Prison Conditions Research Articles

Prison in Iran: A Known UnknownN.R.Anaraki. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (2021) 117pp. €106.99hb; €85.99e‐book ISBN 978‐3‐030‐57169‐6; 978‐3‐030‐57169‐9

<i>Prison in Iran: A Known Unknown</i>N.R.Anaraki. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (2021) 117pp. €106.99hb; €85.99e‐book ISBN 978‐3‐030‐57169‐6; 978‐3‐030‐57169‐9

Prisons and Prison life in Princely State: A Historical Study of Cooch Behar

The present paper deals with the issue of prisons and their life in the Princely State of Cooch Behar. Cooch Behar was princely state during colonial period in India. With the advent of colonial power in India; the princely state had indirect relations with British power. Due to the contact with colonial power, the indigenous native rule in India became modified and codification of law and orders, regulations were introduced in the line of British pattern. The primitive systems of jails and prisons confinement were revised accordance with the new light of reformation, and in India especially in the princely rule modified. However, in this content the main aim is to find out the condition of the prisoners in the jails and police custody under the rule of Princely State.

'You have to be almost dead before they ever really work on you in prison': A qualitative study of formerly incarcerated women's health care experiences during incarceration in Louisiana, U.S.

Globally, the rate of incarceration among women is rising, and in the U.S., women's incarceration has grown at twice the rate for men over the last four decades. Louisiana has the second highest rate of incarceration in the U.S. There is evidence that men in Louisiana prisons do not receive adequate healthcare, but little is known about their women counterparts. We aimed to document formerly incarcerated women's experiences with receiving healthcare during incarceration in Louisiana to inform policy and practice change. In partnership with two community-based organisations in New Orleans, Louisiana, between August 2016 and April 2018, we conducted semi-structured 1-hr interviews with 22 formerly incarcerated women who had been incarcerated in the state for at least one consecutive year. A convenience sample of participants was recruited through community-based organisations' re-entry and health programmes. Our interview guide included questions about experiences with accessing care, reproductive health needs, interactions with providers and preventive care during incarceration. We used applied thematic analysis techniques to interpret data. Over 90% of interviewees identified as Black. Their mean age was 50.7. The average length of incarceration was 8.4years. Participants reported multiple barriers to accessing care including punishment for seeking care, long wait times, costs, lack of respect from providers and health concerns being dismissed. Participants reported limited mental health, preventive and dental services; an insufficient number of providers; and poor health outcomes as a result of delayed care. Overall, women did not have access to adequate, timely care during incarceration. Findings suggest a need for policy changes related to the provision of carceral healthcare services and external oversight of prison conditions and healthcare delivery. Further research into women's experiences of ageing during incarceration and tailored transitional health models is needed.

“Fear can hold you, hope can set you free”. Analysis of Italian prisoner narrative experience of the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study aims to explore the psychological effects of lockdown during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on people living in an Italian prison. The suspension of family visits and most activities, along with the difficulties in applying social distancing to this vulnerable population was associated with increased psychological distress. Riots broke out over two days in more than 22 prisons across Italy at the beginning of March 2020, highlighting the negative psychological impact of the pandemic and the country’s emergency policies.Design/methodology/approachThe research involves 17 men (Italians and foreigners) detained in a Lombardy prison from 1 March to 4 May 2020, corresponding to the lockdown phase in Italy. The qualitative content analysis (CA) of 27 posts, written by participants during that period and published on the blog “L’Oblò”, were analysed. The analysis allowed the identification of topics and subtopics that are related to two major categories of content: cognitions and emotional connotations about the COVID-19 lockdown in prison.FindingsAnalysis showed that blog post content was predominately negative in terms of emotional connotations. The most frequent coded negative emotional connotations were: missing, worry, psychological pain and fear, whilst the most frequent coded positive emotional connotations were: hope and gratitude for the support they received from prison workers. The rest of the blog content was coded as “cognitions”. Cognitions were coded as descriptions of lockdown effect on detention; prison during the COVID-19 emergency; the pandemic situation in general; and comparison between inside and outside prison.Originality/valueThe current study is original as it describes through blog CA the psychological condition of prisoners during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the most affected region in Italy.

