Predicting procedural justice treatment of prisoners by prison officers

• In Event: Prison Working Group: Understanding prison officers: Roles, composition, and attitudes toward detained persons

Abstract

Treating prisoners with humanity, dignity and respect has been enshrined in several international prison conventions especially the Nelson Mandela Rules (2015). The literature on procedural justice has emphasized its role in maintaining discipline and order in prisons and fostering the rehabilitation of prisoners and subsequent desistance from crime. However, we have limited knowledge about what predicts prison officers’ treatment of prisoners with procedural justice. In this paper, we assess the extent to which recruit prison officers’ attitudes to treating prisoners with respect changes overtime – before mandatory training (T1) and after training (T2). Using panel survey data of prison officers in Ghana, we discovered that prison officers’ attitudes towards procedural justice treatment of prisoners remained stagnant between Time 1 and Time 2. On the predictors, we found that officers who reported high job stress and having an authoritarian personality undermined officers’ procedural justice treatment of prisoners whilst officers’ self-legitimacy and perceived audience legitimacy enhanced officers treatment with procedural justice. We discuss the implications of our findings.

Author

• Thomas Akoensi, University of Kent