What are prisons supposed to achieve? It's a contentious issue, because people are divided between thinking that prisons should rehabilitate criminals, and thinking that prisons should act as a deterrent to other potential offenders. Both ways attempt to reduce recidivism; how to go about this is the real issue.
A lot of people complain that prisons are "too soft" to actually help deter offenders, but the prison with the lowest recidivism rates is Grendon Underwood. It's run democratically by prisoners, with offenders having much more freedom and control, and it encourages open discussion and extensive therapy. (Here's an enlightening article on the prison if you want more information)
This begs the question: are harsh prisons actually effective?
Study: Haney and Zimbardo (1998) published a paper which looked at changes to prison policy in the US between 1973 and 1998, and suggested changes to help make prisons more effective based on their findings.
The report mentioned aspects such as Reagan's "war on drugs" which put pressure on the creation of more harsh prisons, and the high degree of racial bias; half of prison populations were African-American men, when they only made up 6% of the population in the US. The Supermax prison was also included, which was a bare cell with a small window, concrete bed, immovable chair, bathroom, and a black and white TV showing only religious and educative classes.
The paper concluded with a number of suggestions to improve prisons and reduce recidivism rates:
- Prisons should be used sparingly; alternatives should be sought
- Prison environments should take into account individual differences so they are tailored to the offender and thus be more effective
- Rehabilitation should help the offenders to cope with the outside world
- Psychological knowledge should be used to help create more suitable and efficient prisons
- Changes should be made, suggested and/or implemented by impartial "outsiders" (i.e. not people involved in the justice system)
Prison is not an environment which promotes positive mental states. The lack of freedom and repetitiveness takes its toll on inmates, and it's not uncommon for prisoners to experience delusions or hallucinations as a result.
More common effects in terms of mental health however are increased risk of anxiety and depression. Of course, a decent proportion of offenders had pre-existing psychological disorders before their incarceration, but it's likely that the conditions within prison have both increased depression and triggered it in a significant number of cases.
Dooley found that suicide rates are 4x higher in prisons than the general population, which is an alarming statistic. Those awaiting trial and those in their first year are the most likely to commit suicide.
A study by the same researcher looked into unnatural deaths in English and Welsh prisons across a 15 year period. A checklist was used to analyse data, and deaths were split into two categories of suicides and non-suicides.
Out of 442 unnatural deaths occurring in the prisons, 300 were suicides, 52 were the result of self-inflicted injuries and the rest had a variety of explanations, but mainly were attributed to "misadventure".
Dooley also found that most deaths occurred at night, and appeared to be the result of both pre-existing disorders and situationally-induced.
Some of the main factors that influence recidivism rates are outlined by the theory of planned behaviour.
It was developed from the theory of planned action, which essentially describes how if intentions are positive towards an action, and attitudes are positive towards an action, then someone is likely to act in that way. The theory of planned behaviour developed this, by suggesting that perceived behavioural control is an important factor too; this refers to whether the individual believes they can actually do the action, which is essentially the same as self-efficacy.
This theory can be applied to offenders and recidivism rates because if an offender has positive attitudes and intentions towards rehabilitation/getting a job/staying out of trouble, and they believe that they can do so, it's more likely that they'll be successful. This theory emphasises the role of self-belief and attitudes, and thus is a cognitive theory.
The main application of this theory is looking at ways to improve attitudes, intentions and beliefs relating to the outside world. One of the ways thought to help people get used to the outside world and feel more positive towards rehabilitation is getting a job inside prison, as it allows them to gain work experience and be more employable.
Study: Gillis and Nafekh conducted a content
analysis using retrospective data of over 23000 released offenders. The independent variable was whether the offender was employed prior to his or her release, and the dependant variable was the recidivism rates.
Results were positive, and showed that those on employment schemes were more likely to remain on conditional release and less likely to commit a new offence. 15% less of the "employed"condition went back to prison, and the average time of returning to prison was greater.
Thus, employment may be one way to help reduce recidivism rates as it encourages positive attitudes, beliefs and intentions for release.
