Maximum Security Prison Research Articles

Hot in the Striped Boy's Heart

Jan Beatty’s fifth book, Jackknife: New and Selected Poems (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017), won the 2018 Paterson Prize. The Huffington Post called her one of ten “advanced women poets for required reading.” She worked as an abortion counselor, in maximum-security prisons, and directs the creative writing program at Carlow University. July 10, 1040: Lady Godiva, wife of the Earl of Mercia, rides naked on horseback to force her husband to lower taxes. July 10, 2015: Sandra Bland was pulled over by a state trooper for an alleged traffic violation. I could ride bare-breasted bareback (if my hair were long) trail through a city (if I could convince my husband, if he might contemplate my modesty) to lower injustices (if he were to look) my fuzzy mound to decide be fair (if I could) to the people fair as the under of hand ride (if I were on a horse) several centuries (if I may part my river of hair to show the man he might stare at my hilly breasts, if he) think himself an emperor, I a lady, might he not lower woman like tax (might) bones not beat ground like hooves (if my new clothes were no clothes) (if I stripped and mounted, nude, if only to change) my lesser-ribbed counterpart (if I have to) I undress for him, for every life (if I want) to save (if that includes my own) (if I weren’t afraid to) say either of our names (if the officer could have seen her and her mother, too) if my body brought better, (if) it means something Lady Godiva traversed the city bare (if many wars ago) hitched hips to horse (as if a lover) the same day Sandra Bland was arrested (might if a woman ride a thing she not be driven beneath it?) Ashanti Anderson is a poet and screenwriter. She received her MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside. You can read more of her work in Poetry, Crab Fat Magazine, and Foothill. She currently lives in Texas. If by Ashanti Anderson Hot in the Striped Boy’s Heart by Jan Beatty It’s hot in the loading bridge, hot in the birth canal, it’s hot in the striped boy’s heart – we’re two women driving to D.C. for an abortion in my beater sea-green Le Mans with the sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll sticker on the bumper. It’s hot living in my car with the mattress in the back, the windshield wipers disintegrating and so it’s raining all the way to D.C. and my friend is terrified, let it go too long with a guy she loves but he couldn’t care and she can’t face her parents. Borrowed money from the waitresses we worked with, saline solution for a second-trimester abortion, it’s hot in the Silverman’s T-shirt I’m still wearing from sixth grade with gold and blue stripes, hot in the men’s store buying my first real shirt with my girlfriend Patty. I was a boy then, not yet a woman following the sightlines from the silver hood ornament to the double yellow. Hot in the Pontiac trunk of clothes and boxes and the cheap hotel in Silver Springs for the early morning procedure, two women in their twenties out of state for treatment, hot in this traveling altar, these bodies run amok. Body of light, body of doubles. Body of never telling anyone, never seeing her again. Hot in the striped boy’s heart in this car dragging home with no talk, still bleeding. WORLDLIT.ORG 87 ...

Reading The Diary of Anne Frank on Robben Island: On the Role of Holocaust Memory in Ahmed Kathrada’s Struggle Against Apartheid

