Prison Authorities Research Articles

Sexual Activity in British Men’s Prisons: A Culture of Denial

Theorized through Stanley Cohen’s sociology of denial and informed by testimonies from formerly imprisoned men, this article argues that a culture of denial limits the ability and willingness of prison authorities and prison staff to recognize, acknowledge and respond appropriately to the realities of sexual activity in British prisons. It has three objectives: to detail experiences of consensual and coercive sex; to elucidate the collective and collaborative cultural habit of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ by which what is known becomes not known and what is concealed remains hidden; and to show how this strategy leaves unprotected those who choose to engage in, or are coerced into, sexual activity.

Prawo do praktyk religijnych osób osadzonych w areszcie śledczym i odbywających karę pozbawienia wolności w teorii i praktyce penitencjarnej

The article discusses the right to religious observance as one possible form of exercising one’s freedom of conscience for persons in temporary detention or serving a sentence of (unconditional) imprisonment. Detention involves a range of (usually justified) restrictions and deprivations, some of which apply to the sphere of religious practices. We must not forget that freedom of conscience and religion is not only internal to a person, but also relates to his or her actions in their semi-private and public space and, as such, must be regulated, particularly in conditions of detention. Importantly, the article does not focus on the influence of religious life on the rehabilitation of inmates but on whether their right to religious freedom is respected. The aim was not to find out whether inmates needed religious practices and services in prison, but to assert that they had a right to them, while the state had a duty to respect that right.We departed from the assumption that religious practices were a matter of public or private cult and included performing certain actions dictated or forbidden by the laws of a given religious community. The question was to what extent these practices were subjected to limitation, which practices were concerned and to what extent the observed limitations were justified. The answer drew on existing legal provisions and on the subjective feelings of inmates themselves. It should be recalled that in 1991, the Polish Ombudsman determined that the right of inmates to practice Catholicism was essentially ensured and properly implemented in prisons. The only shortcoming, as judged at the time, was the lack of a sufficiently high-level normative act regulating all matters pertaining to religious practice in detention in a comprehensive way. It seemed necessary to check whether these findings were still valid. Thus the first part of the article provides an overview of the existing legal provisions defining the scope of religious practices that can be undertaken by inmates, including international regulations, the Polish constitution, acts of law and other relevant regulations. Different groups of inmates were examined, including those in temporary detention, those serving sentences and considered particularly dangerous as well as those subjected to the disciplinary measure of being placed in an isolation cell for a period of up to 28 days. We found that not all restrictions on the exercise of religious freedom in prison, as provided for under the Polish law, were justified. Our assessment of the said restrictions, both when it came to law making and application, took into account the goals and purpose of imprisonment and temporary detention in light of the constitutional criterion of proportionality. In the second part, we present the findings of a survey conducted in two penitentiary facilities among inmates declaring themselves Roman Catholic. The aim was to find out how the inmates viewed their rights when it came to religious practices, to what extent those practices were available to them and whether they felt any deficits in this area. At the general level, we found that the inmates declared significant activity in the religious area and rarely attributed obstacles to the exercise of religious rights to legal provisions or the rules in a given penitentiary facility. The unavailability of particular religious practices was also reported to be low. There were more answers indicating lack of permission to take part in Church ceremonies outside the prison (for example the funeral of a loved one). This is probably the weakest area when it comes to ensuring the exercise of inmates’ religious freedoms. Our analysis of the legal framework and the survey carried out in penitentiary facilities allowed us to formulate certain tentative conclusions (including de lege ferenda). The normative provisions do not impose many legal limitations on inmates’ access to religious practices and services. Yet respecting the right to freedom of religion is not only about not creating unnecessary barriers; it also consists in defining a minimum set of rights conferred on each inmate, on which they can call the prison authorities to account if need be.

Status of Women Prisoners in India

There are 6, 60, 000 women prisoners in the world and 6.5 percent of the world's prisoners are women. There the steady increase among women in prisons from 5.3 in 2000 to 6.5 in 2013 globally. In India, there are 17, 681 women prisoners as per National Crime Records Bureau 2014 reports. Life of the criminals is awful in prisons. Specifically, in the case of women criminals, it is very horrendous. Women prisoners are treated differently on the grounds of their criminal activities. The behavior of women prisoners differed biologically and socially. There is a significant challenge for prison authorities to handle the issues of women inmates. The present paper investigates the challenges faced by women prisoners inside the prisons and after their release from prisoners. It also tries to throw light on the Indian penal laws pertaining to rights of the women inmates.

