The mortality of released Finnish prisoners; a 7 year follow-up study of the WATTU project

Objective. The aim was to compare the mortality of released prisoners and the general population.Method. The study forms a part of the Health Survey of Finnish Prisoners (the WATTU Project). A sample (N=903), representing all Finnish male prisoners, underwent a thorough health survey in 1985. A 7 year follow-up study was performed by means of gathering register data (deaths, hospital care, diseases leading to working incapacity). A population-based age-selected control group was formed for comparison.Results. During the follow-up, 13.2% of the sample died (natural deaths 5.2%, accidental deaths 4.1%, suicides 2.0%), whereas the corresponding figure in the control group was 3.4%. Overmortality among released prisoners, when compared to the general population, was also found in different death categories.Conclusion. The high somatic and psychiatric morbidity and mortality due to prisoner suicide, when imprisoned, has been reported in many earlier studies. This is probably the first study to confirm the high mortality in different death categories of a representative sample of released prisoners compared to a control group representing the general population. It is important to try to help released prisoners to get a new grip on normal life, especially if they also have somatic or mental health problems. More effort should be made to improve the collaboration between different health care systems.     

转型时期看守所“80后”在押人员监管问题的规律与治理对策

“80后”在押人员呈逐年上升趋势，已成为违反监规和监管事故的主体。针对看守所“80后”在押人员违反监管的问题，研究“80后”在押人员关押情况、违反监管行为产生的原因和违反监规及监管事故发生的规律，并围绕确保监所安全中心工作，提出以落实监所保障机制为基础、规范监管执法为关键、建立科学防控体系为保证、化解在押人员贫富矛盾为根本的治理对策。     

Gang activity in English prisons: The prisoners’ perspective

Abstract

Gang activity in American prisons has resulted in serious problems for prisoners and staff. This study assessed prisoners’ perceptions of gang-event frequency in the UK. Interviews with 360 prisoners from nine prisons in England and Wales indicated gang-related events were perceived as more frequent in all male categories of prison than they were in female institutions. Prisoners reported drug possession and prisoner groups being formed along regional origins as the most frequent gang-related activities. Recidivists perceived higher levels of gang-related activity than did first-time prisoners. Gang-related variables also predicted prisoners’ perceptions that groups of prisoners have more control over events in the prison than do staff and that order in the prison may not be maintained. The merits of interviewing prisoners and the implications of the results for maintaining order in prison are discussed.     

Prison structure, inmate mortality and suicide risk in Europe

Suicide presents a major complication during imprisonment and greatly contributes to the high mortality rate of prisoners. All international studies have found increased suicide rates among prisoners compared to the general population. This study examines risk factors for suicide and mortality in prisoners using supranational data from the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics (Statistiques Penales Annuelles du Conseil du L'Europe or SPACE) from 1997 to 2008. Macrostructural risk factors for prison suicide are analyzed from this supranational data set and the identified indicators are further evaluated on the single country level. Sexual offenders, offenders charged with violent crimes and prisoners sentenced for short- and long-term imprisonment are considered to be at an elevated risk for suicide. In addition, prison mortality is associated with overcrowding.     

Correlates of Institutional Misconduct Among State Prisoners

As with participation in illegitimate activities in the larger society, involvement in rule infractions within prisons is not normally distributed among prisoners. Rather, a small segment of the inmate population is disproportionately represented in official records of disciplinary activity. In this research, factors associated with differential levels of involvement in prison disciplinary infractions were examined.
The findings indicate that the inmate's age at commitment, history of drug use, current offense (particularly homicide/nonhomicide categories), and the type of sentence that the inmate served were significantly related to high-rate infraction status. For one subgroup of the inmate population, race was also significantly related to infraction-rate status. However, these variables are not sufficiently predictive of institutional misconduct to justify their use as classification factors. The implications of the findings for the study of social control mechanisms in prisons are discussed.     