Reading The Diary of Anne Frank on Robben Island: On the Role of Holocaust Memory in Ahmed Kathrada’s Struggle Against Apartheid Roni Mikel Arieli (bio) Introduction On the morning of October 15, 1989, Ahmed Mohamad Kathrada was released from Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison near Cape Town, South Africa. A South-African Indian veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, Treason Trialist,1 and long-serving political prisoner, Kathrada had spent twenty-six years and three months in prison, eighteen years of which were on Robben Island. Leaving his prison cell, Kathrada carried with him some cardboard boxes containing his most prized possessions: a copy of The Oxford Book of English Verse, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, nine hundred carbon copies of letters he had written, and an equivalent number of letters he had received. There were also seven notebooks in which Kathrada had secretly recorded inspiring passages he had encountered over the years.2 In his third notebook, Kathrada recorded thirteen entries from The Diary of Anne Frank, which was smuggled onto Robben Island in the late 1960s.3 What drove political prisoners of the racist apartheid regime to engage with a text written by a young Jewish girl in hiding from the Nazis? What stands behind Kathrada’s selection of entries from the Diary, and what makes his reading of Frank’s text so different from popular readings of the Diary in the post-war years? Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was first issued in Dutch in 1947 and was translated into English in 1950. It was published in the United States and Great Britain in 1952, soon becoming a bestseller.4 When the Diary was smuggled onto Robben Island, Anne Frank was already considered the best-known victim of the Holocaust, due mainly to the dramatic adaptations of her text on Broadway and on film, in 1955 and 1959 respectively.5 However, as Sidra Ezrahi argues, while the adaptation of Frank’s text “brought the Holocaust to the forefront of mass consciousness, [it] did not really seek to dispel the curiously functional ‘amnesia’ toward the events themselves.”6 [End Page 175] As I explain elsewhere,7 this “amnesia” had to do with the consolidation of a homogenous American identity during the 1950s and 1960s. In the shadow of the Cold War, adaptations of the Diary conformed to constructs of universalized suffering, made palatable to an American audience by adopting a middle-of-the-road approach, as well as delivering a combined message on the virtues of American democracy. Universalism was the principal vehicle of this ideological agenda; in the adaption process, some of Anne Frank’s musings about Jewish suffering were omitted altogether, while others were transformed into declarations about the universal nature of suffering.8 The adapted versions were not circulated on Robben Island, yet the Diary in its original form served as an important source of inspiration for the prisoners. Shirli Gilbert’s in-depth article on Anne Frank in South Africa (2012) describes the significance of Frank’s text for some of the most prominent political prisoners imprisoned on Robben Island.9 Gilbert argues, however, that it was only after their release from prison, during the transition to democracy, that the former political prisoners who read the Diary on Robben Island incorporated the book into what she refers to as “Consensual Memory in the New South Africa,” situating Frank as a universal victim of discrimination.10 In 1994, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, in collaboration with the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and the Netherlands Royal Embassy in Pretoria, presented a traveling exhibition entitled “Anne Frank in the World: 1929–1945” in several South African cities. Given the national itinerary of the exhibition and its symbolic importance, the former political prisoners/newly minted national figureheads were among the key speakers at the various events launching the exhibition. 11 The first to testify to the Diary’s unique influence on political prisoners was Govan Mbeki, one of the nine activists sentenced to life imprisonment by the apartheid regime during the Rivonia Trial in 1964. Speaking shortly after the transition to democracy in South Africa, at the grand opening of the...

Quality of life and associated variables of life-sentenced inmates in Jos maximum security prison

Quality of life and associated variables of life-sentenced inmates in Jos maximum security prison

Semantic Shift in the Kenyan Prison Argot

Prison argot is a language variety with great creativity manifested in its semantic richness. This variety of language has received the attention of many scholars in the western countries in different periods of time. Despite prison being a rich semantic vessel, prison lingo has not received the proper attention of linguists in Africa. The end result is that very few linguistic conclusions have been reached regarding this variety of language in Kenya. The main aim of this paper is to examine the semantic shift in the Kenyan prison argot based on the lexical pragmatic framework. The paper provides an overview of this subject matter by analyzing the various types of semantic shifts through definitions and example of the argot terms affected. The processes involved in the case of semantic change include lexical narrowing and lexical broadening with some of its varieties namely; metaphoric extensions and hyperbole. The study was carried out at Kibos and Kisumu maximum-security prisons in Kisumu County, Kenya. Forty respondents were selected to participate in the study. In lexical broadening, standard Swahili words were found to have been given additional meaning in the prison context. In lexical narrowing, the semantic meaning of some Swahili words were found to have been narrowed. The paper established that the inmates change the meaning of words in the prisons so as to hide secretes from the prisons officers.

The information behaviours of maximum security prisoners

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of the information behaviours of prisoners, providing insight into their information needs and information-seeking preferences, and the factors influencing their behaviours; to inform education and rehabilitation programmes.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is an in-depth qualitative study. The theoretical framework was provided via Chatman’s (1996) concepts of information poverty. Participants were adult male prisoners in a Scottish maximum security prison, and prison staff. Data collection method was semi-structured interviews.FindingsPrisoners have a broad range of information needs, many sensitive and many unmet. Interpersonal information sources are predominantly used due to a combination of natural preference and restricted access to other information sources. Issues of stigma and trust influence information behaviours. Further issues include restrictive social norms, and disinformation to incite violence. A significant degree of risk is therefore inherent within interpersonal information interactions, fostering self-protective acts of secrecy and deception amongst prisoners. Unmet emotional needs appear particularly problematic.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper highlights the need for further research exploring issues of unmet emotional needs in prisoners; in particular, assistive methods of need recognition and support in the problematic context.Practical implicationsThe paper identifies significant unmet information needs in prisoners that impact upon their ability to cope with incarceration, and prepare for successful release and reintegration.Originality/valueThe paper addresses an understudied group of significant societal concern and advances the understanding of information need in context, providing insight into unmet needs and issues of affect in the incarcerated small world context.