Suicidal activism in Siberia: femina and homo sacers of Kara 1889

ABSTRACTFocusing on the historical forms activism in the nineteenth-century Russia, this article provides a critical genealogy of vernacular discourses surrounding anti-tsarist female and male activists’ hunger strikes and a group suicide of 1889 in Siberian prison camp, Kara. Building on the works of Foucault and Agamben, the article employs a framework of femina and homo sacers to analyze the suicidal activism in Kara 1889. Particular attention is paid to how political prisoners utilized their bodies as weapons of resistance against Tsarist regulations and the prison authorities. The article traces the construction, proliferation, and implications of femina and homo sacer rhetorical forces within and outside of Tsarist Russia.

The front and back stages of carceral expansion marketing in Canada

This article examines how provincial and territorial government agencies and prison authorities in Canada promote new penal infrastructure initiatives. Through an analysis of press releases, websites, opening ceremonies and open houses to promote jail and prison construction projects, our analysis reveals discourses that are legitimating carceral expansion in the Canadian context including: the pursuit of public safety and institutional security; providing opportunities for rehabilitation and healing; addressing the legacies of colonization through the ‘indigenizing’ of imprisonment; generating economic stimulus through prison-related employment and other financial contributions; and the establishment of ‘environmentally-friendly’ prisons. Drawing from government records obtained using Access to Information and Freedom of Information requests, we also provide examples of how front stage messages communicated to the public are assembled by bureaucrats and marketing firms in the back stage of these punishment campaigns.

Prevalence of Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Associated Factors among Prisoners in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia: Cross-sectional Study

Background: prisoners are at a disproportionately high risk and neglected reservoirs and susceptible population for TB. Objective: To determine prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis and associated factors among prisoners in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was performed on 302 study participants to assess the prevalence and risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis among prisoners in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia, from March01/2015 to April 01/2015. Prisoners with a history of cough of ⩾2 weeks were screened for PTB using direct smear microscopy. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data on risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis. Bivariate and multivariable binary Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of pulmonary tuberculosis. Result: A total of 302 prisoners were included in the study. Among those, 15 (4.97%) prisoners were found to have TB giving a point prevalence of 966 per 100,000 populations of pulmonary TB among the study participants. Pulmonary tuberculosis was significantly associated with cigarette smoking (AOR=5.42, 95%CI= (1.21, 24.25), having history of contact with known TB patients at home (AOR=7.01, 95%CI= (1.54, 31.90), Sharing a cell with a known TB patient (AOR=7.09, 95%CI= (1.59, 31.64), stay greater than 24 months in current prison (AOR=0.09, 95%CI= (0.02,0.47). and BMI Conclusions and recommendation : There is high prevalence of TB among Prisoners in Wolaita Zone with possible active transmission of TB within the prison than general community. Strong cooperation between prison authorities and the national tuberculosis control programmers is urgently required to develop locally appropriate interventions to reduce transmission.

Point-of-care testing for HIV in an Irish prison setting: results from three major Irish prisons.

HIV is more prevalent in the prison population compared to the general population. Prison inmates are at an increased risk of blood-borne infections. Considerable stigma has been documented amongst inmates with HIV infection. In collaboration with the schools, healthcare facilities, prison authorities and inmate Irish Red Cross groups in Wheatfield, Cloverhill and Mountjoy prisons in Dublin, Ireland, the Department of Genito Urinary Medicine and Infectious Diseases at St James' Hospital in Dublin developed a campaign for raising awareness of HIV, educating inmates about HIV and tackling HIV stigma. Following this campaign, large-scale point-of-care testing for HIV was offered over a short period. In total, 741 inmates were screened for HIV. One inmate tested positive for HIV. We experienced a large number of invalid test results, requiring formal laboratory serum testing, and a small number of false positive results. Large-scale point-of-care testing in the Irish prison setting is acceptable and achievable.

