Offenders In Prison Research Articles

Policy Issues Regarding the Overrepresentation of Incarcerated Aboriginal Young Offenders in a Canadian Context

Over-representation of visible minority youth in youth prisons is evident in most advanced industrial and liberal democratic countries. In Canada, federal and provincial governments have initiated policy strategies to counteract the over-representation of Aboriginal offenders. One critical national initiative, the 2003 Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), explicitly acknowledges the special status of Aboriginal youth. The current study examines (1) whether the YCJA has reduced the over-representation of Aboriginal young offenders in prison, and (2) whether the risk factor and offence profiles of incarcerated Aboriginal young offenders differ from Caucasian young offenders. Policy implications for Canada and other countries are discussed.

Distorsiones Cognitivas en Agresores de Pareja: Análisis de una Herramienta de Evaluación

Cognitive distortions are related to the development and maintenance of violent behavior. Among partnerviolent men the denial of the problem, and victim blaming are especially prevalent, and reduce accountability. This paper reviews the psychometric properties of an inventory designed to assess distortions about women and violence justification. Its application in 180 offenders in prison is analyzed, as well as the results of 11 previous studies, comparing two correction options (true/false and Likert/factorial). Factor analysis allowed to remove items 7, 8, 19 and 28 due to their low statistical significance, and to group them in four factors. Item 27 was removed because is considered to be wrong. Some limitations were detected, as can be a low sensitivity to therapeutic change, and a low capacity to discriminate between different samples. Precautions to be taken when using the tool in the professional field are discussed.

Correlates of heroin and methamphetamine use among homeless male ex-jail and prison offenders

Homeless men exiting California State jails and prisons are a heterogeneous community with varied childhood, incarceration and drug use histories. This cross-sectional study assessed whether homeless men who were discharged from either jail or prison into a residential substance abuse treatment program, differed in terms of methamphetamine and heroin use. This study utilized baseline data collected on 540 recently paroled men randomized to one of three programs that assessed the impact of a peer coaching intervention on subsequent drug use and reincarceration. We found that younger ex-offenders exiting prisons and jails were more likely to have used methamphetamine alone, whereas African–American ex-offenders were less likely to have used methamphetamine alone when compared to other ethnic groups. Further, ex-offenders exiting jails and self-reporting use of heroin only at baseline were significantly more likely than their counterparts to have been removed from home before age 18 years. For men exiting jails, there was an association between lower self-esteem and having used methamphetamine but not heroin. However, having used both heroin and methamphetamine was associated with both violent crime and cognitive problems in both jail and prison samples. Our findings showcase the need to understand unique correlates of both heroin and methamphetamine as they relate to jail and prison populations.

A Systematic Review of Interventions for Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD in Adult Offenders

There is a high prevalence of anxiety and depression in offender populations but with no recent systematic review of interventions to identify what is effective. This systematic review was undertaken to identify randomised controlled trials of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions in adult offenders in prison or community settings. A search of five databases identified 14 studies meeting inclusion criteria, which considered the impact of psychological interventions, pharmacological agents, or exercise on levels of depression and anxiety. A narrative synthesis was undertaken and Hedges g effect sizes calculated to allow comparison between studies. Effect sizes for depression interventions ranged from 0.17 to 1.41, for anxiety 0.61 to 0.71 and for posttraumatic stress disorder 0 to 1.41. Cognitive behavioural therapy interventions for the reduction of depression and anxiety in adult offenders appear effective in the short term, though a large-scale trial of sufficient duration is needed to confirm this finding.

Research and Services Partnerships: A Partnership to Develop a Utilization-Focused Evaluation Plan for a Criminal Justice Diversion Program

More than 100,000 offenders in the Texas correctional system have a mental illness, which represents about 19% of the state's correctional population, including offenders in prison and under community correctional supervision. To reduce these numbers, a leading mental health service provider established the Community Reintegration Program (CRP) to divert misdemeanor offenders with mental illness to community-based treatment. This column describes a collaborative process between the University of Texas at San Antonio and community partners to develop a utilization-focused evaluation plan for the CRP that would benefit all stakeholders. The evaluation used data collected as part of routine clinical work.

