The ‘pains of imprisonment’ have been a longstanding concern within prison sociology. This article revisits the topic, suggesting that modern penal practices have created some new burdens and frust...

Depth, weight, tightness: Revisiting the pains of imprisonment

Suicide is a major public health concern accounting for 800 000 deaths globally each year. Although there have been many advances in understanding suicide risk in recent decades, our ability to predict suicide is no better now than it was 50 years ago. There are many potential explanations for this lack of progress, but the absence, until recently, of comprehensive theoretical models that predict the emergence of suicidal ideation distinct from the transition between suicidal ideation and suicide attempts/suicide is key to this lack of progress. The current article presents the integrated motivational–volitional (IMV) model of suicidal behaviour, one such theoretical model. We propose that defeat and entrapment drive the emergence of suicidal ideation and that a group of factors, entitled volitional moderators (VMs), govern the transition from suicidal ideation to suicidal behaviour. According to the IMV model, VMs include access to the means of suicide, exposure to suicidal behaviour, capability for suicide (fearlessness about death and increased physical pain tolerance), planning, impulsivity, mental imagery and past suicidal behaviour. In this article, we describe the theoretical origins of the IMV model, the key premises underpinning the model, empirical tests of the model and future research directions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Evolutionary thanatology: impacts of the dead on the living in humans and other animals'.

Status of the integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behaviour

As penal power has been transformed in recent years, so too have relationships between prisoners and staff. This article discusses how these relationships are forged by the terms of ‘neo-paternalism’, focusing in particular on what is labelled ‘soft power’. It describes some of the impediments that hinder the development of closer relationships between prisoners and uniformed staff. It explores the implications of soft power for the prison’s interior legitimacy, and discusses soft power in relation to the culture of uniformed staff.

Soft power in prison: Implications for staff–prisoner relationships, liberty and legitimacy:

Mary Douglas argues that, 'There are some things we cannot experience without ritual.' Ex-prisoner reintegration may be one of them. The punishment process involves an inordinate amount of ritual behavior, from the drama of the courtroom to the elaborate de-individuation processes involved in institutionalization. Durkheim argues that these rituals serve a distinct purpose for society: engendering social solidarity and shaping penal sensibilities. Like the commission of a crime, the reintegration of the former outcast back into society represents a challenge to the moral order, a delicate transition fraught with danger and possibility. However, unlike punishment, reintegration is not a process characterized by well-orchestrated and familiar rituals. This lack might explain the failings of prisoner reentry in contemporary society. This article reviews the socio- logical and anthropological literature on rituals, explaining what they are and what they do, focusing in particular on the role of status degradation ceremonies in criminal justice work. Drawing on this literature, the core elements that would be needed to develop rituals of reintegration powerful enough to counteract these degradation effects are discussed, and the potential impact of such hypothetical rituals is explored.

Reentry as a Rite of Passage

This book is intended as a key text for advanced undergraduates in social policy, social work, and youth/community work. It can also be used as a supplementary text for sociology of education/work/stratification, criminology, education, and personal reference for researchers and practitioners.

Youth And Social Policy: Youth Citizenship And Young Careers

In this article we draw attention to the recent and extraordinary increase in the number of people in England and Wales recalled to prison during the licence period of their sentence (by examining the published Parole Board and prison statistics). This is followed by a description of the existing law and the recent changes to it, which we suggest will exacerbate the current trend. We seek then to explain the increase by looking primarily at the US experience (which reveals a system which is costly, discriminatory and apparently ineffective at reducing crime) and at recent judicial review cases (which reveal a system which is increasingly acknowledged to be unfair), concluding that current sentencing law and practice puts inappropriate emphasis on ‘front door’ sentencing practices rather than the equally important ‘back door’ practices of release, supervision and recall. Unsurprisingly, the article ends with a call for much more research in this area.

