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The Quality of Prison Life in Serbia: Criminological and Penological Characteristics
Thu, September 12, 5:30 to 6:45pm, Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest, Floor: Ground floor, Amphitheater 1 „Paul Negulescu”Abstract
The paper discusses findings of the empirical study on the quality of prison life (QPL) in Serbia. The study is part of a national three-year research project entitled PrisonLIFE, supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia (No. 7750249), which aims to improve the understanding of the QPL of convicts in Serbia. The data was collected with the use of a Serbian version of the Measuring the Quality of Prison Life (MQPL) survey. The study was conducted from May 2022 to January 2023 on a sample of 650 convicts (559 male and 91 female) who served prison sentence in four Correctional Facilities for Men and one Correctional Facility for Women. The samples average age was 39.84 (SD = 10.27, range 20-74), with an average length of a prison sentence of 95.46 months (SD = 100.64, range 2-480 months). More than two thirds of respondents were recidivists, where about half of them have previous prison experience. 28.2% of the sample was imprisoned for drug-related offences, then for robbery 13.7% and aggravated homicide 11.2%. On a 5-ppint scale, respondents evaluated the dimensions of the quality of prison life as follows: Harmony Dimensions (M = 3.12; SD = 0.80, range 1.07-4.95); Professionalism Dimensions (M = 2.92; SD = 0.84, range 1.00-4.86); Security Dimensions (M = 3.31; SD = 0.70, range 1.27-5.00); Conditions and Family Contact Dimensions (M = 3.45; SD = 0.89, range 1.00-5.00) and Wellbeing and Development Dimensions (M = 3.45; SD = 0.76, range 1.11-5.00). The findings indicate that professionalism received the lowest ratings within the sample, averaging below the acceptable threshold of three. Data on the QPL will be analyzed in relation to certain criminological and penological characteristics of the sample. At the end, the authors will indicate the possible ways to improve the QPL in Serbia.