Decomposing Racial Disparities in Prison and Drug Treatment Commitments for Criminal Offenders in California.

Blacks convicted of drug-related offenses in the U.S. have higher prison-commitment rates than Whites. Studies have been largely unsuccessful in explaining these disparities. This study uses administrative data from a random sample of individuals arrested for drug offenses in California to examine this issue. We use a decomposition model to estimate whether Black-White disparities in commitments to prison or diversions to drug treatment are attributable to differences in the characteristics of criminal cases and whether case characteristics are weighed differently by race. We also examine whether the influence of case characteristics changes after California implemented Proposition 36, which was a mandatory prison diversion program for eligible drug offenders. Our results suggest that Black-White differences in prison commitments are fully explained by criminal case characteristics, but that a significant portion of the differences in treatment diversions remain unexplained. The unexplained variation in drug treatment also does not change after Proposition 36. These findings suggest that case characteristics play a larger role in explaining prison commitments for drug offenders than the discretion of prosecutors and judges. By contrast, diversion to drug treatment appears to be driven more by the discretion of court officials and Black-White disparities remain prominent.

Review of psychiatric services to mentally disordered offenders around the Pacific Rim

This article was commissioned to collate and review forensic psychiatric services provided in a number of key Pacific Rim locations in the hope that it will assist in future dialogue about service development. The Board of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists identified experts in forensic psychiatry from Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the US. Each contributor provided an account of issues in their jurisdiction, including mental health services to mentally disordered offenders in prison, competence or fitness to stand trial, legal insanity as a defense at trial, diminished responsibility, and special forensic services available, including forensic hospitals and community forensic mental health services. Responses have been collated and are presented topic by topic and country by country within the body of this review. The availability of mental health screening and psychiatric in-reach or forensic liaison services within prisons differed considerably between countries, as did provisioning of community forensic mental health and rehabilitation services. Diversion of mentally disordered offenders to forensic, state, or hybrid hospitals was common. Legal constructs of criminal responsibility (insanity defense) and fitness to stand trial ("disability") are almost universally recognized, although variably used. Disparities between unmet needs and resourcing available were common themes. The legislative differences between contributing countries with respect to the mental health law and criminal law relating to mentally disordered offenders are relatively subtle. The major differences lie in operationalizing and resourcing forensic services.

Evaluating the factor structure and reliability of the Community Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) scale

PurposeThe study explored the factor structure and reliability of the Community Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) scale. The study also included an impression management scale.Design/methodology/approachA total of 441 adults (134 male, 280 female, 27 ns) participated in this study from three populations: staff at a category B prison (n=62), staff at a category C sex offender prison (n=102) and staff at a UK university (n=248). Questionnaire packs included information/consent, demographics, the CATSO and the Paulhus impression management scale.FindingsData were excluded where the Paulhus score was <1 or >12 (faking good/bad present). Confirmatory factor analysis with alternative models indicated the scale did not meet any of the requirements for an acceptable fit. Cronbach's α confirmed that two of the four sub‐scales were not internally consistent. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted following the removal of items with poor item‐total correlation and/or low/high facility index and, following parallel analysis, a revised two factor solution was examined. The CATSO needs revision; it is unclear whether it is sufficiently reliable and valid for use in the UK. The need for a valid/reliable tool to assess attitudes toward sexual offenders remains an important goal for researchers.Originality/valueChurch et al. (2008) developed a scale (CATSO) to measure attitudes toward sex offenders; the scale is being increasingly widely used across a range of populations, including the general public and correctional staff. This research identifies significant problems with the scale in terms of factor structure and reliability of the sub‐scales. This paper advises a rethink of the CATSO by the scale authors and suggest the scale is not currently useable.