Perceptions of self-legitimacy and audience legitimacy among prison officers in Ghana

Criminological research on legitimacy has focused almost exclusively on citizens’ normative assessment of legal authorities. However, this line of research neglects power-holders’ own assessment of their legitimacy or self-confidence in their moral validity of their claims to power. This paper examines the conditions on which prison officers as power-holders base their legitimacy claims. Data from semi-structured interviews and observation of prison officers in Ghana shows that prison officers in Ghana exude high power-holder legitimacy underpinned by favourable assessment of their “self-” and “perceived audience” legitimacy in the eyes of prisoners. While officers’ self-legitimacy was underpinned in their legal status (e.g., legality) and the uniforms (e.g., state insignia), perceived legitimacy was anchored in officers’ maintenance of authority via self-discipline, good and close officer–prisoner relationships, respect for prisoners as humans, and professional competence or making a difference in the lives of prisoners.     

Examining All-cause and Cause-specific Mortality among Former Prisoners in Pennsylvania

Former prisoners have a higher than expected risk of death following release from incarceration. However, little is known about the specific risk factors for post-release mortality among former prisoners. The current study uses a unique set of measures obtained from administrative records from Pennsylvania to examine demographic, custodial, behavioral, and criminal history factors that impact mortality risk following release from incarceration. Moreover, this study is the first to assess whether risk factors for post-release mortality are consistent or variable across race and ethnicity. Using data from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and mortality records from the Pennsylvania Department of Health we find several demographic, custodial, behavioral, and criminal history measures are related to post-release mortality risk. Moreover, while most risk factors for mortality are generally consistent across race and ethnicity, we find evidence that some custodial and criminal history factors vary by race and ethnicity.     

Female homicide offenders have greatly increased mortality from unnatural deaths

The mortality of female homicidal offenders has scarcely been studied. Our aim was to examine the mortality of homicidal women in Finland using a representative nation-wide material. The data consisted of all 132 women who underwent forensic psychiatric examinations after committing homicide or attempted homicide in 1982-1992. We analysed their rate and cause of death during follow-up using standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) and the official classification of death. The mean follow-up time for dead subjects was 7 years (S.D. 4), and for the rest 11 years (S.D. 3). There were 22 observed deaths, the expected value being 1.3 (SMR 17.4). The SMR for unnatural deaths was 226 and for suicides 425. The SMRs for women below 40 years were over 220. In conclusion, homicidal women have an over 200-fold risk of unnatural death, rising to over 400-fold for suicide. This should be taken into consideration in planning discharge programmes for homicidal offenders.     

The prevalence of intellectual disabilities among 12,000 prisoners - a systematic review

There are 9 million prisoners worldwide, but it is uncertain what proportion have intellectual disabilities. Such prisoners have been identified as a vulnerable group at risk of victimization and mental illness. Psychiatric surveys based on interviews of unselected prison populations were sought, involving diagnoses of intellectual disabilities. The search was performed by computer-assisted searches, scanning of relevant reference lists, hand-searching of journals, and correspondence with authors of relevant reports. Prevalence rates of intellectual disabilities by gender and other potentially relevant study characteristics were abstracted from publications, supplemented by information from authors of reports. Ten relevant surveys from four different countries were identified that included a total of 11,969 prisoners (mean age: 29 years; 92% male; 23% violent offenders). No formal calculation of a summary estimate of prevalence was undertaken due to substantial heterogeneity. The results suggest that typically 0.5-1.5% of prisoners were diagnosed with intellectual disabilities (range 0% to 2.8% across studies). We conclude that the number of prisoners with intellectual disabilities is considerable and discuss implications for policy and practice.     

The criminal justice system in a social justice society would look very different from the current system

I learned my most important lessons about criminal justice reform more than 30 years ago while working on what has become known as the Attica Prison rebellion. The Attica Prison rebellion took place in September 1971 in the maximum security prison in upstate New York. Led by prisoners with a broad social justice agenda, the prisoners’ demands were focused on basic human rights, including the right to organise, the right to be free from abuse from prison guards and the right to basic living conditions – health and sanitary conditions among others. The rebellion was ended when then Governor Nelson Rockefeller sent in state troopers to retake the prison by force, resulting in the death of 39 prisoners and prison guards. A political and legal struggle to defend prisoners charged in the uprising ensued, eventually resulting in the dismissal of the charges against the prisoners. In 2000, the people who had been prisoners at Attica during the 1971 rebellion were awarded an $8m settlement from the State of New York.     