Physical Co morbidity and Functional Disability amongst Mentally Ill Inmates in Nigerian Prison

Comorbidity is the presence of more than one disorder/condition at the same time, and it is common among those with mental illness. Prisoners with multiple disorders are more disabled and consume more health resources than those with only one disorder. This study aimed at providing prevalence of physical comorbidity among inmates with mental illness and the relationship between physical comorbidity and functional disability among this group of inmates. The study was part of a comprehensive descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among 608 prisoners awaiting trial and convicted in Jos maximum security prison, Plateau state. Four sets of questionnaires were used namely Sociodemograhic Questionnaire (for demographic variable), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) for screening the prisoners for a mental health problem, Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) which is a structured clinical interview for diagnosing mental health disorders while Physical and functional disabilities were evaluated using the PULSE profile Questionnaire. Out of 608 participants 347 (57.1%) had mental disorders of which 63 (18.2%) had physical comorbidity, with infectious diseases being the commonest physical challenge. Functional disability (level of functioning) was significantly associated with comorbidity cutting across all physical disorders found in the study. The study found high physical comorbidity among mentally ill inmates in the prison studied.

Brain injury in an offender population: Implications for reentry and community transition

This article describes a demonstration project conducted over two years with men from a maximum-security prison in southeastern PA. The project’s core strategy was to identify inmates with history of brain injury, determine their medical/physical, neurocognitive, and behavioral barriers to successful re-entry, and create and implement release plans including connections to brain injury resources and community supports. Ultimately the goal was to reduce recidivism and improve productivity among the participants. More than 75% of those screened reported a possible history of brain injury, and 74% of those tested demonstrated evidence of neurocognitive impairment. Most injuries occurred prior to the age of 21 and incarceration. The average number of reported brain injuries per participant was 3.8. Impairments were most commonly in the areas of memory and executive functioning. Connections to resources were made for those involved in the project using a process called NeuroResource Facilitation. Outcome data was limited by the time constraints of the project, but preliminarily indicated a reduction in recidivism and an increase in productivity. Implications of this project, including recommendations for further action in corrections settings, are included.

The power of Latina/x/o studies beyond the ivory tower and inside prison walls

Although Blacks and Latinas/xs/os make up about 31% of the US population (13% and 18%, respectively), they make up about 59% of the prison population (40% and 19%, respectively) (Sakala 2014). What power can Latina/x/o studies have for those incarcerated in prisons? In the spring of 2017, as part of the Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project (PNAP), I taught an introductory Latina/x/o studies course at Stateville Correctional Center (Stateville), a maximum security prison outside of Chicago, Illinois. Over fourteen weeks, the students and I built an intellectual community that allowed us to critically interrogate and transform our understandings of the societies in which we live and of ourselves. In this vivencia I describe the context of the class through a discussion of PNAP, Stateville, our class, and course outcomes. More generally, I argue that Latina/x/o studies provides tools for individual and collective transformation by building Black-Brown solidarity, developing criticality, and building self-confidence among incarcerated people.

Animal maltreatment from ancient times to the 21st century: Foundation for a call to action now

Animal maltreatment from ancient times to the 21st century: Foundation for a call to action now

Treating the Seriously Mentally Ill in Prison: An Evaluation of a Contingency Management Program

ABSTRACT The management and care of inmates with mental health needs creates immense strain for correctional administrators and staff—leaving questions surrounding the best way to treat and house those with especially acute mental health needs. At the same time, those with mental illness experience a number of disproportionately adverse outcomes while incarcerated. This study evaluates a contingency management program aimed at treating seriously mentally ill inmates housed in a maximum-security prison. Program effectiveness was evaluated using an assessment of within-individual change in mental and behavioral health outcomes 1-year following placement. Supplemental analyses were conducted to identify characteristics of participants most likely to experience negative program outcomes. Results from this study suggest that the contingency management program under investigation is a promising approach to the treatment of seriously mentally ill inmates. Future research is needed, however, to build upon these findings.

