Imprisonment.

Recidivism - rate at which people re-offend in crime - UK -64%. Dark Figure - no. of crimes commited without charge/not recorded meaning recidivism may be higher. Revolving door phenomenon - repeat of offending want to slow this down but it is hard to break this cycle. 

Aim; Investigate effect of an employment scheme on recidivism rates. 

Method; content analysis of data from Canada's offender management systme. (23,525 p's). matched pairs design. matched on gender, risk level, release year, sentence length, substance abuse. 

Procedure; X2 groups. Group 1 - employed prior to release on special programme. Group 2 - employed. 

Results; those on employment programmes were less likely to re-offend. Group 1 - 55% Group 2 - 70% The ones that did re-offend from employment took longer to do so, 37 months compared to 11. 

Conclusion; Those on employment programmes are less likely to re-offend. Employment based programmes give offenders skills they need to help them integrate in the comunity it keeps them out of prison. 

Remand - You are on remand if you are being kept imprisoned if bail was not granted or it is is not affordable. there is one cell with 3/4 people in it being guilty or innocent. Through this they are entitled to special benefits/treatments which are not offered to regular prisoners BUT it is a stressful environment. 

Aim; Investigate all un-natural deaths that occurred in prisons in England & Wales over a 15yr period. 

Method & Procedure; content analysis. used prison department personal papers. checkliest - social, forensic, psychiatric history used to analyse the papers. 

Results; 442 natural deaths. 300 - suicide. 52 self inflicted (remained killed by prisoners) more suicide on remand and females were more at risk at night. 

Conclusion; suicide is a real problem in prisons because of over-crowding prisoners stress levels are therefore higher as it increases the no of interactions in a confined space that the prisoners must deal with. IN 2007 THERE WERE 92 DEATHS WITH 100 RESUSITATED 40% RISE!! steps need to be taken to make sure prisoners are better protected against trauma of prison and being on remand esp. for young and first time offenders. 

For this study there were 2 parts. 1 - researchers goal was to be able to demonstrate power of institutional environments on groups of people who pass through them. 2 - review on changes that had taken place in USA prison system over 25 years as well as suggestions. 

Part 1 - summary of changes. 80s strong emphasis on imprisonment. rehabilitation - discredited/pushed aside. There were rigid sentencing guidelines put into place reducing discretion of courts and thee probation service to let anyone out early for good behaviour. as a result of rehab being discredited new prisons were built. racial bias against AF-AM men. focus on severe sentencing instead of rehab. rise of 'supermax' prisons. offenders are in long term segregated confinement and locked up 23/24 hours a day. 

Part 2 - suggestions for improvements prisons should be used sparingly. more resources towards alternatives to prison. there should be individual differences in how someone will adapt to confined spaces to be viewed. should be programmes to support prisoners before/after release. 

Conlusion; USA moved to extreme regime which prioritises containment USA puts more people through the prison system. no. of prison crimes dropping.