“The Fighting Made Me Feel Alive”: Women’s Motivations for Engaging in Left-wing Terrorism: A Thematic Analysis

ABSTRACT Even though it is well documented that women have had, and continue to have, much more prominent positions and stronger participation in violent left-wing extremism and terrorism compared to other forms of political violence, the literature on their motivations to join militant left-wing milieus and groups is under-developed. Compared to female members of violent extreme right, jihadist, or ethno-separatist groups, little is known about the drivers involved in motivating women to join the violent far left. My study examines thirteen autobiographies of German and American women who were active in various forms of left-wing terrorism to shed light on their motivational themes for joining those militant groups. The analysis identified four key motivational themes across the autobiographical materials: living a completely authentic life as political warriors (consequentialism), being part of a global rebellion (internationalism), moral superiority of the cause, and responding to intolerable prison conditions caused by illegitimate governmental force or police brutality. The findings highlight the importance of understanding women’s involvement in terrorism through their own complex decisions and agency.

A Voice Within: An Autoethnographic Account of Moving from Closed to Open Prison Conditions by a Life‐Sentenced Prisoner

AbstractThis article explores the lived experience of transitioning from closed to open prison conditions by a mandatory life‐sentenced prisoner. Using autoethnographic methodology the lead author's experience of this significant life‐sentence event forms the basis of a wider discussion. Research around this process is lacking. This article examines the phenomena around prisoner identity, prison culture and prisoner adaptation; it explores what impact of years spent in the closed prison estate can have on how open prison conditions are experienced. The authors identify important social and ontological obstacles to successful transition to open conditions and reflect on how it exposes the enduring harms resultant from serving a life sentence.

Incarcerated women’s cooking and eating practices in a ‘humane’ Danish open prison

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to examine incarcerated women’s cooking and eating practices in a Danish open prison to gain insight into the Nordic penal exceptionalism debate. Self-catering and the policy of normalization, which dictates that prison conditions be as similar as possible to conditions outside the prison, have been seen by some as evidence of humane prison conditions. This article draws on three months of ethnographic fieldwork to argue that incarcerated women in a mixed-gender Danish open prison use cooking and eating to display family, articulate allegiance, and negotiate relations of exchange. Incarcerated women used food preparation to maintain relationships with family and negotiate relationships with other prisoners, yet data also reveal the ways in which incarceration and turnover profoundly strained these relationships. I argue that self-catering is worth emulating while emphasizing the limitations of labelling it humane and propose that turnover deserves further research.

Субкультура засуджених як вид кримінальної субкультури: культурно-історичний аспект

The purpose of the article is to distinguish the subculture of convicts and criminal subcultures as a known concept Methodology. The basis of this study is a theoretical analysis, synthesis, generalization, systematization of available scientific literature on the subject. Results. The theoretical analysis of scientific works on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach helped to distinguish the subculture of convicts and the criminal subculture in the context of their manifestations in the public consciousness. It is determined that the subculture of convicts develops on the basis of the criminal subculture, which performs a regulatory function in relation to convicts. The criteria of delimitation of subcultures are singled out, which gives each of them a separate place in the general continuum and concerns: attitude to social and legislative norms, places of formation and forms of manifestation, peculiarities of communication and self-presentations. It is proved that a clear distinction between the convicted subculture and the criminal subculture will provide a basis for the rehabilitation of convicts and the effectiveness of the penitentiary service in prison conditions. It was established that the subculture of convicts is a structural element of the criminal subculture with its own system of norms, values, traditions, customs that regulate the behavior of convicts in the informal structure of penitentiaries. Its emergence and existence in places of imprisonment causes a compensatory psychological reaction with a forced desire to adapt, ensure their safety, assert themselves in a community of their own kind, where inevitably formed a system of values, concepts, customs, regulating relations between individuals isolated from society. Practical implications. The subculture of convicts is created and manifested in places of imprisonment, is characterized by the preservation of norms, values, traditions, customs of the criminal subculture, provides for the formation of adaptive mechanisms for places of imprisonment with subsequent inclusion in the rehabilitation process. Value (originality). The clarity of the distinction between the subculture of convicts and the criminal subculture will create the basis for the deployment of prison rehabilitation processes and increase the efficiency of the penitentiary service. Key words: subculture (criminal, prison, convicts), penitentiary institutions, norms of behavior regulation.

