“There’s More to It Than Just a Box Check”: Measuring Prison Climate in Three Correctional Facilities

Abstract

The imperative to heed social environment and power of the situation, particularly as applied to prison settings, dates to the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment; the widely cited study concluded that situational factors, not personality, created the damaging conditions observed. Despite critical need for research on prison climate, measurement has met stiff challenges, and little research on prison culture exists in the United States. This study applies a 17-item scale, primarily based on Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES), an instrument validated in Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It was administered to inmates and staff in three correctional facilities in the U.S. Midwest, one medium security and two maximum security. Survey results demonstrate higher levels of cohesion at the medium-security facility, but multivariate analysis suggests a much more complex relationship between facility and environment, varying particularly in response to perceived inmate threat. Qualitative data suggest that understanding these associations is vital to building socially adaptive conditions and prosocial change.

“This Place Is Going to Burn”: Measuring Prison Climate in Three Facilities

“…The Williams et al [4] conducted a pilot study on prison climate, surveying both inmates and security staff in the three facilities described herein, establishing what was to become a baseline. Early results established commonalities but also distinct traits among the three facilities; most regarded relationships among livability, inmate threat, and perceived support, supporting the notion that significant differences in prison climate could be measured at separate facilities.…”

“…The research took place over a 20-month period, coinciding with a terse period in which the state was undergoing fiscal and political revisions. The initial data collection [4] established that certain social climate distinctions exist among the three facilities. The current analysis adds the second data collection point and identifies observable change over time, coinciding with environmental unrest in the state.…”

The Importance of Social Support during Imprisonment: A Case of Malaysian Drug-Abuse Prisoners

“…Some also notified as social climate (Day et al, 2011;Langdon et al, 2006), safety climate (Dollard & Bakker, 2010), and prison social capital (Lafferty et al, 2016). It was also known as a box check (Williams et al, 2019), a black box (Auty & Liebling, 2019), and an organisational climate of correction (Lugo, 2016;Martin et al, 2014). Meanwhile, Ibn Qayyim points to restricting individuals' freedom in a residential, mosque, or functional area (Al Jawziyah & Ahmad Ghazi, 1985).…”

¿Qué importa en primer grado? Evaluación de la calidad de vida en régimen cerrado

“…Antes de terminar este capítulo sería interesante hacer un breve repaso sobre las bondades que ofrece a sus usuarios que en una institución que tenga un clima social positivo. Entre los numerosos beneficios encontrados en las diferentes investigaciones se encuentran la reducción del mal comportamiento del interno (FRENCH y GENDRAU, 2006), mejora la motivación del interno mayor satisfacción y eficacia del personal, otros inciden en que se reducen los intentos de suicidio y, además un clima social positivo se asocia con una mayor seguridad (WILLIAMS et al 2019). HARDING (2014) apunta a que en igualdad de condiciones los programas de tratamiento que se han demostrado que funcionan dentro de prisión como los de corte cognitivo conductual darán mejores resultados en una prisión con clima social positivo que en una que no lo tuviera.…”

“…Para CASEY et al (2016) uno de los principales motivos para interesarse por el estudio del clima social de una prisión es la influencia que tiene éste sobre el proceso terapéutico de los internos y cómo, un clima social positivo dentro de prisión podría favorecer un cambio de comportamiento en el interno hacia actitudes más receptivas con el tratamiento y esto, como bien apuntan los autores, en instituciones con escasez de recursos económicos, "es una forma de enriquecer la cultura institucional de manera económica y práctica" (p. 286). Además de la variedad se debe tener en cuenta el potencial de transformación que tiene el clima de prisión, sea este positivo o negativo sus efectos traspasarán los "muros de prisión" (WILLIAMS et al, 2019).…”