This study aimed to examine the lived experience of incarceration for those with autism using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Eight adults who were incarcerated in New South Wales, Australia, were interviewed. The lived experience of incarceration for the participants was about being in an unpredictable environment characterised by ever-changing routines and complex social situations. Participants were deprived of their ability to create predictability in their environment, and experienced confusion and distress when forced to comply with actions that were in conflict with their logic. Mental health nursing case management is recommended to address the needs of incarcerated persons with autism.

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A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Examination of the Lived Experience of Incarceration for those with Autism.

When reform occurs in prison systems, prisoner insecurity increases. One reason for this is disorganization. The disruption to informal governance structures, distributions of power and mechanisms for establishing trust causes conflicts. This paper argues that a key mechanism linking disorganization to conflict and violence is information flow. Incomplete information in interpersonal interaction marks prison settings. Informal institutions for producing certainty for both staff and prisoners emerge to overcome this. Such institutions are handicapped by reform directed at reducing informal prisoner controls. In such cases, violence becomes an information-generating activity and can substitute for reputation. The paper examines this proposition as it applies to prisoners and staff through a critical case study of radical prison reform in the South Caucasus country of post-Soviet Georgia.

Violence as Information During Prison Reform: Evidence From the Post-Soviet Region

PRISON VIOLENCE: THE DYNAMICS OF CONFLICT, FEAR AND POWER (Book)

Whilst prison bullying is a well-researched form of aggressive behaviour, recent studies have suggested that there may be discrepancy between how prisoners and researchers understand the term ‘bullying’. Interviews with 26 female prisoners were subject to constant comparison framework analysis. More than 150 themes were identified. These suggested that whilst there is overall agreement between prisoners and researchers as to what behaviours constitute bullying, a consensus does not exist within the prisoner population. Behaviours identified as bullying behaviours by prisoners are also reported as methods of coping. Cultural differences in behaviour and how these relate to perceptions of aggression were identified by the women prisoners. The findings of this study have implications for researching bullying in institutions such as prisons, and for managing and intervening with bullies in prisons.

Female prisoners' understanding of ‘bullying’ and their methods of coping: a multinational perspective

Prison victimization: high-risk characteristics and prevention

This article explores prisoner-versus-prisoner conflicts as a means of clarifying the links and contrasts between victimization and bullying. The author argues that a defining feature of bullying is a power imbalance between the parties, and that most prison victimization - including insults, theft, threats and fights - lacks a power imbalance. The research shows that the majority of prison violence arises, not from bullying, but from victimization. He concludes that tackling victimization, as the Prison Service Violence Reduction strategy recommends, is likely to be more effective in preventing violence than attempts to identify and punish bullies.

Bullying, victimization and safer prisons:

Background Despite its abolition in 2012, the indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) still casts a long shadow over the justice system. Recall is a growing problem: In June 2020, there were 1,359 recalled IPP prisoners. Research documents the negative mental health implications of initial imprisonment under an IPP sentence; however, little is known about experiences on licence, or post-recall. Aims To explain how recalled IPP prisoners perceive being on licence, and in prison post-recall, to affect their mental wellbeing. Methods We draw on 31 interviews with recalled IPP prisoners, conducted for a wider project exploring the high rates of IPP recall. Results Three themes emerged: a perpetual state of anxiety about recall and spending additional years behind bars; self-imposed social isolation, both in the community and in prison; and a profound sense of hopelessness. People often feel trapped in an unjust and inevitable cycle of imprisonment, with little faith in a positive future. Conclusions The government must make structural changes to stop the revolving door of IPP recall. In the short term, confidential mental health support should be available to people serving IPPs in prison and the community.

'I'm always walking on eggshells, and there's no chance of me ever being free': The mental health implications of Imprisonment for Public Protection in the community and post-recall.

Kimmett Edgar

Papers

Bullying, victimization and safer prisons:

'I'm always walking on eggshells, and there's no chance of me ever being free': The mental health implications of Imprisonment for Public Protection in the community and post-recall.