclude that there is a pressing problem, which is inadequately understood, and which requires the more insightful approach that research such as this can help to inform.

This thesis examines how long-term prisoners make sense of their sentence: what they see as its purpose, whether they think it fair and how they integrate their sentence in their life story. Its findings are based on narrative interviews with six men at the start of their sentence, twelve men who were about to be released and nine men who were under supervision in the community. The men interviewed felt the prison largely failed in its purposes of reform, rehabilitation and deterrence, even though these outcomes were much desired, as almost all wanted to desist. Reformative efforts were seen as overly relying on cognitive behavioural courses in the prison, which, because they were compulsory for progression within the prison, were attended by many who were not motivated to engage with them. Furthermore, the men felt that they were treated as an aggregate rather than as individuals with individual needs and that this meant the necessary supports upon release were often not put in place. Meaningful communication about the relationship between the offence and the sentence was largely lacking. Any moral communication in the courtroom was hampered by the emotional demands on the men at the sentencing stage, their wish to manipulate the outcome in their own favour and their perception that court actors, too, manipulated processes, thereby lessening the moral standing of the court. However, despite the common perception of sentences failing to achieve any desired outcome and other complaints - about the inconsistency of sentencing, the standing of the court to judge and miscarriages of justice - almost all the men nevertheless positioned their sentence as fair (enough) in their narrative. While some referred to normative reasons to explain the legitimacy of their sentence, for others their acceptance was determined by their need to cope with the lived reality of imprisonment. This led to a strategy of ‘getting your head down’, which included accepting the ‘justice’ of one’s sentence, but also limiting thoughts of the outside world and minimising contact with family. Others positioned their prison sentence as transformative in order to be able to construct a progressive narrative and make sense of a desired future of desistance. However, the men on license after release generally struggled to maintain a projected upward trajectory and only felt able to desist by isolating themselves, thereby avoiding further trouble. The thesis concludes that long-term prison sentences could be rendered more meaningful through greater individual input and a dialogue about questions of purpose and meaning, possibly initiated by community criminal justice social workers. In order to promote desistance, it is important that those who are released have better chances to secure an alternative identity for themselves so that they can move into a new stage of their lives, rather than withdrawing from the world in order to desist.

Background: Around a third of the general population experience insomnia at some point in their lives. A lack of good quality sleep can negatively impact upon daytime functioning, relationships and behaviour. Although the issues and management of prisoner's mental health has been assessed thoroughly across the prison literature, the importance of poor sleep prevalence, associated causes and its management has failed to be systematically examined. My systematic integrative review of the sleep-prison literature collated and synthesized the evidence, informing the overall study objectives and design. Aim: The overarching aim of this mixed-methods thesis was to produce a treatment pathway to help manage insomnia in a prison population, acceptable to both staff and prisoners. Study 1: A national survey and telephone interviews examining current insomnia management practice in England and Wales prisons. Eight-four prisons took part (73%). The most common interventions were medication and sleep hygiene education. Analysis of telephone interviews revealed four main themes, insomnia as a normal occurrence in prison; the problem of medication in prison; the negative impact of the prison environment; and effective management of insomnia in prison. Study 2: A cross-sectional study looking at prevalence and associated factors of insomnia in male and female prisons was conducted. Two hundred and thirty seven prisoners completed a questionnaire battery. Around two-thirds had insomnia disorder and clinical, environmental and situational factors were much more likely in this group than those without insomnia. Study 3: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff and prisoners to explore perspectives of insomnia management. Three themes were found: value of good sleep, barriers and considerations for good sleep management and future direction of insomnia management in prison. Study 4: A modified Delphi consensus study was conducted with academic sleep researchers, prison staff and service users over three rounds of consultation. Consensus was achieved and a stepped-care treatment pathway was produced. Conclusion: When used in future practice, the treatment pathway should help practitioners to identify, assess and manage insomnia in a population that is twice as likely to experience insomnia as the general population.

The research upon which this thesis is based aims to build on a rich and growing body of work about how imprisonment affects, is practiced by, and structures families with a loved one in prison. It aims to do this by contributing to knowledge on the lived experiences of prison visiting for the families of prisoners, who were until recently largely overlooked in prisons scholarship. In turn, this thesis aims to shed light on families’ overall experience of the imprisonment of a loved one(s). The research underpinning this thesis involved eliciting the experiences of families, through carrying out ethnographic observation and qualitative interviews in a unique field-site, the Visitors’ Centre at HMP Edinburgh, over a nine-month period (during 2014-2015). This thesis builds on the literature that documents the many negative effects of imprisonment for the families of those confined, particularly through its exploration of how imprisonment alters the space and time of families. This thesis notes that these myriad negative impacts require considered attention and action. Yet, this thesis also makes a key and critical argument that the experience of imprisonment for many families should be considered within the broader context of their lives. These families’ lives are often characterised by not only imprisonment(s), but by structural disadvantage, and by the presence and experience of varied and intrusive state interventions. This thesis argues that each of these too are often experienced as imprisoning, and in turn questions whether a focus exclusively on the pains specific to familial imprisonment- in scholarship, policy, and practice- risks encouraging a continuing focus on the prison as both the only cause of, and main site for finding solutions, to family difficulties.

Self-harm and suicide is more prevalent within the prison environment than in community samples, with those in the first weeks of imprisonment at greatest risk. Descriptions and evaluations of static risk factors (e.g. mental health diagnosis) dominate the empirical literature with few dynamic (e.g. defeat) and protective factors (e.g. resilience) evaluated. Additionally, current research is largely atheoretical and the integration of existing knowledge into a unifying model may improve the predictability of assessment. In the current research Williams and Pollock’s cry of pain model provided the template for assessing predictors of self-harm or suicide. For three months, all new arrivals at a local prison were invited to complete baseline questionnaires to assess factors derived from the cry of pain model. It was hypothesised that the factors derived from the model (perceived stress, defeat, entrapment and absence of rescue factors) would be predictive of self-harm and suicide risk and would distinguish prior self-harmers from non self-harmers. Two hundred and seventy prisoners participated in the study. Prisoners with active psychosis and non-English speakers were excluded. All participants were followed up for four months for instances of self-harm. Eighteen participants engaged in self-harm during this period. The hypotheses derived from the model were supported in the prediction of future engagement in self-harm in prison and had some support in identifying those who engaged in previous self-harm and those at risk of suicide. Additional research is needed to confirm the factor structure of defeat and entrapment and the presence of ‘scripts’ as relevant factors in the cry of pain model. The 3 implications for practice are discussed including the identification of patterns of risk linked with self-harm and suicide. The measures utilised in the study were shown to be largely valid within this population. Methodological limitations are discussed together with their implications for future research.