The Modest ECtHR Supervision of Spain´s Prison System

AbstractThe European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has not yet ruled against Spain for breaching Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) on account of the material conditions in Spanish prisons. Most of the ECtHR´s case law regarding Spanish prisons and detention conditions refers to the incommunicado detention regime, for which the ECtHR has condemned Spain for breaching the procedural limb of Article 3 of the ECHR and, in its most recent decision on the topic: Portu Juanenea and Sarasola Yarzabal v. Spain of 13 October 2018, also for breaching the material limb of that same provision. Besides the case law regarding the incommunicado detention regime, the ECtHR has ruled on issues related to arrangements for granting adjustments of sentence, which have traditionally been understood to fall outside the scope of the ECHR. In this sense, Del Río Prada v. Spain of 21 October 2013 and Arrozpide Sarasola and Others v. Spain of 23 October 2018 constitute important attempts of re‐examining the concept of penalty for the purpose of extending the guarantees of the Convention. Still, however, altogether considered, the case law of the ECtHR on Spain's prison system and policies is relatively modest if compared with the significant case law issued against other European countries regarding this same topic. The reasons behind the limited ECtHR oversight of Spain's prison system are varied and not straightforward and the present article aims at shedding light on this question, while highlighting the many potential areas where an alignment with some of the criteria set forth by the ECtHR is needed.

Dancing with the Junta Again

Since the military coup on 1 February, more than 800 people, including children have been killed and more than 6,000 people have been arrested. The death toll and number of incarcerated women is sharply increasing during the crack down on protesters by security forces; yet, little is known about the specific challenges and opportunities encountered by women activists while imprisoned. Through analysis of semi-structured interviews with five women who have been detained in connection with the military coup, this report sheds light on the torture, sexual harassment and poor prison conditions that they face.

Characteristics of problems that arise in convicted persons with disabilities in the process of their adaptation to the conditions of deprivation of liberty

The purpose of the article is to present the results of a pilot study of the problems of disabled convicts that arise during their period of adaptation to prison conditions. The author seeks to explain in the article what impedes the effective adaptation to prison conditions of such a specific category of prisoners as the disabled; what difficulties they face, what their attitude to the environment and to other people is, what their wishes and motives are. What was used as a research methodology was a questionnaire which had been developed by the author. The results of the research allowed us to analyse the difficulties that the convicts of this category face at the initial stage of serving their sentence in the correctional facility and to compare the data obtained with the results of theoretical research. The content of the article allows solving two main tasks – theoretical one, to formulate criteria of adaptation of disabled convicts to conditions of imprisonment; practical one, to outline ways to improve pedagogic support of the process of their adaptation.

Motivasi Perempuan Pelaku Pembunuhan (Studi Kasus pada Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Perempuan Kelas IIA Palembang)

Prisoners' life is a pattern of activities or activities carried out for inmates and grouped in a place that is not free (movement) as a form of being responsible for all their actions in order to lead them to correct actions according to law and religion in the hope that they can repent and regret everything his actions when he is free later. The term for female prisoners who are fostered in a correctional facility is a prisoner or a correctional client. The crime of murder committed by a woman is indeed very hard to believe during human civilization on this earth. The life that is lived by a female prisoner in a correctional facility often causes her to face various psychological problems, including the loss of her personality as a result of rules and ways of life that are very different from life lived outside the Penitentiary. This study aims to determine what the motivation of a woman to commit a murder crime and how to deal with the psychological conditions of female prisoners who commit a murder crime.