Dementia care and offender populations

284 British Journal of Community Nursing Vol 18, No 6 T he healthcare of offenders was transferred from Her Majesty’s Prison Service to primary care trusts, since April commissioning for services in England now rests with NHS England (formerly known as the NHS Commissioning Board). NHS England is responsible for ensuring that services are commissioned in ways that support consistency; consistency in ensuring high standards of quality across the country (NHS England, 2013). Prison services that provide health care are also required to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC monitors, inspects and reports on services, checking to ensure that they operate like a community health service. Providers in prisons should be able to demonstrate that they comply with CQC regulations using the same information that is used to demonstrate that they meet Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) expectations (CQC, 2010). Offender care therefore, must be provided on par with those offered by other healthcare services. Dementia care is high on the political agenda. The prime minister has issued the first ever national challenge on dementia care and research. The Department of Health (DH) (2012) has set out its response to improving care for people with dementia. It is estimated that there are approximately 800 000 people with dementia in the UK and by 2040 the number of people affected is expected to double (DH, 2013). Dementia is primarily a disorder of later life; however there are some people under 65 who are also affected. The data noted should be treated with caution as these figures refer to formal diagnosis and as such this may be an under estimation. There are offenders in prisons and other places of detention who have dementia. The strategies suggested by the DH should be applied and extended into prisons, yet there seems to be no evidence of this occurring in a consistent manner across the UK. Given the projected increase in the number of people with dementia in the population generally (this will also apply to the prison population) as well as the fact people are living longer, dementia presents a future problem for prisons who are responsible for a growing population of older people. The issue of dementia has attracted little attention for this population and appears to have been essentially overlooked (Moll, 2013). Prisons are ill equipped to provide and match the level of service provision that the rest of the population receive. Nurses providing care to the offender population are therefore at risk of failing in their duty of care as well as contravening the tenets of the Code of Conduct (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2008). There is a changing demographic in prisons in England and Wales, the number of sentenced prisoners aged over 50 has risen by 74% to nearly 10 000 in the past decade. Male offenders over 50 are the fastest growing group in prisons. In prisons the over-60s population has increased eight-fold since 1990. Offenders are often considered to be physiologically ‘older’ than their chronological age, this is associated with the psychological and physical impact of imprisonment coupled with preceding issues, for example, substance misuse, suggesting that those suffering from dementia were affected earlier than the wider population (Moll, 2013).

Patrick de Maré’s Median Group and Its Application to Prison and the Community

This presentation to the Bolzano Congress in 2010 describes the value of Median Group Dialogue in work with offenders in prison and the community, and the success achieved. Pat de Maré’s Median Group is the missing link between the disaffected individual and the depersonalized institution, which can bring about a transformation of humanizing the institution and socializing the individual. Institutional failure has resulted in a chasm between an increasingly sophisticated/divided society fuelled by the rapid advance of the technological revolution and the outmoded feudal controlling institution. When free to operate effectively the Median Group creates an atmosphere where the institution can become flexible and sensitive towards the needs and demands of individual members. Having illustrated the application of Median Group Dialogue to the prison situation, this article proceeds to the difficulties encountered through the tendency of ossified institutions to reject change, and imagines another way forward starting in the community at large.

Predicting Recidivism for Released State Prison Offenders

We examined the influence of individual and neighborhood characteristics and spatial contagion in predicting reincarceration on a sample of 5,354 released Pennsylvania state prisoners. Independent variables included demographic characteristics, offense type, drug involvement, various neighborhood variables (e.g., concentrated disadvantage, residential mobility), and spatial contagion (i.e., proximity to others who become reincarcerated). Using geographic information systems (GIS) and logistic regression modeling, our results showed that the likelihood of reincarceration was increased with male gender, drug involvement, offense type, and living in areas with high rates of recidivism. Older offenders and those convicted of violent or drug offenses were less likely to be reincarcerated. For violent offenders, drug involvement, age, and spatial contagion were particular risk factors for reincarceration. None of the neighborhood environment variables were associated with increased risk of reincarceration. Reentry programs need to particularly address substance abuse issues of ex-offenders as well as take into consideration their residential locations.

