Male Prisoners In England Research Articles

Caring for Male Prisoners Who Self-Harm: Perceptions, Attitudes and Experiences of Custodial Prison Staff and Male Prisoners in England

The aims of this research were to explore custodial prison staff and male prisoners’ perceptions toward self-harm, prison system responses and environmental impacts on self-harm. Four staff focus groups (thematic analysis) and 12 semi-structured interviews with male prisoners (interpretative phenomenological analysis) took place in three prisons in England. Prison staff attributed manipulative intention to self-harm; self-harming prisoners felt misunderstood. The prison environment and formal response processes were barriers for care access and provision. Recommendations include staff training in understanding and management of self-harm, supported by a care-focused culture, and fostering safety, security, empowerment and value for both prisoners and staff.

Cardiovascular risk profiles and the uptake of the NHS Healthcheck programme in male prisoners in six UK prisons: an observational cross-sectional survey

IntroductionHalf of all deaths in custody are due to natural causes, the most common being cardiovascular disease (CVD). National Health Service Healthchecks should be available to all eligible prisoners; it...

Sounding out d/Deafness: the experiences of d/Deaf prisoners

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the lived realities of d/Deaf prisoners in England and Wales, and to explore previous claims that they suffer disproportionately during their time in custody.Design/methodology/approachFor the purposes of this study, a qualitative approach was taken. As part of this, 28 semi-structured interviews were carried out at seven adult male prisons in England with a sample of male hard of hearing/d/Deaf prisoners, and staff members who had worked with them. The interviews were recorded using a Dictaphone, and then transcribed as close to verbatim as possible. From this, the transcriptions were analysed using thematic analysis. In addition to interviews, observations were made at each establishment, and later recorded in a fieldwork journal.FindingsFindings from the study showed that the way a d/Deaf person experiences prison depends strongly on the way in which they identify with their d/Deafness. However, it was also shown that there is little room for either deafness or Deafness in prison, with severely deaf and culturally and linguistically Deaf prisoners commonly experiencing the pains of imprisonment more severely than their hearing peers as a result of the Prison Service’s inability to accommodate such difference.Originality/valueThis study fused together the fields of Deaf Studies and Prison Studies in a way that had not been done before, considering d/Deafness in prison on both an audiological and cultural level. Moreover, excluding small-scale unpublished undergraduate dissertations, it was the first empirical study about d/Deaf prisoners in England and Wales to carry out face-to-face interviews with these prisoners. Finally, as the most in-depth research is yet to be carried out about these particular prisoners in England and Wales, a greater level of insight was provided than previously available.

Is there a prison size dilemma? An empirical analysis of output-specific economies of scale

We advocate a nonparametric multi-output framework to estimate output-specific economies of scale and we apply this model to male prisons in England and Wales over the sample period 2009–2012. To estimate output-specific returns to scale in prisons, we consider not only the cost-per-place, but also qualitative outputs such as purposeful out-of-cell activity and successful reintegration. Furthermore, we introduce environmental heterogeneity using the characteristics of the prison(ers). England and Wales offers a unique example to study economies of scale in prisons as the UK has started to build new super-size prisons in order to replace the most outdated prisons.

“There's that many people selling it”: Exploring the nature, organisation and maintenance of prison drug markets in England

Aims: To explore the nature, organisation and maintenance of drug markets within male prisons in England from the perspective of drug users, considering the role of policy and practice in shaping the markets. Methods: Thirty in-depth qualitative interviews with former male prisoners were analysed using a Framework approach. Findings: Prison drug markets traditionally operated through “Established Enterprises,” sophisticated and business like ventures run by community drug dealers. Prisoners maintained the market by selling or delivering drugs or collecting payments and enforcing violence towards debtors. They were reimbursed for their “work” with money or drugs. Market competition was increasingly created by the concurrent existence of less formalised, more spontaneous markets through “Separate Suppliers,” where individual prisoners opportunistically sold illicit drugs, directly benefitting from the profit. Irrespective of provider, illicit drugs were commonly available within male prisons, although they were expensive, of poor quality and small deal sizes. Drugs had a pervasive and powerful influence on prison environments and were strongly linked to the threat and experience of violence. Conclusions: Two main types of drug markets operated alongside one another in male prisons in England. They operated flexibly, as prices, supply routes and payment methods quickly responded to changes in prison policy, prison drug prescribing, drug availability and prisoner demand.

An analysis of managerialism and performance in English and Welsh male prisons

This paper fills a noticeable gap in the current economic and penology literature by proposing new performance-enhancing policies based on an efficiency analysis of a sample of male prisons in England and Wales over the period 2009/10. In addition, we advance the empirical literature by integrating the managerialism of four strategic functions of prisons, employment and accommodation, capacity utilization, quality of life in prison and the rehabilitation and re-offending of prisoners. We find that by estimating multiple models focussing on these different areas some prisons are more efficient than other establishments. In terms of policy, it is therefore necessary to consider not just an overall performance metric for individual prisons, as currently undertaken annually by the UK Ministry of Justice, but to look into the administration and managerialism of their main functions in both a business and public policy perspective. Indeed, it is further necessary to view prisons together and not as single entities, so as to obtain a best practice frontier for the different operations that management undertakes in English and Welsh prisons.