死刑犯一般心理分析与监管对策要略

死刑复核权收归最高人民法院后，死刑犯在看守所的羁押时间延长，监管难度加大。保障死刑犯在看守所的监管安全，要准确分析其心理状态，加强教育转化和心理疏导工作，创新监管模式，改善传统控制手段，争取办案单位和社会力量的支持与配合。     

Effects of Educational Motives on Prisoners’ Participation in Education and Educational Desires

There are numerous individual and social benefits of increasing prisoners’ educational motivation and their level of education. During incarceration they can be motivated to consider education because of the value of education, their own resettlement, future job prospects, to break free from prison routines, or simply to be around others. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between prisoners’ educational motives and their participation in education or desires to start an education in prison. The participants were 750 prisoners who attended prison education in Norwegian prisons in 2009, plus 898 other prisoners. Three motive categories were identified: “Future planning”, “Social reasons and escapism”, and “Competence building” (learning for the sake of learning). The first factor explained more than twice of the variance of the sum of the two others. Prisoners with high scores in the competence building category were significantly more prone to participate in education in prison, also when other commonly used background variables were controlled for statistically. Among those who did not participate, high scores in competence building also predicted that they desired to start an education while incarcerated. Prisoners with high scores in the future planning category were less likely to participate in prison education. We then discuss why this latter somewhat surprising negative effect occurred.     

监所在押人员的心理障碍研究

监所在押人员的心理障碍是指在被羁押事件的刺激作用下,个体在其认知因素的影响下表现出明显的心理困扰,如抑郁、焦虑、恐惧和愤怒等。而要克服在押人员的心理障碍就要改变其不合理的观念,对羁押事件进行建设性归因,改变其认知失调状态等,从而提高监所在押人员的心理适应性。     

Cause-of-death query in validation of death certification by expert panel; effects on mortality statistics in Finland, 1995

The correctness of selection, coding and registration of underlying cause-of-death is important for the quality of mortality statistics. One measure to improve quality is the query to the certifier for verification of the underlying cause-of-death. In Finland, 3478 death certificates, 7.1% of total 49074 certifications in 1995, were considered questionable by statisticians. The expert panel at Statistics Finland was able to resolve 2813 (80.9%) of them. However, 665 (19.1%) certificates needed to be further queried from the certifier. Of these, 318 (47.8%) were re-assigned to another ICD-9 category or to the applicable three-digit category within the main category of heart and vascular diseases, resulting in changes from a 17.00-fold increase in rheumatic heart diseases (ICD-9 codes 390-398) to a decrease of about one-half (0.45-fold change) in unspecified neoplasms (codes 235-239). However, a statistically significant impact on national mortality statistics was not observed in any of applied ICD categories. Among all questionable death certificates, most prone to query of the certifier, and with a statistical significance of P<0.05, were those with no cause-of-death specified, those stating underlying cause-of-death as non-specified neoplasms (with a observed/expected ratio, O/E, of 1.69), and heart and vascular diseases (1.45), with its subcategories of ischaemic heart diseases (1.33) and other heart diseases (2.92). Death certificate validation, by expert panel consultations and query to the certifiers, and the importance of estimation of the validity of cause-of-death information on death certificates are strongly pointed out in a continuous strive for correct and reliable mortality statistics.     

Brief mental health screening of prison entrants: psychiatric history versus symptom screening for the prediction of in-prison outcomes

While prisoners are known to suffer very high rates of mental illness, evidence is often lacking to inform the development of effective approaches to prison mental health service provision, including the approach to mental health screening. In addition, research to date has been dominated by prevalence studies and little is known about the mental health needs of prisoners over time. A random sample of prison entrants was recruited from a large remand and reception prison in New South Wales, Australia (n = 707) for the completion of a brief health survey. A second survey was completed during the subsequent six months (n = 317) in order to examine the effect of timing of assessment on mental health status. Those followed up within three months (n = 182) were further included in an analysis of predictive validity comparing the performance at baseline of self-reported history of previous diagnosis versus current symptom screening for psychological distress, in predicting subsequent mental illness. When assessed over six months from prison entry, mental health status was found to vary by timing of assessment. At prison entry, self-reported history of previous diagnosis of a mental health disorder was found to be a better predictor of mental illness over three months than screening for psychological distress.     