Helping Women Cope with Life Behind Bars

Implementation of group therapy in Malaysian prison through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approach is deemed important to improve the psychological well-being of the inmates. Numerous studies had been conducted but most of them provide statistical data based on cross-sectional studies but findings on effect of psychological treatment is still very scarce. This preliminary study aimed to examine the impacts of group therapy on psychological well-being of women prisoners, particularly in Malaysia. Sixteen women inmates from Women Prison in Selangor, Malaysia were chosen and assigned by the prison authority to receive eight group therapy sessions. The respondents in this study were of different race/ethnic groups, different faiths, socio-economical and criminal backgrounds, aged between 27 to 56 years old. Self-report measures DASS21 was utilized to examine their psychological well-being before and after eight sessions of group therapy in a duration of four months. This study employed a pre- and post-test design study without a control group. Statistical analyses used were descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-test. The results of this study revealed that there were significant differences in psychological variables as indicated by significant decrease level of depression and stress. Although not significant, their level of anxiety has also reduced. The findings of this study the self-belief and psychological well-being of the inmates. The findings could be used to add knowledge and to better understand the inmates and the rehabilitation methods that work for them. It also give some insights if group therapy can be considered as one of the programs that can support the rehabilitation process of the inmates

Prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis and associated risk factors among prisoners in Hadiya Zone prison, Southern Ethiopia.

BackgroundPeople concentrated in congregated systems such as prisons, are important but often neglected reservoirs for tuberculosis transmission, and threaten those in the outside community. The condition is more serious in Africa particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to its poor living conditions and ineffective health services.ObjectivesThis study was conducted to determine the prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis and associated risk factors among prisoners in Hadiya Zone prison.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was carried out from May to June 2013 in Hadiya Zone prison. Prison inmates who had history of cough for at least a week were included in the study. Three morning sputum samples were collected from suspected inmates and examined through compound light microscopy. The data obtained was analyzed using statistical software like Epidata and STATA.ResultsA total of 164 prisoners were included in the survey using active screening strategy and the point prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in the prison was 349.2 per 100,000 populations; about three times higher than its prevalence in the general population. Even though lack of visit from family was the only variable identified as a risk factor for PTB (P = 0.029), almost all of the PTB positive cases were rural residents, farmers, male youngsters and those who shared cell with TB patients and chronically coughing persons as well as those who stayed in a cell that contains >100 inmates.ConclusionThere is high prevalence of TB in Hadiya Zone prison with possible active transmission of TB within the prison. The study also documented a number of factors which may facilitate exposures to TB though most of them are not significantly associated. Therefore, strong cooperation between prison authorities and the national tuberculosis control programmes is urgently required to develop locally appropriate interventions to reduce transmission.

Offender and/or client? Fuzzy institutional identities in prison-based drug treatment in Denmark

The last 20 years has witnessed a rise in prison-based drug treatment in Nordic countries. This increase has challenged the prominence of the punitive prison, and created changes in the roles of both clients and staff. This article explores the development of two institutional inmate identities: the offender and the client, which have occurred as a consequence of this shift in prison policy. However, in their institutional narratives and daily practice both prison officers and counsellors often fluctuate when addressing inmates as offenders and/or clients. This fluctuation creates a “fuzzy” dynamic. These institutional identities are characterized, on the one hand, by inmates being dealt with by counsellors as ‘real people' and ‘equals’, but simultaneously counsellors are resorting to the control opportunities allowed by the prison authorities such as urine tests and the use of isolation cells. On the other hand, prison officers handle inmates within a disciplinary logic, while concurrently dealing with them as inmates deserving a fair chance – a view resonant with the drug treatment ideology applied in prisons.

Self-harm and overcrowding among prisoners in Geneva, Switzerland.