Components underlying sex offender treatment refusal: an exploratory analysis of the Treatment Refusal Scale—Sex Offender version

Approximately half of sexual offenders in prison and community settings refuse to participate in sex offender treatment programmes; however, the reasons for this remain largely unexplored. This pilot study used the previously untested Treatment Refusal Scale—Sexual Offender Version in an English prison, with 72 adult males (63 treatment accepters and nine treatment refusers) imprisoned for sexual or sexually motivated offences. Principal factors analysis revealed three factors within the scale: “pressured to take part in programmes”; “fear of negative effects”; and “programme is not relevant to/appropriate for me”. Treatment refusers scored more highly than treatment accepters on the first and last components, while there was no statistically significant difference in the scores of the two groups on the “fear of negative effects” component. Suggestions for further development of the scale are discussed, along with the practice implications of these findings.

The Plight of Providing Appropriate Substance Abuse Treatment Services to Offenders: Modeling the Gaps in Service Delivery

Using data from the National Criminal Justice Treatment Practices (NCJTP) Survey, estimates of offenders participating in drug treatment services were generated. Existing drug treatment programs have a capacity to serve around 10% of offenders. The majority of available services are alcohol and drug education and group counseling, which are suited for people with low-threshold substance use disorders. Yet a third of the offenders are reported to have a severe disorder (dependency) requiring more intensive structured services. Offenders in prison and jail are more likely to have access to treatment services compared to offenders in the community. Regardless of the correctional setting, only a small portion of the offender population receives the appropriate level of treatment. The current delivery system is inadequate to reduce the risk of recidivism. Using the risk, need, and responsivity framework to address the adequacy of dealing with drug-involved offenders, the current service delivery does not embrace this model. An effective correctional system should not only expand treatment capacity but also provide appropriate services given the needs of offenders. The composition of the current system demands attention to providing more intensive services to effectively use resources and to focus on risk reduction strategies.

A Radical Need for Criminology

Our reality was not supposed to be this future --(signed) the 70s (1) Introduction: A Basic Course in Time Travel IN THE FALL OF 2012, I JOINED WITH TONY PLATT AND NEARLY 30 UC BERKELEY AND San Jose State University graduate students in a course aimed at the intellectual equivalent of time travel. In my eyes, our mission seemed straightforward enough. (2) Mass incarceration, a term scholars of punishment and society use to describe the great paroxysm of incarcerating people for criminal offenses in prisons and jails, which saw the US prison population (relative to population growth) more than quadruple between the mid-1970s and the end of the 2000s, today shows signs of subsiding, with imprisonment rates down throughout the nation and dramatically in some states. (3) However, the damage done to future generations from incarcerating an unprecedented number of Americans, especially from communities already disadvantaged by economic marginalization and legacies of racial discrimination, will require sustained demand from grassroots activists and sustained attention from legal elites. (4) It will also require new ideas, untainted by the beliefs that have underpinned incarceration. Unless something is done to address the dominant criminological ideas of the past generation, we are likely to remain in a sort of mass incarceration lite, with an imprisonment rate two to three times the historic norm. Many Americans who have been reliable supporters of tough on crime measures in the past are beginning to reject prison for drug offenders, women convicted of non violent crimes, and many technical parole violators caught up in the web of incarceration-favoring laws enacted during the 1980s and 1990s. However, the appeal of incarcerating people involved in violent, serious, and sexual crimes remains very strong (and all three represent very broad categories, historically influenced by the racialization of violence). If we want to achieve significant reductions in incarceration rates, we face a need for a criminology untainted by the catastrophe we have gone through--that is, for an updated and accurate knowledge about what crimes are being committed, what harms are being done, by whom and against whom, and how the state and community can make amends to those harmed and prevent others from being harmed. This is where I saw the value of a targeted time-travel mission. The criminological ideas in contemporary America are as tainted as the criminal justice policies they have grown up with and helped to determine (Feeley and Simon 1992). To go forward, we must look back. Along with tens of thousands of individuals, incarceration also swept away a landscape of criminological ideas and projects that, as of the late 1970s, was a thriving field of intense intellectual competition, largely between and radical approaches. (5) In this recent, but now invisible past (much of it played out in the remarkably productive environment of UC Berkeley's School of Criminology), liberal and criminologists collaborated in researching the potential for empowering poor communities to fight crime. Crucially, they were focusing on the same communities that would become the epicenters of incarceration (Drucker 2011). Whereas liberal and criminologists shared a commitment to social justice (especially in terms of civil rights), political arguments loomed over whether American democracy was capable of overcoming the legacies of racism and internal colonialism to address the sources of the astounding increase in street crime, especially armed robberies, murders, and rapes. (6) These political differences would be driven farther apart by the US escalation of the war in Vietnam and the repression of the growing peace and social justice movements at home. It is Vietnam, more than theory, that truly accounts for the boundaries between and liberal criminology in that era. …