Who Benefits From Cognitive Skills Programs?

Cognitive skills programs, which teach problem-solving skills and perspective taking, have a strong evidence base for their ability to reduce recidivism with convicted populations. This study explored whether the Enhanced Thinking Skills program, delivered over several years to 21,000 male prisoners in England and Wales, reduced reoffending for some categories of offenders more than others by comparing predicted with actual reconviction rates. Consistent with earlier research, attending the program was associated with significantly reduced reoffending for sexual offenders (a 13 percentage point reduction), violent offenders (17 point reduction), and other non-acquisitive offenders (10-12 points), but not for offenders convicted of burglary or robbery. After controlling for risk, age, previous offenses committed, sentence length, and program completion, current offense type persisted as an independent and significant predictor of reoffending. Implications for the targeting of cognitive skills programs from this evaluation of a real world, large-scale implementation, and directions for future research, are discussed.

Pre‐release expectations and post‐release experiences of prisoners and their (ex‐)partners

PurposeThis study compared prisoners’ and their (ex‐)partners’ forecasts and actual experiences of life after prison. The aims were to: (1) assess prisoners’ self‐expectancies of problems and actual resettlement experiences; (2) compare prisoners’ post‐release expectations and experiences to their partners’ forecasts and valuations of these outcomes; (3) examine whether pre‐prison factors have an effect on each partners’ outlook of the future; (4) examine the predictive utility of each partners’ expectations on the men's post‐release outcomes; and (5) explore a range of resettlement issues which may play a vital role in pathways for reducing reoffending (i.e., family relationships, accommodation, finances, employment, alcohol use, and drug use).MethodWe employed a prospective longitudinal design and used semi‐structured interviews to gather quantitative and qualitative data from 39 male prisoners in England and their respective (ex‐)partners.ResultsThe couples showed relatively strong agreement on the men's post‐release difficulties compared to their earlier predictions; however, there was some variation in the ‘realism’ and ‘optimism’ of their outlooks. Their expectations were partially based on pre‐prison factors: higher frequencies of pre‐prison problems were positively associated with anticipated difficulties post‐release. Pre‐release expectations significantly predicted the men's post‐release difficulties with substance use and relationship factors.ConclusionOverall, our findings lend support to a dual hypothesis on the function of prisoners’ cognitions of future resettlement. On one hand, a ‘realistic view’ is important in recognizing when one is at risk for adversity. On the other hand, a ‘positive mindset’ has been associated with active coping and positive outcomes (e.g., desistance). The findings also underscore the importance of a holistic, family perspective in release and resettlement planning, and highlight key areas for targeted service delivery to promote successful desistance.

P3.444 Missed STI and HIV Testing Opportunities Among Male Prisoners in England

BackgroundPrisoners are a vulnerable population potentially at higher risk of sexually transmitted infections (STI), including bloodborne viruses (BBV), yet are more likely to receive fragmented sexual health services (SHS). Until...

Most items in structured risk assessment instruments do not predict violence

The predictive ability of static risk assessment instruments may be explained by a limited number of their items. This study examined the independent predictive accuracy of individual items in the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) and Historical-Clinical-Risk Management-20 (HCR-20) for violent reconvictions following release among 1353 male prisoners in England and Wales. The study found most items in the three instruments were not independently predictive. Items not independently predictive were removed and all significant items in the original three instruments were combined, resulting in negligible gains in predictive accuracy for the VRAG and HCR-20, but a small improvement in the PCL-R. The study demonstrated that the predictive power of the PCL-R, VRAG and HCR-20 are based on a small number of their items. This may partly explain the ‘glass-ceiling’ effect beyond which further improvement cannot be achieved. Instruments lack outcome-specificity for violence, and independently predictive items include measures of general criminality.

Personality disorder and offending behaviour: findings from the national survey of male prisoners in England and Wales

Previous studies have related mental disorder and antisocial personality disorder to criminal behaviour, but little is known about the associations with other personality disorders. The aim of this study was to examine independent associations between offending behaviour over the lifetime and personality disorder in a representative sample of male offenders. A two-stage survey was carried out among prisoners in all prisons in England and Wales. DSM-IV personality disorder was measured using SCID-II in the second stage among 391 male prisoners. Independent relationships between personality disorder scores and lifetime offences were examined using multiple regression. Findings demonstrated several independent relationships between personality disorders and offending behaviour. Strongest associations were found between the conduct disorder and adult antisocial components of antisocial personality disorder, with no evidence that these were the consequence of the other Axis II disorders. Future research should investigate the functional links between personality disorder and offending behaviour.