Prison institutional conditions affect risk for self-harm among detainees. In particular, prison overcrowding may increase the likelihood of self-harm by creating competition for resources, space, and enhancing a "deprivation state." The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between overcrowding and prisoner acts of self-harm. This cross-sectional study took place at Geneva's pre-trial prison (capacity:376) between 2006 and 2014. Outcomes were acts of self-harm that required medical attention, and self-strangulation/hanging events (combined into one group, as these are difficult to differentiate). Dichotomous predictors were overcrowding index- annual mean daily population divided by capacity ( > 200 percent vs < 200 percent), and year group (2006-2009 vs 2011-2014). Self-harm and self-strangulations/hangings increased in 2011-2014 compared to 2006-2010 (p < 0.001). Overcrowding in excess of 200 percent was associated with self-strangulation/hangings (p < 0.001) but not with all self-harm events. In terms of pertinent demographics that would affect self-harm, there was no prison change in gender, area of origin, foreign residency, religion, or psychiatric treatment. The present study is limited by the definition and identification of self-harm. The distinction between self-strangulation and self-hanging, and the precise classification of an intent to die is difficult to make in practice, especially with limited prison data records available. The relevant literature addresses the complexity of the association between non-suicidal and suicidal behavior. Despite this, the combined category self-strangulations/hangings gives some indication of severe self-harm events, especially since the methodology of categorization employed was consistent throughout the entire period of the study. Other limitations include the small sample size and the lack of individual patient data and prison data to help control for confounding factors. Despite these drawbacks, pertinent data (socio-demographics and number of prisoners treated for mental health and drug abuse) remained stable over the years. Thus, there are no apparent changes in the inmate population that could be linked to an increase in self-harm. High-security placements and mean prisoner stay have increased over time, with a decrease in staff to prisoner ratio - and these must be looked into further as contributors. Additionally, qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews and focus groups could delineate the impact of overcrowding on prisoner well-being and self-harm potential. The authors observed a significant increase in self-harm and self-strangulation/hangings over time, and overcrowding was significantly associated with self-strangulation/hangings (but not with all self-harm events). Overcrowding can impose destructive effects on the psychological and behavioral well being of inmates in prison, influencing a myriad of emotional and livelihood factors that predispose to harmful behavior. This report should alert public health and prison authorities to this issue, and garner resources to address such an alarming rise. The findings from this short report demonstrate the need for a further examination of the mechanisms affecting self-harm among prisoners in this population, particularly the relationship between self-strangulations/hangings and overcrowding.

Imposed Stories: Prisoner Self-narratives in the Criminal Justice System in New South Wales, Australia

This article examines the ways in which offenders are required to provide very particular accounts of themselves and to self-narrate in confined ways. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted in the New South Wales justice system, it explores how the stories that offenders are made to accept and tell about themselves often bear little relationship to their own reflections. It analyses how, despite the expectations of judges and prison authorities, these self-narratives are not products of an offender’s soul-searching concerning his past actions and experience; rather they are products of an official legal narrative being imposed on an offender whose capacity to own and enact such a narrative is already seriously compromised.

A Case Study of the Linguistic Variety of Women in the Mawelawela Correctional Institution, Swaziland

This paper examines the use of a lexical variety used by women prisoners in Swaziland. It analyses whether women prisoners living as a community manipulate language to encode their own terminology in order to remain separate from the dominant society and use expressions that may never be understood by the outside world. The study used the qualitative research design which enabled the researcher to examine the problem from the participants' perspective. It was based at Mawelawela Correctional Institution the only women prison in Swaziland. Data was gathered through the semi-structured face-to-face focus group interview. The interview findings demonstrate that women prisoners coin terminology so that warders, police officers and people from outside the prison will not understand their conversations. They do this mainly to preserve the culture of distancing themselves from the prison authorities, and maintain a distinct linguistic identity. The results of the study suggest that language change has allowed people to manipulate language and even reveal ways in which they use it to encode and have some sort of identity. The interview revealed their attitudes about prison life. They borrow words from other languages to code their language, and also clip words by either cutting the initial part or both the initial and final part of the word. It also discovered that the prisoners use words metaphorically.