Malaria infection among prison inmates of the maximum security prison Borokiri, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Malaria still remains a disease of major public health concern in Nigeria especially among the neglected population such as the prison environment. This study investigated malaria prevalence among the inmates of the maximum security prison in Port Harcourt using standard parasitological technique. Both thick and thin blood films were prepared, air dried, stained with 3% Giemsa stain at pH 7.0 for 30 minutes and examined microscopically using oil immersion objective. Out of the total of 290 inmates examined, 160(55.2%) cases representing overall malaria prevalence defined by positive malaria slide were observed. Of the 290 inmates, 235 were male and 55 were female, out of which 135(57.5%) males and 25(45.5%) females were infected. The sex related prevalence does not show any statistical significance (p>0.05). Prevalence in relation to age was higher (83.3%) among age 66-70 followed by those in the age range <20(72.7%) and the lowest was 0% within the age range of 61-65. There was significant infection level among those within the age range 41-60 and 66-70 (p<0.05). Infection rate by prison unit showed that inmates awaiting trial had higher infection rate (59.5%) followed by those with specific jail term and the lowest was those condemned (45.8%). The infection rate by prison unit is not statistically significant (x2 =2.068, df =3, p=0.558).Keywords: Malaria; prevalence; prison inmates; Port Harcourt; Rivers State.

Socio-demographic characteristics as correlates of psychological distress

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the level of psychological distress of offenders newly brought into prison custody in a Nigerian prison and investigate the relationship with socio-demographic and penal characteristics.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study involving 236 new prison entrants who were assessed for psychological distress using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).FindingsA total of 267 prison inmates were newly brought to prison custody over a three-month period. Out of this, 236 (88.4 per cent) of them participated in the study. Majority of the inmates were males 225 (95.3 per cent), awaiting-trial inmates 208 (88.1 per cent), single 144 (61 per cent), Christian 224 (94.9 per cent), first time offenders 218 (92.4 per cent) and charged with violent offences 136 (57.6 per cent). Majority of the inmates scored above cut-off points on the GHQ-12 and the HADS. In total, 157 (66.5 per cent) on HADS anxiety subscale, 201 (85.2 per cent) on HADS depression subscale and 199 (84.3 per cent) on GHQ-12. Significant relationship was observed between GHQ-12 “caseness”, prison category and type of offence. Prison situation and type of offence were significantly associated with HADS depression subscale, whereas age was associated with HADS anxiety subscale.Research limitations/implicationsSome limitations were encountered in the course of the study. First, the study relied on self-report questionnaires for collection of data. Second, information given by the respondents could neither be corroborated by family members, who were not present during the interview, nor by the officers and men of the Nigeria Prisons Service, who knew little or nothing about the respondents. Participants in this study had spent maximum of three days in prison during the interview, thus certain levels of distress within three days after incarceration may not entail “caseness” in the sense of the presence of a psychiatric disorder. Therefore assessment over a longer period is needed.Practical implicationsScreening prison inmates on reception into prison custody provides a vista of opportunity to identify mental health problems and socio-demographic and forensic correlates of psychological distress among new entrants into prison custody. This will facilitate early identification and management of prison inmates with health needs. Health screening on reception will also help in identifying the various penal or forensic characteristics of prison inmates, which will be put into consideration during selection of appropriate rehabilitation and reformation activities that best fit a particular prison inmate. Early screening of prison inmates upon reception in the prison will also help in identifying prison inmates who have high risk of suicide and self-harm, thus preventing cases of death that may arise as a result of these mental health problems. Findings from this study will also enrich the body of knowledge on mental health problems of prison inmates entering the prison; this will also help the criminal justice system in decision making, especially with emphasis on psychological evaluation of prison inmates before dispensing judgment. On the part of the prison authority, the prison inmates identified to have psychological distress and some forensic characteristics can be properly classified, and kept in cells that will not aggravate their distress. Finally, this is the first study of prison inmates on reception into Enugu Maximum Security Prison, Enugu State Nigeria. The implication of this is that findings from this research will form a baseline on which further research on prison inmates upon reception in the prison can be conducted.Originality/valueThis study demonstrated that prison inmates are faced with high level of psychological distress during their early days in prison, and that some socio-demographic and forensic variables had significant association with psychological distress as itemised in Tables III and IV. Therefore, screening new inmates on prison reception will help in early identification and treatment of vulnerable groups. This will also help in proper classification and allocation into appropriate cells of prison inmates by the prison authority.