Crime and Punishment in coplas of cante flamenco

The XXI century, marked by numerous achievements in various fields, became the time of systematic arrangement of not only cante flamenco, but the law enforcement agencies and procedures in Spain as well. These phenomena, which at first glance have no common ground, appear to be inextricably entwined, since in the folklore of Southern Spain are often mentioned the committed crimes and the imposed punishments. The object of this research is the coplas of cante flamencto that contain information about crimes against ethnic groups, prison conditions, family visits procedure, death penalty, correctional labor, physical punishment and other aspects of being in the penitentiary institutions of that time and interaction with the judicial and legal system. The subject of this research is the law enforcement and penitentiary practices in Spain of the XIX centuries. The texts of cante flamenco have not been translated into the Russian language; only some of them drew the attention of domestic researchers, which defines the relevance of conducting interdisciplinary research dedicated to the historical records on the judiciary, prisons and law enforcement practice in Spain of the XIX century, which were contained in coplas of cante flamenco. The goal of this article lies in determination of peculiarities of delivering information related to crimes and punishments in coplas of cante flamencto, and its correspondence to the historical realities of that time. The research is based on the cante flamento colletcions&amp;nbsp;of A. Machado-Alvarez and M. Balmaceda published in 1881. It is established that the lyrics of flamenco songs accurately reflect the difficulties and flaws in various aspects of functionality of the judicial and legal system and penitentiary institutions during their integration into the state system.

The measure of preventive arrest in the context of a global pandemic

For years, international human rights organizations have recommended measures to reduce overcrowding in prisons. The COVID 19 pandemic found places of detention with inadequate spaces, insufficient medical services facilities, lack of reintegration services and, especially, a systemic overcrowding of penitentiaries. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation in prisons extended to the health of detainees. Overcrowding and unhealthy prison conditions have made them a high risk of contagion.

Lengthy Prison Term as a Psychological Issue in the Penal System of the Russian Federation

Introduction: the paper analyzes scientific data related to the definition of the phenomenon “lengthy prison term” and demonstrates a relative and conditional nature of this phenomenon. Available scientific research findings in this area suggest that the duration of serving a sentence is an exclusively subjective measure for various criminals. Goal: to identify the impact of the length of prison sentences on convicts in the context of their reformation. Methods: we use general scientific research methods (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization). The work is based on the results derived from the analysis of relevant foreign and domestic studies. Results: by analyzing the influence of specific features inherent in correctional institutions, we reveal the following inconsistency: custodial sentences and lengthy prison terms contribute to the adaptation of convicts to prison conditions, development of negative changes in their personality, destructive conduct, etc. In addition, prolonged stay in a correctional institution reduces the impact of major means of reformation such as prison regime, educational work, and socially useful work. Conclusions: when determining the length of prison term, it is necessary to proceed not so much from the nature and degree of public danger of the act, but from individual features of the criminal’s personality, their social environment, and the motive for the crime committed. It is necessary to abandon the quantitative approach to determining the mea sure of punishment expressed in the length of the prison term. Key words: lengthy prison term; serving a sentence; correctional institutions; crime; convicts; reformation; punishment; penal system of the Russian Federation; isolation conditions.

Compounding Racialized Vulnerability: COVID-19 in Prisons, Jails, and Migrant Detention Centers.

Carceral institutions are among the largest clusters of COVID-19 in the United States. In response, activists and detainees have rallied around decarceration demands: the release of detainees and inmates to prevent exposure to COVID-19. This article theorizes the compounding racial vulnerability that has led to such a marked spread behind bars, mainly among race-class subjugated (RCS) communities. The authors provide an in-depth account of COVID-19 in American correctional facilities and the mobilization to reduce contagions. They also use two survey experiments to describe public support for harm reduction and decarceration demands and to measure the effects of information about racial inequalities in prison and poor conditions inside migrant detention centers. The authors found only one-third to one-half of respondents believe that response to COVID-19 in prisons and immigrant detention centers should be a high priority. They also found Americans are more supportive of harm reduction measures than decarceration efforts. Information about racial disparities increases support decarceration. They did not find any significant effect of information about poor conditions in migrant detention centers. The conditions in carceral institutions during the pandemic-and public opinion about them-highlight the realities of compounding racialized vulnerability in the United States.

Why Are Workplace Social Support Programs Not Improving the Mental Health of Canadian Correctional Officers? An Examination of the Theoretical Concepts Underpinning Support.