Good Vibrations: positive change through social music-making

Good Vibrations is a charity that runs gamelan projects with offenders in prison and on probation. A recent Birmingham City University study investigating the short-, medium- and long-term impact of the project found that participation in a Good Vibrations project acted as a catalyst for positive change. The research found that not only did participants feel more able to communicate with other offenders within the project, they found confidence in their own voice so as to continue to develop their communication and coping skills within prison and as ex-offenders in the community. Furthermore, the project contributed to the development of anger management skills and provided an outlet for self-expression leading to a feeling of ‘being normal’. This article presents the findings of the study, and considers why Good Vibrations inspires positive change. Using a three-dimensional model of Activity Theory, the concept of learning through social music-making is explored in terms of how the individual interacts with the social environment in order to develop skills and how participation in a musical learning activity can lead to a positive change of identity.

Implementing change: staff experiences of changes to prison mental healthcare in England and Wales.

Stemming from substantial criticism during the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, the UK government and HM Prison Service developed a number of policies and protocols aimed at improving the state of prison mental healthcare. While it is difficult to fault the purpose of the government's intentions, criticism has continued relating to problems with the implementation of government led change within the prison system. Existing research leads people to question whether policies are being implemented as intended; and if not, why not? The only clear way to answer these questions is to ask those involved in the actual implementation of these recommendations within the prison service. This paper aims to answer these questions. This paper documents findings from a national survey of senior mental healthcare staff working in prisons in England and Wales. Staff were surveyed about their views on the implementation of recommendations from recent key government documents, their perceptions of prison mental healthcare versus community mental healthcare, and their views on the relationship between HM Prison Service and the National Health Service. While many staff report improvements in prison mental healthcare, many have struggled with the implementation of new ways of working and the findings here suggest there is still some way to go towards providing offenders in prison with effective and appropriate care. Where effective ways of implementing change were identified, these are discussed. Listening to the experiences of the staff involved in prison healthcare has helped identify where implementation of changes could be improved and thus highlights where support might best be targeted in future.

Forensic Social Work: A Distinctive Framework for Intervention

This article reports on a study that explored the extent to which social workers employed by The Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (known as Forensicare) identified their practice as specialist, with distinct and distinctive skills and knowledge, their role differentiated from other fields of social work and the implications of this for the social work profession. As a group of social workers they provide services to mentally ill offenders in prison, to inpatients in the secure psychiatric hospital and after their release into the community, and provide assessments and psychiatric reports for court. A cooperative enquiry approach, using interview and focus groups, gathered information about how the social workers defined and described forensic social work and how social workers could be prepared for work in this practice domain. The social workers reported that the complex needs and great vulnerability of forensic clients meant they needed not only knowledge of individual functioning but also how to deal with a range of other systems to negotiate with legal and other services and advocate for clients and they believed social work education needed to provide a distinctive graduate pathway for this practice domain that acknowledges its unique and specialist identity.