Women prisoners and the law: Which way will the pendulum swing?

Women prisoners have had avenues to legal assistance open to them for several years. Even though it has been possible for them to seek recourse in the courts, many barriers to this help remain in place. This article focuses on how women prisoners and women's prisons can change through litigation.     

Social support among releasing men prisoners with lifetime trauma experiences

High rates of lifetime trauma experiences exist among men incarcerated in US state and federal prisons. Because lifetime trauma experiences have been linked to problematic behavioral and psychiatric outcomes for incarcerated populations, trauma-informed interventions could improve post-release well-being of releasing men prisoners with trauma histories. Social support has consistently been found to have a positive impact on trauma-related outcomes in non-incarcerated populations. Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that social support may be an important intervention component for releasing men prisoners with trauma experiences; yet, the relationship between trauma experiences, psychiatric and behavioral factors, and social support has received almost no attention in research with men prisoners. Using a probability sample of 165 soon-to-be-released men, the present study examined differences in certain demographic, criminal justice history, mental health, substance abuse, and social support (type, quality, amount, and source) variables between releasing men prisoners with and without lifetime trauma experiences. Results indicate that men with trauma histories had more negative social support experiences and fewer positive social support resources before prison than their counterparts. Men with trauma histories also had more lifetime experiences with mental health and substance use problems. On further investigation of the subsample of men with trauma histories, those who were older, had substance use disorders, and histories of mental health problems anticipated fewer post-release social support resources. Study findings underscore the nuances of social support for men prisoners with trauma experiences and point to implications for future directions in targeted trauma-informed intervention development for releasing men prisoners.     

重刑犯人格基本特征及其影响因素的实证研究

目的为了解重刑犯人格基本特征及相关影响因素,为监狱在教育改造重刑犯、对重刑犯进行心理辅导和心理干预提供依据.方法采用《中国罪犯心理测试个性分测验》（COPA-PI）问卷对福建省四个监狱随机整群抽取678名重刑犯进行施测.结果与常模相比,重刑犯除了外倾、变态心理的人格特征与常模无显著差异外（p＞0.05）,在聪敏、同情、从属、波动、冲动、戒备、自卑、焦虑、暴力倾向、犯罪思维等因子均有非常显著的差异（p＜0.001）;文化程度对聪颖性、同情心有正向预测作用,分别解释变异量的12.2％和19.2％,对从属性和戒备心理有负向预测作用,分别解释的变异量的10.3％和9.3％;家庭经济状况对聪颖性和自卑性有负向预测作用,分别解释变异量的11.5％和9.5％;判刑次数对波动性、戒备性和暴力倾向有正向预测作用分别解释变异量的8.7％,9.5％和9.1％;婚姻状况对自卑性有负向预测作用,能解释变异量的9.1％.结论重刑犯与普通罪犯存在人格差异,比普通罪犯有更多人格缺陷,文化程度、家庭经济状况、判刑次数和婚姻状况对罪犯人格有一定影响,需要根据其人格特征采取有针对性的预防和矫治策略.     

Tombstone Towns and Toxic Prisons: Prison Ecology and the Necessity of an Anti-prison Environmental Movement

Within the field of green criminology, scant attention has been paid to prison ecology, or the unique characteristics of the common environments of correctional facilities. As investigative reports by human rights and prison abolition organizations have highlighted, there is growing evidence to suggest a systemic pattern of prisoners being exposed to environmental injustices resulting from their proximity to federal Superfund and other contaminated sites. One of the most expensive Superfund sites in the Midwest, the former Velsicol Chemical Corporation plant site in St. Louis, Michigan has been contaminated with DDT, PBB and pCBSA. Located one and a half miles from the site is one of the State’s largest correctional compounds- the Central Michigan and St. Louis Correctional facilities- which house more than 3500 prisoners who are disproportionately men of color. Despite multiple civil rights lawsuits filed by prisoners at the facility, little has been done to address the problems of water contamination at the prison. Furthermore, the failure of the Environmental Protection Agency to consider prisoners within federal environmental justice guidelines facilitates continued harm for this vulnerable population. Given the increasing revelations of toxic prisons across the U.S., it is necessary for environmentalists and green criminologists to work together with prison abolition organizations to fight the epidemic of toxic prisons.