Effects Of Imprisonment

Question 1

What was the imprisonment system in 16 - 17th century?

Answer 1

Prison was used only for people awaiting trial and punishment. Every offender waited in the same prison, no matter the age, sex or offence.
Very poor conditions - poor hygiene, malnutrition, disease, maltreatment.

Question 2

What was the imprisonment system in 17 - 18th century?

Answer 2

‘Bloody Code’ Era

Transportation to British colonies, made to do hard labour.

Question 3

What did John Howard (Howard League of Penal Reforms) insist on reforms?

Answer 3

Paid staff.
Outside inspection
Proper diet
Men and women separated
And other necessities

Question 4

What was the imprisonment system in 18 - 19th century?

Answer 4

Millbank prison in London was built in 1816, 55 more were built after.
By mid 19th century, imprisonment had replaced capital punishment for most serious offences.
The Prison Act 1898 - abolition of hard labour - prison labour should be productive and not harmful to prisoners health

Question 5

What was the imprisonment system in 20th century?

Answer 5

Young people placed in separate establishments.

In 1933 the first open prison was built

Question 5

What was the prison population of England and Wales in November 2014?

Answer 5

85,925 total
81,974 male
3,951 female

Question 6

What happens during a prison sentence in prison?

Answer 6

1. Induction and assessment
2. Rehabilitation programmes, education, work
3. Resettlement

Question 7

What is a possible issue of overcrowding in prisons?

Answer 7

Crowding can produce psychological and physiological stress in people. Anecdotal evidence suggests that prison overcrowding can lead to an increase in re-offending.

Question 8

How common is suicide in prison?

Answer 8

It’s more common.
Offenders entering prison have a heightened risk.
UK: Average suicide rate is about 2 per week.
US: Prison suicide four times as common as it is in the community.

Question 9

How common is homicide in prison?

Answer 9

It is very rare in the UK, there’s been 16 homicides since 2005.
Homicide in US is about 10 times higher.

Question 10

What did Towl (1996) suggest as strategies for dealing with the problem of prison suicide?

Answer 10

Reduce the number of remand prisoners with mental illness.
Try to avoid the negative consequences for prisoners who reports suicidal thoughts.
Enable staff to identify and assist prisoners with suicidal feelings.

Question 11

What did Toch (1977) say were the 8 central environmental concern of prison inmates?

Answer 11

Privacy
Safety
Structure
Support
Emotional feedback
Social stimulation
Activity
Freedom

Question 12

Wooldredge (1999) said inmates were more what?

Answer 12

Depressed, anxious and stressed

Question 13

What is the rate of recidivism (%) in the UK?

Answer 13

52

Question 14

What are the possible reasons for high recidivism?

Answer 14

Lack of needed financial resources
Political climate
Effective treatments have only been developed in recent years

Question 15

What did Redondo et al. (2002) find from their meta-analysis of the effectiveness of prison and community treatment programmes in Europe between 1980-1998?

Answer 15

Educational programmes and cognitive behavioural therapy had the best outcomes.
Programmes in the community had the greatest effects.
Sex offender programmes had greater effects than programmes for other crimes such as drug trafficking.

Question 16

What did Smith, Goggin and Gendreau (2002) find in their meta-analysis about recidivism?

Answer 16

Recidivism was not lower when prison terms were given or when longer terms were served.
Lack of an impact of prison on recidivism applies to juveniles, women, and other minority groups just as much as men.
There is little evidence to suggest that longer periods of incarceration may be associated with small increases in the amount of recidivism.

Question 17

What could we add to the prison sentence system to help recidivism?

Answer 17

Cognitive skills programmes.

Learn techniques for the improvement of problem solving relevant especially to social interaction.