Participatory Innovation in Prisons: Lessons Learned from a 5-Year Community-Engaged Research Effort

• In Event: Community-Engaged Methods in a Prison Setting: Lessons from the Prison Research & Innovation Initiative

Abstract

The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world and spends more than $80 billion on prison operations per year. Working or being confined in a prison has a negative impact on a person’s health. Despite their scale and impact, prisons are among the least transparent and most understudied public institutions in the nation. Moreover, where research does exist the voices of those most directly impact, incarcerated individuals and correctional staff, are rarely included in the process. This study describes Vermont’s 5-year effort to use community-engaged research to measure and develop strategies to improve the wellbeing of the correctional staff and incarcerated individuals as part of the Urban Institute’s Prison Research and Innovation Network (PRIN). In Vermont, the project is grounded in a research-practice partnership where a team of academic researchers developed two surveys to measure staff and incarcerated individuals’ perceptions of prison climate and culture in a pilot, 350-bed men’s prison. The researchers administered the survey at three time points, June 2021, June 2022, and June 2024, with an average response rate of 70%. The department of corrections aimed to use the survey findings to spark a culture of innovation in the facility and identify and inform pilot innovations in the prison. This talk will share the survey results, lessons learned from the research and innovation process, and future directions from Vermont’s participation in the PRIN effort.

Authors

• Abigail Crocker, University of Vermont

• Kathy Fox, University of Vermont