Life-sentenced Prisoners Research Articles

Life imprisonment in Poland: Issues and Challenges

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this article is to analyze recent legislative changes to life imprisonment in Poland and to examine the consequences of introducing an absolute form of this penalty, called “an absolute life sentence”. Methodology: This paper combines two methods: a comparison of legal documents and legal writers' thoughts and author observation of this phenomenon. Main findings of the study: The main conclusion is that the changes introduced by the legislator concerning life imprisonment —specifically, the court discretion to optionally impose a parole ban under two circumstances— may not result in positive effects for crime deterrence. Consequently, this could worsen the already challenging task of educational rehabilitation efforts with the population of life prisoners. The Polish penitentiary system will face challenges related to ageing prisoners serving life sentences without parole and the natural consequences of this issue. Furthermore, the recent changes could make it difficult for Poland to cooperate on criminal law matters with countries that consider 'absolute life imprisonment' to be inhumane. Application of the study: The presented research relates to various scientific fields, e.g. criminal law, executive penal law and sociology. Originality/Novelty of the study: This problem is still a current matter. Life imprisonment is a relatively new punishment in Poland, and the Polish penitentiary system continues to look for new ways and methods for dealing with group of life-sentenced prisoners. As a result of the latest amendment, the Polish prison administration will once again face the challenge of implementing completely new severe penalty which is a life imprisonment.

Book Review: Steve Herbert, Too Easy to Keep: Life-Sentenced Prisoners and the Future of Mass Incarceration. First Edition. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. 2019. ISBN: 978- 0520300514

In his book, Too Easy to Keep, Steve Herbert a Mark Torrance Professor and Department Chair at the University of Washington Law, Societies, and Justices explores the consequences of the steady increase in lifesentence laws and the fiscal and human costs associated with implementation and application of these laws. This book specifically focuses on the journey of life-sentenced prisoners in search of atonement and how their projects of self-actualization and desires for redemption help transform and improve the institution in which they live.

‘Sedative Coping’, Contextual Maturity and Institutionalization Among Prisoners Serving Life Sentences in England and Wales

Abstract Based on a longitudinal study of life-sentenced prisoners in England and Wales, this article seeks to make sense of what it characterizes as ‘sedative coping’. In doing so, it brings together analytic conclusions from the existing research literature that appear highly inconsistent, but which indicate the centrality of emotion in the experience of serving a long prison sentence. Specifically, it highlights the forms of emotion management and suppression involved in coping with the trauma of such circumstances, and the post-release impact of sustained forms of emotional self-preservation. This focus helps us better understand the connection between ‘mature coping’ in custody and the post-release difficulties that life-sentenced prisoners often describe.

Trajectories of hope/lessness among men and women in the late stage of a life sentence

Drawing on Snyder's ‘hope theory’ as a conceptual framework, this article examines the hope narratives of men and women at the ‘late stage’ of a life sentence. The article aims to bridge the existing gap between jurisprudence and sociological accounts on hope and life imprisonment by extending this debate to men and women serving reducible life sentences in England and Wales, for whom release is not guaranteed but assumed to be attainable. Through focusing on the individual ways in which the spectre and procedural elements of release shape narratives of hope and hopelessness, this article agrees with Vannier that recent human rights debates have fallen short in terms of subjectively understanding the complex relationship between ‘hope’ and ‘release’ for life-sentenced prisoners. It concludes by highlighting the necessity of procedural legitimacy in reducing uncertainty and promoting and maintaining hope among this group.

Comparative legal analysis of the institution of conditionally early release from the punishment in the criminal legislation of Russia and foreign countries

The article is devoted to the institution of parole from serving a sentence (hereinafter — parole) as an important incentive for law-abiding behavior of convicts in Russia and some foreign countries. A comparative legal analysis of the conditions for the use of this incentive institution in order to optimize the domestic criminal and penal legislation, taking into account foreign experience, is carried out. Reflected proposals to improve the efficiency of the parole mechanism in law enforcement practice. The authors reveal the grounds and conditions for the use of the incentive institute of parole in some countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (hereinafter — the CIS), as well as in England, Germany, USA, Spain, Switzerland, etc. Particular attention is paid to the issue of parole in relation to those sentenced to life imprisonment freedom. Based on the study of the positive experience of developed foreign countries (England, Germany, Switzerland), it is proposed to change the parole mechanism in relation to life-sentenced prisoners in Russia and to provide for the possibility of transferring these persons with positively characterized behavior after serving at least 15 years of their sentence from the penal colony of the special regime in the penal colony with a strict regime, as well as to reduce the obligatory term of serving the sentence for the onset of parole in relation to those sentenced to life imprisonment from 25 to 20 years. In order to reduce recidivism among those on parole and reduce the number of those sentenced to punishments not related to isolation from society, it seems expedient, based on the experience of some CIS countries, to provide for the possibility of parole in relation to those sentenced to punishment in the form of correctional labor and restraint of freedom.