Ultra high risk of psychosis on committal to a young offender prison: an unrecognised opportunity for early intervention

BackgroundThe ultra high risk state for psychosis has not been studied in young offender populations. Prison populations have higher rates of psychiatric morbidity and substance use disorders. Due to the age profile of young offenders one would expect to find a high prevalence of individuals with pre-psychotic or ultra-high risk mental states for psychosis (UHR). Accordingly young offender institutions offer an opportunity for early interventions which could result in improved long term mental health, social and legal outcomes. In the course of establishing a mental health in-reach service into Ireland’s only young offender prison, we sought to estimate unmet mental health needs.MethodsEvery third new committal to a young offenders prison was interviewed using the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States (CAARMS) to identify the Ultra High Risk (UHR) state and a structured interview for assessing drug and alcohol misuse according to DSM-IV-TR criteria, the Developmental Understanding of Drug Misuse and Dependence - Short Form (DUNDRUM-S).ResultsOver a twelve month period 171 young male offenders aged 16 to 20 were assessed. Of these 39 (23%, 95% confidence interval 18% to 30%) met UHR criteria. UHR states peaked at 18 years, were associated with lower SOFAS scores for social and occupational function and were also associated with multiple substance misuse. The relationship with lower SOFAS scores persisted even when co-varying for multiple substance misuse.ConclusionsAlthough psychotic symptoms are common in community samples of children and adolescents, the prevalence of the UHR state in young offenders was higher than reported for community samples. The association with impaired function also suggests that this may be part of a developing disorder. Much more attention should be paid to the relationship of UHR states to substance misuse and to the health needs of young offenders.

Estilo de Apego, Empatía y Autoestima en Agresores de Pareja

It is common to refer emotional variables to describe the profile of partner-violent men as well as to include them in treatment programs. This study compares scores on adult attachment, empathy and self-esteem of 90 offenders in prison and a control group from the general population (N = 94). Both samples were assessed with the Adult Attachment Questionnaire, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The offenders were also classified into two clusters to assess the possible existence of a pathological subtype and other similar to the control group. The results show no significant differences between groups.Although the prevailing hypothesis in the academic context has not been confirmed, the results are consistent with recent studies that indicate no differences between aggressors and control groups. The effect of the assessment tools on the results and their usefulness for interventions are discussed.

Evaluation of the ADViSOR project: Cross‐situational behaviour monitoring of high‐risk offenders in prison and the community

Purpose. The release on licence of prisoners who have committed serious violent and/or sexual offences requires rigorous risk assessment and risk management. This study evaluates the ADViSOR project, designed to examine the contribution of prison behaviour monitoring to community supervision of a sample of the highest risk offenders released in England and Wales under Multi‐Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).Method. The offence‐related behaviour of a total group (n= 25) of MAPPA prisoners in one prison, due for release in the following year to two adjacent probation trust areas, was monitored. Their behaviours in the community were followed up for 1 year. A comparison group (n= 36) was formed of the total number of MAPPA prisoners released from prisons nationally to the same two probation trusts.Results. The frequencies of ADViSOR negative behaviours in prison and the community were strongly correlated, rs (25) = .55, p= .004, as were positive behaviours, rs (25) = .56, p= .004. No statistically significant correlations were found either under usual MAPPA processes in the ADViSOR prison or comparison group prisons. The frequency of ADViSOR negative behaviours statistically significantly predicted, with 92% accuracy, the offenders who would reoffend or be recalled to prison (n= 8). Statistically significant similarities in types of behaviour were also identified.Conclusion. Results are discussed in terms of the contribution of behavioural monitoring to risk prediction with high‐risk offenders, consistency of cross‐situational behaviours, and implications for policy and practice.