Lecture 9: Experiencing imprisonment (vulnerable populations) Flashcards
Who is vulnerable to some extent in prison?
Everyone
What symptoms involve a rupture with reality?
Psychotic
What refers to drinking that is hazardous but not addiction?
Hazardous drinking
Putting sex offenders together in one wing is said to increase what?
Their vulnerability
What category of staff can prisoners sometimes blame for their imprisonment?
Police
What has contributed to the rise in older prisoners?
Longer sentences and an aging population
What term refers to the difficulties older prisoners have in adjusting to release?
Resettlement issues
What does HMMPS stand for?
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service
What term refers to prisons being designed without considering older inmates’ needs?
Institutional thoughtlessness
Why might a dying prisoner not receive adequate pain relief medication?
Security restrictions on medications
What term refers to sex offenders seen as the lowest of all offenders?
Nonces
What does VPU stand for?
Vulnerable Prisoners Unit
What does “fronting out” refer to?
Sex offenders concealing their offence
What concept refers to sex offenders taking on their offence as their identity?
Master status
What risk is there in putting sex offenders together in prison?
Networking
What coping strategy involves sex offenders ignoring each other’s offences?
Deliberate ignorance
What concept refers to the difficulties reconciling professional duties towards sex offenders with instinctive disgust?
Emotional labour
What is said to require conscious effort when working with sex offenders?
Compartmentalization
Who may hold more negative attitudes towards sex offenders than the general public?
Officers
What has caused the increase in older prisoners?
Longer sentences and more historic offence prosecutions
What is said to be needed with mobility impaired older prisoners?
Wheelchair assistants
What medical conditions are noted as more prevalent in older inmates?
Dementia and incontinence
What is noted as often lacking in medical care for dying inmates?
Pain management
What policy change can enable the early release of a dying prisoner?
Compassionate parole
Which group experiences the document state typically has better education backgrounds?
Child sex offenders
What are sex offenders against both children and adult noted as being?
Rare
What hierarchical status do sex offenders hold?
The lowest
What Rule outlines guidelines for protecting vulnerable inmates?
Rule 45
What does research show some treatment staff view sex offenders as?
Manipulative and devious
What is said to sometimes ‘spill over’ when working with sex offenders?
Emotions
What does research show is needed to work effectively with sex offenders?
Emotional regulation
What has likely increased sex offender numbers in prison?
Changes in prosecution rules
What concept refers to loss of identity outside an institution?
Mortification
What is a common hazard for physically impaired inmates?
Social exclusion
What issue relating to sex offenders does the document state likely challenges resettlement?
Community attitudes
What does research highlight as a need for officers working with sex offenders?
Specific training
What are factors associated with vulnerable (to wound)?
- Susceptible
- Defenceless
- Helpless
- Weak
- Exposed
What does importing pre-existing vulnerabilities make more difficult?
Makes adaption and coping more difficult
How are some people more vulnerable because of the prison environment?
- Physical layout and conditions of prison
- Use of separate accommodation according to perceived vulnerabilities
What is the fastest growing age group in prisons?
Older prisoners
What is the impact of longer and life sentences on older prisoners?
Greater difficulties for resettlement
What is the HMPPS response to problems with older prisoners?
Emergence of specialist assisted living units and older prisoner units
What challenges for prison officers are there in relation to older prisoners?
Having to care rather than control
What is institutional thoughtlessness in prisons? - Crawley and Sparks 2005
Way in which prison regimes roll on with little reference to needs and sensibilities of the old
Examples of institutional thoughtlessness:
- Physical layout: stairs
- Social exclusion: work, gym, educational
- Fear of decline and dying in prison
What do sexual offenders provoke?
- Strong, emotive feelings among general population
- These attitudes are imported into prisons, by prisoners and staff
What type of sexual offenders against adults?
Specialists or generalists
What type of sexual offenders against children?
Typically older
Why are people convicted of sexual offending are doubly excluded?
‘Outcast among outcasts’
What impact on prison experience do sexual offenders feel?
Bullying, threats and fatal violence
What is HMPPS response for sexual offenders?
- Rule 45
- Use of vulnerable prison units (VPUs)
- Specialist prisons
How do sex offenders cope on normal location?
Fronting out
What difficulties do sex offenders have in concealing their offence in normal location?
‘Passing’ - Schwaebe
How do sex offenders cope on VPU or dedicated prison?
- Offence integral to personal and social identity
- Greater safety and ease of treatment access
Criticisms of sex offenders on VPU or dedicated prisons:
- Potential to facilitate networking
- Reinforcement of identity?
Managing a spoiled identity for sex offenders:
- Coping strategy through scapegoating? Offending hierarchies including between ‘nonces’
- Deliberate ignorance of each other’s offences
How do trained treatment facilitators view their sex offender clients?
‘Viewed their clients commonly as manipulative and devious individuals’
What is professional-personal dialectic?
- Separate individual from offence and reconcile professional responsibilities from instinctive feelings of disgust
- Compartmentalization of work and personal life