Human dignity as a fundamental basis and a practical tool of “right to hope” in criminal law

The scientific article focuses on the analysis of a sentence of life imprisonment without a realistic prospect of release in Ukraine as a violation of the “right to hope” in the context of the human dignity category. The study provides an overview of approaches to the definition of human dignity in national legal doctrine and practice, a historical and legal analysis of the origins of legal regulation of the idea of ​​respect for human dignity in international legal acts, and analyses the constitutional stages of the evolution of this concept as a matter of international law. The author has reviewed the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on this issue and studied the reasons of the Court on setting standards for acceptable treatment of a person through the lenses of human dignity and the inadmissibility of inhuman and degrading offences. Taking into account these standards, a critical assessment has been carried out, in particular, of the judicial practice of the Federal Republic of Germany on the application to a prisoner of such a type of punishment as preventive detention with indefinite duration. Emphasis has been given to the national judicial practice in cases of possible releasing life-sentenced prisoners in the conclusions of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court and the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on this issue. Based on the results of the study, a set of measures, including amending the legislation to bring it in line with the requirements of European human rights standards to protect human dignity and ensure the “right to hope” has been offered.

Risk Reduction and Redemption: An Interpretive Account of the Right to Rehabilitation in the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract This article exposes the disjunction between the progressive rhetoric of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on rehabilitation and the reality for life-sentenced prisoners. It illuminates the tensions between the Court’s jurisprudence on the prisoner’s right to rehabilitation and a nebulous ‘right to security’ of the public that threatens to undermine prisoners’ rights. It is argued that two distinct conceptual frameworks for understanding rehabilitation for life-sentenced prisoners underpin the ECtHR’s jurisprudence: rehabilitation as risk reduction and rehabilitation as redemption. The first is shaped by a preoccupation with identifying and reducing risk factors for offending. The second reflects the idea that offending indicates bad character but that people can atone for their crimes by working hard to change themselves. The article concludes that the ECtHR, by placing the onus on life-sentenced prisoners to demonstrate they have achieved rehabilitation, risks entrenching the trends of popular punitiveness and precautionary penal warehousing that it has sought to oppose.

The right of prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment to parole from serving a sentence or to replace the unserved part of the sentence with a milder one and ensuring it in Ukraine

The article examines the issues of ensuring the right of convicts to life imprisonment in Ukraine to parole from serving a sentence or replacing the unserved part of the sentence with a milder one. The norms of the Criminal Code, other legislative acts of Ukraine governing this issue, as well as the Regulation on the procedure for pardon approved by decree of the President of Ukraine No. 223/2015 of April 21, 2015 are analyzed. They are compared with international legal acts, in particular, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, which governs the conditional release of life-sentenced prisoners or replaces the unserved part of the sentence with a milder one, as well as several decisions of the European Court of Human Rights regarding such issues. The inconsistency of Ukrainian legislation, the Regulation on the procedure for pardoning international law and the decisions of the ECHR is shown. Particular attention is paid to the decision of the ECHR in the case of “Roosters v. Ukraine” of March 12, 2019, as well as future decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Supreme Court, which are currently considering this issue. Considering the provisions expressed by the ECHR in this case, it is concluded that the current mechanism for such exemption does not comply with international standards and this entails the need to consolidate the relevant legal norms in Ukrainian legislation. The problematic aspects of the implementation of such a right are analyzed, some suggestions are made for their solution.

