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2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082110637
Author(s):  
Jakub Drápal

Penal populism has repeatedly been described as influencing penal policies, with harsh penal practices presented as evidence of its influence. However, little attention has yet been paid to its role in the development of penal policies in post-authoritarian countries, which generally have large prison populations. Some minimal research has suggested that Central European countries were driven by penal nationalism following the 1989 revolutions. I examine this claim for the Czech Republic, using Garland (2013) 's framework of the five dimensions of a penal state. My analysis of political manifestoes shows that Czech politicians did not employ “law and order” rhetoric. The country's penal reforms were led by lenient penal elites. Nevertheless, a lack of analysis, coordination and sufficient funding resulted in a failure to properly identify or tackle the causes of the country's high imprisonment rate. Even though it gradually became more difficult to impose prison sentences, insufficient attention was paid to the length of the sentences Czech prisoners were serving. The large Czech prison population thus seems to be the result of state actors’ negligence, but not of penal populism nor of penal nationalism.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Georgina Wild ◽  
Ross Alder ◽  
Scott Weich ◽  
Iain McKinnon ◽  
Patrick Keown

Background NHS Psychiatric beds comprise mental illness and intellectual disability beds. Penrose hypothesised that the number of psychiatric in-patients was inversely related to prison population size. Aims To ascertain whether the Penrose hypothesis held true in England between 1960 and 2018–2019. Method A time-series analysis explored the association between total prison population and NHS psychiatric beds; this was also tested for the male and female prison populations, using non-psychiatric beds as a comparator. Associations were explored with time lags of up to 20 years. Linear regression was conducted to estimate the size of the effect of bed closures. Results NHS psychiatric beds decreased 93% and the prison population increased 208%. A strong (r =−0.96) and highly significant negative correlation between these changes was found. Annual reduction in psychiatric bed numbers was associated with an increase in prison population, strongest at a lag of 10 years. The closure of mental illness and intellectual disability beds was associated with increases in female prisoners 10 years later. The only significant explanatory variable for the increase in male prison population was intellectual disability bed reduction. Conclusions The Penrose hypothesis held true between 1960 and 2018–2019 in England: psychiatric bed closures were associated with increases in prison population up to 10 years later. For every 100 psychiatric beds closed, there were 36 more prisoners 10 years later: 3 more female prisoners and 33 more male prisoners. Our results suggest that the dramatic increase in the female prison population may relate to the closure of NHS beds.


2021 ◽  
pp. 103985622110590
Author(s):  
Scott Russ ◽  
Aboud Andrew ◽  
O’Gorman Thomas

Objective To consider opioid agonist therapy in prisons. Conclusions Given the substantial risks of substance misuse by prisoners, long-acting injectable buprenorphine should be adopted as ‘best practice’ treatment in Australian prison populations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Matthew John Moroz ◽  
Bianca Calagiu

Benefits arising from meditation practice gamification are not overtly obvious. Desires to achieve and progress to higher levels, which are common to gaming, seem diametrically opposed to the ethos underlying traditional meditation practice. We propose, however, that a motivation to gain greater wellbeing and enlightenment via mindfulness meditation practice shares more with the motivation to progress through a game than is initially apparent. We begin by explaining how gamification techniques may be employed in meditation practice with a focus on mitigating the five hindrances to successful practice as described in the Theravada tradition. We then highlight the utility of employing virtual reality as a medium for such simulations. We discuss the potential for beneficial therapeutic applications in patients with mental health disorders and prison populations. We conclude by summarising our position and urging increased attention in this increasingly relevant area of research.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Frank R. Baumgartner ◽  
Tamira Daniely ◽  
Kalley Huang ◽  
Sydney Johnson ◽  
Alexander Love ◽  
...  

During the 1980s and 1990s, U.S. policymakers adopted draconian criminal justice polices including widespread use of extremely long sentences, including life without parole. The country is now coming to face the consequences of these policies: a new class of geriatric prisoners posing little threat to public safety as they age into their seventies and beyond. Using a perspective drawn from bounded rationality, framing, and agenda-setting, we recount how policymakers adopted these policies, with key blind spots relating to obvious consequences of these harsh laws. We show how political leaders can over-respond to a perceived public policy crisis, particularly when powerful frames of race, fear, and dehumanization come to dominate the public discourse. We show how these trends are radically changing the demographics and needs of prison populations through a chronological review, mathematical simulation of the prison population, review of statistics about prison population, and personal stories illustrating these themes drawn from inside prison.