Psychopathy among prisoners in England and Wales

Most research into psychopathy among prisoners is based on selected samples. It remains unclear whether prevalences are lower among European populations. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of psychopathy, and the distribution and correlates of psychopathic traits in a representative national sample of prisoners. Psychopathy was measured using the revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) in a second stage, cross-sectional survey of prisoners in England and Wales in 1997 (n=496). Poisson regression analysis was carried out to examine independent associations between correlates and PCL-R total and factor scores. The prevalence of categorically diagnosed psychopathy at a cut off of 30 was 7.7% (95%CI 5.2–10.9) in men and 1.9% (95%CI 0.2–6.9) in women. Psychopathic traits were less prevalent among women. They were correlated with younger age, repeated imprisonment, detention in higher security, disciplinary infractions, antisocial, narcissistic, histrionic, and schizoid personality disorders, and substance misuse, but not neurotic disorders or schizophrenia. The study concluded that psychopathy and psychopathic traits are prevalent among male prisoners in England and Wales but lower than in most previous studies using selected samples. However, most correlates with psychopathic traits were similar to other studies. Psychopathy identifies the extreme of a spectrum of social and behavioral problems among prisoners.

Suicides in male prisoners in England and Wales, 1978–2003

The number of suicides in English and Welsh prisons is increasing, but the excess compared with the general population has not been reliably quantified. We therefore compared, in narrow age bands, all 1312 suicides of male prisoners in England and Wales between 1978 and 2003 with suicide rates in the general male population. The overall standardised mortality ratio for suicide was 5.1 (95% CI, 4.8-5.3), suggesting a five-fold excess of suicides in male prisoners, with a particularly striking excess in boys aged 15-17 years (standardised mortality ratio 18 [13-26]). The proportional excess of suicides of male prisoners has been increasing during the past quarter of a century, which underscores the need for substantial improvements in suicide prevention in prisons.

Same-sex sexual activity of male prisoners in England and Wales

A random sample of 1009 adult male prison inmates from 13 prisons covering short-, medium- and long-term establishments across England and Wales was interviewed about sexual behaviour, drug use and tattooing, inside and outside prison. We report here on their same-sex sexual activity. Thirty-seven men reported having engaged in sexual activity with a man during adulthood. Twenty-two men reported having had sex with a man in prison. Indirect support for this prevalence rate was given by sexually transmitted disease rates and prisoners' estimates of same-sex sexual activity occurring in prison. Twenty out of the twenty-two inmates had engaged in same-sex sexual activity previously outside prison. Two men had sex for the first time in prison (uncoerced). Approximately one-quarter of men who had same-sex sexual activity in prison reported having been coerced into having sex at some point. Same-sex sexual activity appears to be less frequent in the UK prison system as a whole than has previously been suggested.

Heterosexual activity of male prisoners in England and Wales.

A random sample of 1009 adult male prison inmates from 13 prisons covering short-, medium- and long-term establishments across England and Wales was interviewed about sexual behaviour, drug use and tattooing, inside and outside of prison. We report here on their heterosexual behaviour. Inmates had had a high number of sexual partners compared to population samples. The majority of sexual partners were casual and there were high levels of sexual involvement with injecting drug users and with prostitutes. Prisoners engaged in more risky sexual practices than did the general population and used condoms infrequently. A high number of prisoners had also injected drugs. Inmates reported a high frequency of past sexually transmitted diseases.

Deliberate self‐harm in sentenced male prisoners in England and Wales: some ethnic factors

AbstractBackgroundThe identification of risk factors for deliberate self‐harm (DSH) in prison populations and the study of individual psychopathology in prisoners who harm themselves are both legitimate approaches to a difficult problem. This paper examines the life‐time prevalence of DSH in male sentenced prisoners.MethodInmates were selected at random from 25 male prison establishments; 1741 of a possible 1864 agreed to be studied. All subjects chose their own ethnic group. Prison files and medical records were examined. Each man was interviewed by a psychiatrist.Results17% of men reported DSH on a least one occasion during their life (more white than non‐white prisoners). More white men in the medium and long‐term sentence group than in the short‐term sentence group gave a history of DSH. White prisoners seem more likely to have cut themselves than black prisoners. DSH was associated with alcohol dependence but not with drug addiction. Neurotic and personality disorders were more commonly diagnosed in the DSH group. There was a weak association between criminal violence and DSH, over the prisoners' lifetime.DiscussionThe associations with DSH suggest that this phenomenon is a symptom of long‐term personality problems and cannot be simply attributed to short‐term environmental stress. Such problems are perhaps commoner in white prisoners than black ones. Does this provide a partial confirmation of the lower rates of personality disorder reported about black prisoners? Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd.

Cross Gender Supervision and Control in Male Prisons in England: A Summary of Officers' Perspectives

This article reports findings from interviews conducted with 120 officers working within medium to high security prisons in England. It presents part of a project designed to test whether the impact of women officers in male prisons was similar in England to that described elsewhere. In total, 120 officers and 120 prisoners participated.

Suicide in Prison

Records of 186 suicides among male prisoners in England between 1958 and 1971 emphasize the differences between the prison population and the population at large. The suicide rate may well be three times greater. The records show that sentence of more than 18 months' duration, whether anticipated or actually received, is associated with a greater risk of suicide than shorter sentence, and that suicide is most likely to be committed during the first few weeks in custody.