In Canada, public safety personnel, including correctional officers, experience high rates of mental health problems. Correctional officers’ occupational stress has been characterized as insidious and chronic due to multiple and unpredictable occupational risk factors such as violence, unsupportive colleagues and management, poor prison conditions, and shift work. Given the increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes associated with operational stressors, organizational programs have been developed to provide correctional officers with support to promote mental well-being and to provide mental health interventions that incorporate recovery and reduction in relapse risk. This paper uses two theories, the Job Demand Control Support (JDCS) Model and Social Ecological Model (SEM), to explore why workplace social support programs may not been successful in terms of uptake or effectiveness among correctional officers in Canada. We suggest that structural policy changes implemented in the past 15 years have had unintentional impacts on working conditions that increase correctional officer workload and decrease tangible resources to deal with an increasingly complex prison population. Notably, we believe interpersonal support programs may only have limited success if implemented without addressing the multilevel factors creating conditions of job strain.

The European committee for the prevention of torture and the gendered experience of imprisonment

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) is a supranational prison oversight body tasked with carrying out visits to places of detention across Europe. Prisons fall within the remit of the CPT, and much like prisons themselves, CPT prison visits tend to focus on the male experience of imprisonment. However, the experience of imprisonment is inherently gendered and, as such, the experiences, treatment and needs of cisgender men do not necessarily represent those of cisgender women and transgender people in prison. Therefore, it follows that a different approach is also required when it comes to prison monitoring activities carried out by the CPT. This paper introduces CPT standards and the international legal framework on gender and imprisonment. It reflects on analysis of three years of CPT reporting to explore how the CPT considers the gendered experience of imprisonment. To this end, the paper considers the potential impact of the gender composition of CPT delegations, as well as provides a descriptive content analysis of CPT reports to determine how the CPT accounts for gender-specific treatment and conditions in prison. This paper poses questions and provides suggestions around how gender can be made more central across all human rights monitoring bodies operating in the penal field, both internationally and domestically.

Evaluation of dental trauma in inmates of the most highly populated Brazilian prison complex.

Due to the increase in incarceration rates, the prison community has attracted much concern in the recent past. Although people in prison are often socially disadvantaged and vulnerable to a range of health problems, there is a lack of information on the oral health conditions of prisoners. Thus, the aim of this study was to survey the oral problems of a sample of the male incarcerated population of Brazil, focusing on dental trauma. The research was undertaken over a three-month period in 2017. It was a cross-sectional study of 756 prisoners of the Curado Prison Complex, located in Recife, PE. Using a previously calibrated examiner, dental trauma was measured with the Andreasen index. Etiology of dental trauma and socio-demographic data were collected with questions developed for this survey. Standard descriptive statistics were used to report frequency estimates. The chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and Mann-Whitney U-test were used to compare groups. In addition, a binary logistic regression was performed to identify whether the studied variables could predict the occurrence of dental trauma. The prevalence of dental trauma in the sample was 10.8% and most of the cases (42.7%) occurred due to violent events. A higher frequency of violent etiology was observed in cases that occurred during imprisonment (p=0.037). Individuals that suffered dental trauma during incarceration were more likely to have been incarcerated for longer periods of time (p=0.043). The main type of injury found was enamel and dentin fracture without pulp exposure (68%). The most affected tooth was the upper right central incisor (40%). These results underline the high prevalence of dental trauma experienced by men in prison.

Behind the Wall of Indifference: Prisoner Voices about the Realities of Prison Health Care

While most Americans never see or become ensnared in the nation’s vast correctional system, there are unprecedented costs—economic, social, and ethical—that are being paid, one way or another, by everyone in this country. It is no secret that prison inmates face health threats behind bars that equal anything they face in the streets. Violent assault, rape, or the outbreak of highly infectious diseases are much more common in correctional facilities than in the general population. Prison conditions can easily fan the spread of disease through overcrowding, poor ventilation, and late or inadequate medical care. Effectively protected from public scrutiny, the prison health care system has almost zero accountability, thus escaping outside attention to serious failures of care. If you want to know about the practice of health care in prison settings, ask someone who has been “in” the system. Prisoners have a story to tell and this article gives voice to the experiences of those who have been directly impacted by the provision of health care in the prison system.