The Prison Letters of Demitrios Tsafendas, 1966–1986

This article focuses on a body of archival material on the imprisonment of Demitrios Tsafendas, the man who assassinated Hendrik Verwoerd, prime minister of South Africa from 1958 to 1966. At his Summary Trial in October 1966, Tsafendas was found to be insane and declared a ‘State President’s Patient’. He was incarcerated on Robben Island and in Pretoria Maximum Security prison between 1966 and 1994. During the course of my research on Tsafendas, I discovered a set of documents that dealt with the administrative, legal and medical details of his incarceration. Interspersed among the documents I found a number of letters written by Tsafendas between November 1966 and October 1986. These letters are significant for a number of reasons. They have never been used before, and very little of his prison life is covered in biographical accounts of his life, although he spent a total of 28 years in prison. Written over a period of roughly 20 years, these letters represent the only record of his attempt to ‘give an account of himself’. During this time, he was kept in solitary confinement and was not allowed access to newspapers, radio or television. Certain privileges that long-term prisoners had, such as permission to study, did not apply to him. Most of the letters were addressed to the prison authorities, requesting permission for certain medical treatments, study privileges, visitation rights and books such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and study materials. He also used these letters to express his opinions on a number of matters, which ranged from the quality of the clothing provided by the prison stores to German engineering feats during the Second World War. The wider national political context was one in which the apartheid regime experienced major political crises, and the imprint of these events are clearly discernible in the letters.

“Four Gods” in Maximum Security Prison: Images of God, Religiousness, and Worldviews among Inmates

This paper extends research on images of God, which prior researchers based mostly on national survey data, to a study of offenders in prison. We first explore whether the distribution of Froese and Bader's (America's four gods: What we say about god–& what that says about us, Oxford University Press, New York 2010 ) four images of God among prison inmates is similar to that in the general population. We then examine whether an inmate's image of God is associated with the inmate's worldviews: beliefs and attitudes toward the law, other inmates, moral responsibility, and ultimate meaning and purpose in life. Finally, we test whether an inmate's belief in a forgiving God and religiousness explain the association. We analyzed data from a survey of 2249 inmates at America's largest maximum-security prison, the Louisiana State Penitentiary. We found the distribution of God-images among inmates was the same as that in national samples in terms of rank order. As hypothesized, we also found inmates with an image of an engaged God tended to report lower levels of legal cynicism and sense of illegitimacy of punishment and higher levels of collective efficacy, existential belief, and moral responsibility than those with images of a disengaged God or no God. Finally, we found an inmate's belief in a forgiving God and religiousness to mediate partly relationships between images of God and the inmate's worldviews.

Women’s Pathways to Crime: A Heuristic Typology of Offenders

The current study proposes a heuristic model for classification of female offenders into groups based on key variables relevant to women’s backgrounds and programming needs. We utilize a mixed-methods approach with a sample of 60 women incarcerated in a maximum-security prison. We develop qualitative, person-centered groupings of female offenders, and then use quantitative analyses to provide more detailed data on each group. Findings demonstrate five distinct groupings: aggressive career offenders, women who killed or assaulted persons in retaliation or self-defense, women who maltreated children, substance-dependent women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), and social capital offenders. These findings lend support to prior research on pathways and typologies of women’s offending, and decision rules effectively “triage” cases according to most pressing needs. The model offers unique utility for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers working with women in the criminal legal system.

Análisis del procedimiento de la extradición de colombianos. Caso Fundación por la Defensa de los Colombianos Pedidos en Extradición (DECOPEX)

El propósito del presente artículo es exponer una aproximación analítica sobre el trámite de la extradición de colombianos solicitados por Cortes Internacionales de Justicia tomando como referencia la experiencia profesional en la Fundación por la Defensa de los Colombianos Pedidos en Extradición (DECOPEX). Esta organización no gubernamental fue un espacio donde convergieron los familiares de las personas detenidas con solicitud de extradición remitida por algún Estado y que se encontraban recluidos en el pabellón 7 de la penitenciaría de máxima seguridad de Combita. Los propósitos primordiales de DECOPEX estuvieron enfocados en cuatro áreas estratégicas: la defensa de los derechos fundamentales de los reclusos y sus familias; el desarrollo de una estrategia jurídica en el ámbito nacional e internacional; la realización de lobby ante órganos gubernamentales con el fin de reglamentar el procedimiento jurídico de la extradición y la función social ante la problemática de algunas personas que se encontraban detenidas injustamente.

