Prisoners’ overall evaluation of the prison conditions: A good prisoner-staff relationship is not enough.

• In Event: Experiences of imprisonment

Abstract

Background / aims. The prisoner-staff relationship has been recognized as a key determinant of the quality of life during incarceration. Other prison-related issues, including perceived autonomy, assess to meaningful activities, and the relationship to other prisoners, may also be important. In addition to such factors, we assessed how aspects of the physical environment was evaluated by the prisoners. We examined how all these factors were associated with the prisoners’ general opinion of the prison. The main aim was to identify the most influential determinants of evaluating the prison positively.
Methods. In 2022, we conducted a survey of 181 male prisoners in three Norwegian prisons with identical architectonic design (response rate: 62%). Their overall evaluation of the prison was assessed through this question: “Generally speaking, on a scale from 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with this prison?” We also asked questions from Quality of the Prison Climate Questionnaire. In addition, the prisoners were asked to evaluate the outdoor prison area, the access to daylight, and the view from their cell.
Results. On average, the general opinion of the prison (GOP) was moderately positive. High GOP scores correlated strongly (r>0.50) with positive evaluations of the relationship to the staff, perceived autonomy, the activities that the prison offers, receiving visitors, the daylight, the outdoor area, and the view from the cell. A multiple regression analysis showed that four of these variables had a unique statistical impact on GOP. A good relationship to the staff was the most important predictor (beta=0.33), followed by favourable evaluations of the outdoor area (beta=0.31), the cell view (beta=0.25) and the activities (beta=0.19).
Conclusion. A good prisoner-staff relationship is indeed important for the quality of prison life, but perceiving the physical surroundings as pleasurable also matters – which barely has been addressed in previous research.

Authors

• Hilde Pape, University College of Norwegian Correctional Servica

• Berit Johnsen, Kriminalomsorgens høgskole og utdanningssenter KRUS