Sounds inside: prison, prisoners and acoustical agency

Drawing on a set of first-hand written accounts of imprisonment, this article begins to open up the complexity of prison “soundscapes” from the perspective of prisoners. The accounts suggest that in many respects prisoners are a “captive audience” to the sonic environment in which they are held. They are subjected to a variety of sounds that they have limited capacity to avoid or control. But prisoners are not entirely deprived of “acoustical agency”. The sources indicate that prisoners actively draw on listening and sound-making in a diversity of ways as they negotiate prison life. For instance, they may be alert to the sonic presences of prison staff and other prisoners, engage in “window-to-window communication” or shouting between cells, listen intently to the verbal exchanges of others in order to gather information about events unfolding inside the prison, seek refuge from noise in quiet areas and use music to stimulate and manage particular affective states. The article argues that a sonic perspective prompts a move away from a consideration of prison environments as dominated and determined solely by prison authorities, pointing to the active role played by prisoners themselves in shaping the sonic space they inhabit. It also points to conflicts of acoustical agency as constituting a major source of tension between prisoners. Understanding the ways in which acoustical agency is exercised in the prison setting is shown to be integral to comprehending the experience of imprisonment and the complexity of social interaction inside prisons.

Universal access to DOTS in Delhi Prisons: Where do we stand?

BackgroundUniversal access implies that all tuberculosis (TB) patients in the community should have access to early, good quality diagnosis and treatment services that are affordable and convenient to the patient in time, place, and person. To achieve universal access, all affected vulnerable and marginalized population like prison inmates should have access to TB diagnostic and treatment services. ObjectivesTo assess the TB control activities in prisons of Delhi, the capital of India, and to suggest interventions for strengthening the program based on the observations. Materials and methodsStudy was conducted at Tihar Prison, Delhi. TB case notification data from the Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) between 2008 and 2012 and log process framework were used to assess various parameters. ResultsMean number of patients initiated on TB treatment was 120.6 annually between 2008 and 2012. The RNTCP has been implemented in Delhi Prisons since 2002; however, gaps were identified in human resource, training needs, case finding, diagnostic and treatment services, and supervision on situational analysis. Coordination between prison authorities and RNTCP authorities in relation to initial screening and discharge process appeared to be weak. Conclusion and recommendationsBecause of the restricted access, vulnerability of the prison population, increase in drug-resistant TB, the TB control activities in the prison require restructuring. Initial screening for early diagnosis and treatment and “Discharge planning” needs to be devised so that there is sufficient time before release or transfer of individuals from prison. This needs strong commitment from the prison health authorities and RNTCP staff.

HIV treatment and care among Italian inmates: a one-month point survey.

BackgroundHIV infection, with an estimated prevalence be between 2 and 50 times those of the general adult population is a major health challenge for prison authorities worldwide. Since no nationwide surveillance system is present in Italy, data on HIV prevalence and treatment in prisons are limited to only a few and small observational studies. We aimed to estimate HIV prevalence and obtain an overview on diagnostic and therapeutic activities concerning HIV infection in the Italian penitentiary system.MethodsWe piloted a multi-centre cross-sectional study investigating the prevalence of HIV infection and assessing HIV-related medical activities in Italian correctional institutions.ResultsA total of 15,675 prisoners from 25 institutions, accounting for approximately one-fourth of the prison inmates in Italy, were included in the study, of whom, 97.7 % were males, 37.1 % foreigners and 27 % had a history of intravenous drug addiction. HIV-tests were available in 42.3 % of the total population, with a known HIV Infection proportion of 5.1 %. In the month prior to the study, 604 of the 1,764 subjects who entered prison were tested for HIV, with a HIV-positive prevalence of 3.3 %. Among the 338 HIV-positive prisoners, 81.4 % were under antiretroviral treatment and 73.5 % showed undetectable HIV-RNA. In 23/338 (6.8 %) a coinfection with HBV and in 189/338 (55.9 %) with HCV was also present. Among the 67 (19.8 %) inmates with HIV who did not receive HIV treatment, 13 (19.5 %) had T-CD4+ count <350 cells/mm3 and 9 (69.2 %) of these had refused the treatment. The majority of the inmates with HIV-infection were on a PI-based (62.5 %) or on NNRTIs-based (24.4 %) regimen. Only a minority of patients received once daily regimens (17.2 %).ConclusionsAlthough clinical and therapeutic management of HIV infection remains difficult in Italian prisons, diagnostics, treatment and care were offered to the majority of HIV-infected inmates. Specific programs should be directed towards the prison population and strict cooperation between prison and health institutions is needed to increase HIV treatment.