‘There is no sincerer love than the love of food’ (George Bernard Shaw, 1903): The meaning of food and its uses in prison subculture

This study examines the ways in which the prison service handles food and analyses the uses and meanings of food in prison subculture. Using semi-structured interviews and content analysis, data were collected and analysed from 20 ex-prisoners who were incarcerated in maximum-security prison facilities for a period of three years or more. Our main findings are that, according to the interviewees’ testimonies, (a) the Israel Prison Service (IPS) makes manipulative and abusive use of food in order to perpetuate its power; and (b) food serves as a means to determine the relationship between prisoners and staff, govern social status or rejection in the prison subculture, or pass the time. We have four main conclusions. First, the IPS nutrition policy differentiates and discriminates among prisoners and clearly violates the basic human rights of prisoners, thus suggesting an abuse of power. Second, the IPS’s use of food as a tool for punishing or rewarding introduces and perpetuates inequalities and encourages the illegal prison trade in food and food products. Third, cooking in prison, especially in light of its illegality, constitutes a symbolic expression of resistance to the institution and a meaningful way of coping with boredom. Lastly, food and its possession in prison serve as very powerful tools for constructing and perpetuating exploitation and unequal power relations among prisoners. Although the study suffers from two limitations – the validity of the adolescents’ responses and the small sample size – its findings lead us to propose that an improvement in the food products that are accessible to prisoners and permission to cook in their cells are inexpensive and legitimate means of bettering both the prisoners’ quality of life and the social atmosphere in prison.

Sanitary conditions and inmates' knowledge and attitude towards hygiene practices in a maximum-security prison in Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria

Context: The study was conducted in a maximum-security prison in southwest Nigeria, where inmates were held in lawful custody by a court of competent jurisdiction. The inmates are vulnerable, and their health is conditioned not only on their nutrition and health-care services but also on available water and sanitation services, personal and collective hygiene behaviour, within the prison environment. Aim: The study assessed the living and sanitary conditions and hygiene practices of inmates in a maximum-security prison in Nigeria. Settings and Design: The study was descriptive, cross-sectional in design and elicited information on knowledge, attitude and hygiene practice of consented prison inmates. Methods: The questionnaire response was 94.8% and was identified through a multistage sampling technique and inmates were stratified by detention status with the minimum sample allocated by the proportional to size method. Systematic sampling was used for serial recruitment without replacement. The data collection tool was a validated, semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire. Statistical Analysis Used: Knowledge and attitudes were measured on a 24- and 55-point scales and rated as poor (≤11) and good (>11); negative (≤33) and positive (>33), respectively. Summary data were presented by descriptive, Chi-square and logistic regression at P Results: Inmates mean age was 31.6 ± 8.2 years and mostly, males (98.3%) with 47.2% and 50.8% respectively married and completed secondary education. The main water source to inmates was hand-dug wells, while all-male conveniences were dirty. The major illnesses were malaria, ringworm and diarrhoea. In addition, sanitary knowledge was a significant predictor of attitude towards hygiene practices (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.298-0.905). Conclusions: The good knowledge and positive attitudes of inmates contrast poor sanitary conditions, perhaps due to poor sanitation and hygiene infrastructure and overcrowding conditions.

The Silent Injustices against Men in Maximum Security Prison and the Need for Forgiveness Therapy: Two Case Studies

Two case studies of men in maximum security prison are presented. The goal is to show that each of them has experienced a considerable injustice against them prior to their crime and imprisonment. Further, our intent is to show that as a result of the injustices against them, they now are experiencing severe psychological compromise. The link among unjust treatment, the development of resentment, and the related psychological compromise may be an impediment to cooperation with current attempts at rehabilitation. Perhaps it is time for corrections personnel to focus more on uncovering the stories of injustice so that the resultant resentment may be healed through Forgiveness therapy, which may take away one central motivation for hurting others.

On Prison Democracy: The Politics of Participation in a Maximum Security Prison

On Prison Democracy: The Politics of Participation in a Maximum Security Prison