Various survey measures have been developed to assess prison climate. Because these instruments have shortcomings, the Prison Climate Questionnaire (PCQ) was developed to measure prison climate and its related domains across a broad prison population. In this article, the instrument and its psychometric qualities are presented. Results show that the PCQ’s factor structure, reliability, and validity were in all aspects satisfactory. It was concluded that the PCQ is a promising instrument that can be used to measure and monitor individuals’ perceptions on the quality of prison life.

Ex-prisoners often experience barriers to successful transition regarding employment, finances, housing, healthcare, and valid identification. Based on the Offender Management framework, assistance during imprisonment by prison- and community-based professionals is considered key in preparing prisoners for release regarding these reintegration needs. Therefore, the current study examines the degree to which prisoners with reintegration needs are assisted by relevant professionals. We used self-reported data from 4,309 prisoners of the Dutch Prison Visitation Study, part of the Life in Custody Study. The results showed that prisoners have more contact with prison-based than with community-based professionals, but that the latter relatively often have contact with prisoners with related reintegration needs. Yet, a specific group of prisoners with reintegration needs remains invisible. Prisoners with complex, health, or valid identification needs, and prisoners in the start or pre-release phase require further attention. It is discussed what can be learned from these findings on Dutch Offender Management practices.

Contact tijdens detentie tussen gedetineerden en professionals is van belang om gedetineerden voor te bereiden op re-integratie. Dit onderzoek bekijkt daarom de mate en beoordeling van contact met interne en externe re-integratieprofessionals en plaatst de resultaten, gebaseerd op 4308 vragenlijsten onder gedetineerden, binnen de beleidscontext. Hoewel het contact wisselt per detentieduur en regime, blijkt de meerderheid van de gedetineerden naar tevredenheid in contact te staan met de interne professionals -de casemanager en de mentor. Contact met de externe professionals -gemeenten, reclassering, zorginstellingen en vrijwilligersorganisaties -is doorgaans beperkt en wordt wisselend positief beoordeeld. Afsluitend worden praktische aanbevelingen gedaan. *Deze studie is onderdeel van de LIC-studie. De LIC-studie is gefinancierd door de Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen (DJI) en de Universiteit Leiden. Alle uitspraken, bevindingen en conclusies verwoord in dit artikel zijn afkomstig van de auteurs en geven niet noodzakelijkerwijs die van de DJI weer.

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Reintegration support by community-based professionals and volunteers (CBPs) is needed to prepare prisoners for release. Yet, the way in which CBPs are received, informed and accommodated, may hamper in-prison involvement. Therefore, the current study explores the visit facilitation and accessibility of prisons in the Netherlands as experienced by CBPs. A new instrument to measure facilitation and accessibility across institutions is introduced. The findings among 4,309 prisoners and 1,077 professionals across 24 Dutch prisons revealed that although institutions differ in facilitation and accessibility, this is unrelated to prison visits received from most CBPs, apart from the likelihood of receiving visits from parole officers. The study confirms the importance of considering facilitation and accessibility in relation to in-prison involvement of external agencies.