People in Prisons’ Perceptions of Procedural Justice in England and Wales

Abstract

Procedural justice (PJ) theory suggests that if incarcerated people perceive their treatment to be fair and just, greater acceptance of staff authority, less misconduct, better mental health, and improved recidivism outcomes will follow. This study developed a measure of and explored PJ perceptions for people in English and Welsh prisons. Factor analysis was used to create a 27-item PJ measure, using data from around 20,000 people who completed the Measuring quality of prison life survey during a 4-year period. The measure had good internal consistency. We found differences in perceptions across groups of people and prison types. Poorer perceptions were weakly associated with self-harm and attempted suicide. There was a negative association between perceptions and misbehavior/incidents in custody, although PJ perceptions were not a significant predictor of incidents.