The revolving door at the prison gate: Exploring the dramatic increase in recalls to prison

1 Introduction 2Youth justice: discretion in pre-court decision-making 3 Judicial discretion in sentencing 4 Prison officers and the use of discretion 5 Discretion and the release of life sentence prisoners 6 Discretion in access to forensic psychiatric units 7 Discretion and the release of mentally disordered offenders 8 Decisions to detain asylum seekers - routine, duty or individual choice? 9 Order, rationality and silence: some reflections on criminal justice decision-making

Exercising discretion : decision-making in the criminal justice system and beyond

PART I General 1. Sentencing procedure and appeals 2. Information about the offender 3. The relevance of explanations 4. Aggravation and mitigation 5. Discrimination and mercy 6. Background information 7. The efficacy of correctives 8. General deterrence and education 9. Sentencers' aims PART II Imprisonment 10. Using imprisonment 11. Imprisonment's wanted and unwanted effects 12. Administration, location, allocation 13. Rules, grievances and rights 14. Getting out PART III Non-custodial measures 15. Diversion and nominal measures 16. Financial measures 17. Community penalties 18. Philosophies and effectiveness of supervision 19. The control of stigma PART IV Special categories 20. Young adult offenders 21. Mentally disordered offenders 22. Dangerous offenders 23. Traffic offenders 24. The executive and the judiciary Index

Sentencing - Theory, Law and Practice

Part 1 1. Introduction, Nicola Padfield, Dirk van Zyl Smit and Frieder Dunkel 2. The European Dimension to the Release of Sentenced Prisoners, John R. Spencer and Dirk van Zyl Smit Part 2: Country Perspectives 3. Austria, Karin Bruckmuller and Veronika Hofinger 4. Belgium, Sonja Snacken, Kristel Beyens and Marie-Aude Beernaert 5. England and Wales, Nicola Padfield 6. Finland, Tapio Lappi-Seppala 7. France, Kim Reuflet 8. Germany, Frieder Dunkel and Ineke Pruin 9. Greece, Leonidas K. Cheliotis with the Assistance of Ioannis Papageorgiou 10. Ireland, Thomas O'Malley 11. Italy, Alessandra Gualazzi and Chiara Mancuso 12. The Netherlands, Martin Moerings 13. Scotland, Douglas Thomson 14. Slovenia, Katja Sugman Stubbs and Matjaz Ambroz 15. Spain, Jose Cid and Beatriz Tebar Part 3: Converging Themes 16. Concluding Thoughts, Nicola Padfield, Dirk van Zyl Smit and Frieder Dunkel

Release from Prison : European Policy and Practice

1. Introduction, Nicola Padfield Part One: Setting the scene 2. Who should we keep locked up?, Duncan Nichol 3. Parole and Risk Assessment, Stephen Shute 4. The Parole Board and the Changing Face of Public Law, Mark Elliott 5. Why fairness matters in criminal justice, Alison Liebling 6. The New Zealand Parole Board: independence and domestic and international challenges, Tony Ellis Part Two: Dealing with indeterminacy 7. Dealing with indeterminacy: life sentences and IPP, Terry McCarthy 8. The Parole Board as a court, Simon Creighton 9. The Parole Board: Current Practice and Future Changes: a judicial member's perspective, Anthony Thornton Part Three: Recall: Challenges for the Parole Board and NOMS 10. The Recall and Re-release of Determinate Sentence Prisoners, Jo Thompson 11. Discretion, Offender attributes and the recall process, Helen Collins 12. Recall: Contested facts and risk assessment, Hamish Arnott Part Four: Is predicting risk fair? 13. Offenders' views on risk assessment, Gill Attrill and Glenda Niell 14. MAPPA, parole and the management of high risk offenders in the community, Hazell Kemshall 15. The paradoxical effects of stringent risk management: community failure and sex offenders, Jackie Craissati Part Five: Pulling the threads together 16. Public Confidence - the real challenge, Christine Glenn 17. A personal overview, Hugh Southey

Nicola Padfield

Papers

The revolving door at the prison gate: Exploring the dramatic increase in recalls to prison

Exercising discretion : decision-making in the criminal justice system and beyond

Sentencing - Theory, Law and Practice

Release from Prison : European Policy and Practice

Who to release? : parole, fairness and criminal justice