An Absent Presence: Visitor Narratives of Journeys and Support for Prisoners During Imprisonment

The system of allocation of prisoners to prisons in Scotland results in the incarceration of prisoners at significant distance from their homes, creating an obstacle to the maintenance of family ties. Using unpublished statistical and primary research data collected with visitors of prisoners during 2014, this qualitative study reports an examination of peregrinations designed to provide prisoner support. More specifically, it converges upon perceptions of why, in the minds of visitors, these journeys are consequential for sustaining the welfare of their loved ones, and notes that prison authorities over-represent visitation as a panacea for alleviating the pains of imprisonment.

Young Cambodians as Victims of Institutional Violence in the Criminal Justice System

Young Cambodians are often the victims of human rights abuses due to their interactions with the criminal justice system. This paper is based on the outcomes of a 6-month research project which gained the perceptions of young male Cambodians who reported that violence within the criminal justice system is normalised and perpetrated by police and prison authorities. The research documented the physical and psychological effects of institutional violence encountered by young people such as problems in reintegrating back to their families and communities. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions regarding the introduction of a juvenile justice system, increased training of police and the introduction of human rights as part of the national school curriculum.

Problems and prospects of providing library and information services to the prisoners in Nigeria

Purpose– The purposes of this paper were to find out the problematic factors in providing library and information services to Nigeria prisoners and the strategies for solving them, thereby enhancing adequate provision of the required services to these prisoners.Design/methodology/approach– Seven main prisons were used for the study with a population of about 6,430 prisoners and 21 prison library/welfare workers. The sample size was 1,322 prisoners and the whole 21 workers. Questionnaires and focus group discussion (FGD) were the main instruments used for data collection. Data from the questionnaire were analyzed using frequencies and mean scores while data from FGD were analyzed descriptively.Findings– Major findings showed that problems like funding, censorship of reading materials, restrictions due to prison policy and staffing hinder to a high extent the provision of library and information services for these prisoners. Also, improved funding of the prisons and prison libraries, services and resource sharing with other libraries, NGOs and other information providers were all seen as strategies to enhance adequate library and information services provision to the prisoners.Originality/value– Library and information services are needed by everybody in today’s society. Prisoners, although incarcerated, will find useful a variety of library and information services provided to them. This paper delved into the problems of providing library and information services to Nigeria prisoners. The results of the study, if adhered to by the Nigerian prison authorities, will help a great deal in making the prisoners better citizens after release.

The paradox of control: An ethnographic analysis of opiate maintenance treatment in a Norwegian prison

BackgroundOpiate maintenance treatment (OMT) is increasingly being offered in prisons throughout Europe. The benefits of OMT in prison have been found to be similar to those produced by OMT in community settings. However, prison-based OMT has been a controversial issue because of fear of the diversion of OMT medications and the development of black markets for prescription drugs such as buprenorphine and methadone. Prison-based OMT thus involves a delicate balance between the considerations of control and treatment. MethodsThis article reports on an ethnographic study of a prison-based OMT programme in a closed Norwegian prison. The data include field notes from eight months of participant observation in the prison as well as qualitative interviews with 23 prisoners and 12 prison staff. Midway through the fieldwork, the prison authorities established a separate unit for OMT-enrolled prisoners to reduce the widespread diversion of buprenorphine. This “natural experiment” is explored in the analysis. ResultsThe prison-based OMT programme was characterised by strict and repressive control to prevent the diversion of buprenorphine, and the control became even stricter after the establishment of the OMT unit. However, the diversion of buprenorphine increased rather than decreased after the establishment of the OMT unit. To understand this “paradox of control”, the article engages with theories of legitimacy, power and resistance. The excessive and repressive control was perceived as illegitimate and unfair by the majority of study participants. In various ways, many prisoners protested, confronted and subverted the OMT programme. The increase in buprenorphine diversion is interpreted as a form of collective resistance towards the perceived unfairness of the OMT programme. ConclusionThe article demonstrates that an unbalanced and control-dominated approach to prison-based OMT may have the opposite effect of what is intended.