Book Review: Herbert, Steve, Too Easy to Keep: Life-Sentenced Prisoners and the Future of Mass Incarceration

Book Review: Herbert, Steve, Too Easy to Keep: Life-Sentenced Prisoners and the Future of Mass Incarceration

Book Review: Too easy to keep: Life-sentenced prisoners and the future of mass incarceration

Book Review: Too easy to keep: Life-sentenced prisoners and the future of mass incarceration

Lifers over tariff: exploring psychological barriers to progression

PurposeThere are a significant number of life-sentenced prisoners in Scotland who are over tariff (i.e. past their punishment part expiry date) and who appear to have difficulty in making the transition towards community reintegration. The factors involved in their repeated returns to closed conditions are not adequately understood. The purpose of this paper is to explore this issue using a qualitative approach in order to understand the experience of life-sentenced prisoners in this position, and the psychological barriers that compromise their progression to less secure conditions and the community.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth interviews were conducted with eight life-sentenced prisoners who met the criteria for the research. All were significantly over tariff and all had multiple failed attempts at progression to less secure conditions. Interviews were recorded and transcripts were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis.FindingsThe analysis produced three identifiable supraordinate themes, each with subordinate themes. The supraordinate themes included: shaming self-identify, perception of the community as daunting, and disempowerment. The ability to generalise the findings outwith the participants of this study are acknowledged.Practical implicationsThis has provided further understanding as to the complexity of the issue, and the ways in which it manifests into behaviour. Initial (albeit tentative) recommendations for intervention and service provision can therefore be identified.Originality/valueThe results are discussed against the implications for service provision in Scottish prisons, and identify the areas for further research that will help to inform the forensic practices in this context.

Inside or outside? Expanding the narratives about life-sentenced prisoners

The number of life-sentenced prisoners in the United States is growing, an increase that deserves ongoing critical consideration. Such consideration is heightened by the fact that many lifers undergo significant personal transformations during their incarceration. This paper uses interviews with 21 life-sentenced prisoners in the state of Washington to document the degree of such transformations. These transformations create compelling questions for theoretical strains in the sociology of punishment that draw upon the seminal work of Durkheim. Further, those transformations deserve greater consideration as the politics and practices of incarceration continue to unfold in the United States.

The Violent Accounts of Men Diagnosed With Comorbid Antisocial and Borderline Personality Disorders.

This study explored the violent offence accounts of life-sentenced prisoners diagnosed with comorbid antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). The aim of the current study was to gain needed clinical insight into the mechanisms involved in this specific group offenders' use of violence against others. Six adult male personality-disordered offenders were interviewed via a semistructured interview schedule to collate individual offence accounts. Interview transcripts were analyzed by the lead researcher (first author) using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) who compared and contrasted findings to develop superordinate themes across the group. External auditing analysis was conducted by the second researcher. Four superordinate themes resulted. These were "A victim of a hostile and rejecting world," "Self as unacceptable to others," "Unwanted emotions that cannot be tolerated or controlled," and "Violent revenge as catharsis." The results support the view that emotional dysregulation is central in driving acts of violence in those with comorbid ASPD/BPD; nevertheless, shame was particularly prevalent. Thus an argument is made for the adaptation of evidence-based treatments for this specific forensic population to ensure a particular focus on helping men tolerate feelings of shame. The limitations of the study are also discussed.

Suppression, denial, sublimation: Defending against the initial pains of very long life sentences

The central purpose of the article is to explore the psychic components of the early pains of imprisonment described by male and female prisoners serving very long mandatory life sentences for murder. While there is a strong tradition of documenting prisoners’ adaptations to ‘life inside’, little work in prisons sociology explores how life-sentenced prisoners, specifically those convicted of murder, reactively respond and adjust to the early years of these sentences. Having outlined prisoners’ descriptions of entry shock, temporal vertigo and intrusive recollections, we draw upon a Freudian terminology of ‘defence mechanisms of the ego’ to argue that suppression, denial and sublimation represent key ways of ‘defending against’ (rather than ‘adapting to’) these experiences. We suggest that the particular offence–time nexus of our sample—the specific offence of murder combined with a very long sentence—helps to explain these defensive patterns.

Risk assessments and recidivism among a population-based group of Swedish offenders sentenced to life in prison.

In Sweden, the number of people serving life sentences has steadily increased. To date, few studies have examined the recidivism rate or the predictive validity of different risk assessment instruments in this group. Our aim was to test the predictive validity among inmates serving life sentences of two different instruments used for assessing risk--the Historical, Clinical and Risk Management-20 (HCR-20), most widely used in clinical populations, and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), commonly applied in both penal and clinical settings. Ninety-eight life-sentenced prisoners were included, 26 of whom were released during the study period. Data on risk assessments and dates for release were collected from administrative records, while recidivism data were retrieved from a national database on criminal convictions. Sex offenders obtained the highest scores and inmates charged with domestic violent offences obtained the lowest scores on both instruments. The released prisoners were followed for a mean period of 33 months. During this time five prisoners (19%) reoffended, four of them violently, with an average time to recidivism of 10 months. Only PCL-R Facet 4, which reflects antisocial features, was significantly associated with recidivism. This small, but population-based, study demonstrates that antisocial behaviour shows incremental predictive validity for reoffending among life-sentenced offenders, but other measures have little to add for this specific task. The fact that those life sentenced prisoners who reoffended did so so soon after release should prompt allocation of earlier interventions towards preventing this.

Using information from the violence risk scale to understand different patterns of change: an exploratory investigation of intensively treated life-sentenced prisoners.

Research rarely has shown that in-program change in correctional rehabilitation is related to long-term outcome (i.e., recidivism), and surprisingly little is known about what happens to progress after treatment, especially for "lifers" whose release may not be imminent. This study investigated patterns of treatment response for 35 life-sentenced treatment completers of an intensive cognitive-behavioral program for high-risk male violent prisoners. Using Violence Risk Scale (VRS) ratings at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6 to 12 months following the program, we found that prisoners' mean treatment response was positive both at program end and follow-up. However, a fine-grained analysis identified five distinct change patterns within the sample. Importantly, the direction and volume of in-program change did not necessarily predict post-program change, and the highest risk prisoners did not benefit as much as those at medium-high risk. The findings suggest that (a) a better understanding of the effects of treatment may be gained by examining change beyond the end of interventions, including a focus on the individual and contextual factors that promote and inhibit generalization and (b) more therapeutic attention may be warranted for monitoring treatment change to maximize conditions for continued gain beyond the end of the program.

A literature review of psychological interventions with violent offenders with intellectual difficulties

There is a clear gap in provision for violent offender with intellectual difficulties to actively address their offending behaviour as most are screened out of existing offending behaviour programmes. This is particularly important for life-sentenced prisoners who must show a reduction in risk of re-offending to secure release. There is growing evidence for the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) methods to treat anger and aggressive behaviour in individuals with intellectual deficits. Research has shown reduced rates of re-conviction among individuals with intellectual difficulties with violent offending histories (Taylor, 2002). It is the responsibility of the prison service to provide equal opportunity to offenders to reduce their risk of re-offending. The literature reviewed showed empirical support to implement adapted CBT methods with violent offenders with intellectual deficits.

Offence characteristics, trauma histories and post‐traumatic stress disorder symptoms in life sentenced prisoners

Life‐long trauma histories and PTSD symptoms in 26 life sentence prisoners detained in a British Category B prison were examined. Prisoners were categorised on the basis of whether index offence violence resulted in human fatality, and whether reactive or instrumental violence was used in the index offence. Symptom measures included the Impact of Events Scale ‐ Revised and the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale. Eight prisoners (31%) met all DSM‐IV criteria for current PTSD diagnosis. Partial PTSD was common in the remaining prisoners. Number of PTSD symptoms was unrelated to both the act of killing and the nature of violence. The rate of trauma prior to index offences was positively related to intrusive, avoidant and hyperarousal symptoms attributed by the prisoners to their index offence. The results suggest that prior trauma sensitised prisoners' traumatic reactions to their offences.

Emotional Loneliness in Sexual Murderers: A Qualitative Analysis

This study compared levels of emotional loneliness between sexual murderers and rapists who had not gone on to kill their victim/s. All participants were life-sentenced prisoners in the United Kingdom. Assessment consisted of a semistructured interview and was subjected to grounded theory analysis. This approach is defined as the breaking down, naming, comparing, and categorizing of data. As such, it is distinguished from other qualitative methods by the process of constant comparison. This continual sifting and comparing elements assists in promoting conceptual and theoretical development. The results of this process found that sexual murderers, compared to rapists, reported significantly higher levels of grievance towards females in childhood, significantly higher levels of peer group loneliness in adolescence, and significantly higher levels of self as victim in adulthood.

Life-Sentenced Prisoners Transferred to Hospital

Life-Sentenced Prisoners Transferred to Hospital