2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562110263
Author(s):  
Nuria Fernández-Herranz ◽  
Soledad Ferreras-Mencia ◽  
Juan M Arribas-Marín ◽  
José A Corraliza

Numerous studies have demonstrated the capacity of choral singing to improve human well-being and that, in certain sectors of society (including older adults, prison populations, underprivileged social groups, and mentally illness groups), choral singing bears several benefits. Thus, this descriptive study proposed a comprehensive structural model of the dimensions that comprise choral singing’s contribution to individual well-being and aimed to explain these benefits. The study was conducted in a non-random sample of 1,513 adult Spanish singers of both sexes and variable age. An instrument was developed to assess the psychosocial benefits of choral singing, as perceived by singers; it comprised five constituent dimensions: satisfaction, ability, group engagement, belonging, and optimism. The instrument enabled us to assess how choral singing contributed to well-being, with adequate reliability (Cronbach’s α = .917) and validity. The system of relationships proposed by the model represents a plausible explanation regarding the benefits of choral practice and singing for well-being.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Shepherd ◽  
Tom Hewson ◽  
Jake Hard ◽  
Russell Green ◽  
Jennifer Shaw

Prisons represent sites of singular healthcare need–characterized by high levels of distress and disorder. In many jurisdictions, practitioners are ethically charged with delivering healthcare that is “equivalent” to that available in the wider community. This claim has been much debated–yet the emergence of a global coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the arguments in a particularly stark manner. In the following conceptual analysis, we explore the emergent discourse of the coronavirus and consider its particular significance for prison healthcare decision making and the concept of equivalence. For example, both the coronavirus pandemic and practice of prison incarceration induce a sense of varied temporality: The discourse of prison is replete in this area–such as the concept of “hard time.” Alongside this, the discourse in relation to coronavirus has highlighted two competing modes of temporal understanding: The political–where the pandemic is conceptualized as has having a discrete “beginning and end”, and the scientific–where the “new normal” reflects the incorporation of the “novel” coronavirus into the wider ecology. The impact of these disparate understandings on the prison population is complex: “Locking down” prisoners–to safeguard the vulnerable against infection–is relatively simple, yet it has traumatic repercussions with respect to liberty and psychosocial health. Easing lockdown, by contrast, is a difficult endeavor and risks collision between the temporalities of prison–where “hard time” is accentuated by separation from the “real world”–the political and the scientific. Whither then the concept of equivalence in relation to a field that is definitively non-equivalent? How can practitioners and policy makers maintain a just ethical stance in relation to the allocation of resources when it comes to a politically marginalized yet manifestly vulnerable population? We argue that further debate and consideration are required in this field–and propose a framework for such discussion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. s47-s47
Author(s):  
Kelsey Witherspoon ◽  
Manisha Shah ◽  
Justin Smyer ◽  
Nora Colburn ◽  
Christina Liscynesky ◽  
...  

Background: Prison populations have been disproportionally affected by COVID-19, partly due to challenges related to social distancing. Data on viral transmission dynamics in inpatient prison units remain limited. The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) has a 24-bed inpatient prison unit in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitations and Corrections (ODRC). The unit has 5 shared rooms holding 4 patients each and 4 single-patient rooms. Several cases of inpatient transmission of COVID-19 were identified on the inpatient prison unit. Methods: An IRB-approved retrospective chart review was conducted to evaluate inpatient transmission dynamics of hospital-acquired (HCA) COVID-19. All ODRC patients admitted from March 1 to April 24, 2020, were included. Patients assigned to the prison unit during their hospital stay were evaluated for potential HCA COVID-19, defined as a positive SARS-CoV-2 test ≥4 days after admission. Patient characteristics, testing data, symptoms, aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs), and room assignments were reviewed. Healthcare workers (HCWs) and correction officers (COs) working on the unit who tested positive during this period were identified. Results: In total, 142 ODRC patients were admitted during the study period and 89% had a positive SARS-CoV-2 testing prior to or during admission. Also, 61 patients (43%) were assigned to the prison unit. Moreover, 8 patients on the unit met potential HCA COVID-19 definition with 7 linked to 3 distinct clusters. Also, 7 COs had COVID-19 (outside hospital exposure) and 5 HCWs acquired COVID-19 from patient exposure on the unit. In cluster 1, 4 patients admitted to the same room developed HCA COVID-19. A symptomatic index patient not tested on admission given an atypical presentation required CPAP and frequent nebulizer treatments. In cluster 2, 1 patient from cluster 1 was transferred to another room. The new roommate subsequently developed HCA COVID-19. In cluster 3, a symptomatic correctional officer was assigned to 2 patients in a shared room; the patients later developed HCA COVID-19. Conclusions: Three patient clusters of HCA COVID-19 on a prison unit were identified. Aerosol transmission potentially played a role in cluster 1. Inpatient transmission within the unit prompted updated guidance for ODRC admissions, including universal SARS-CoV-2 admission testing, excluding patients requiring AGPs from shared rooms, and preemptive isolation for patients from an ODRC facility experiencing a COVID-19 surge. Universal testing was quickly expanded to all inpatient admissions. HCWs and COs were also linked to inpatient transmission, highlighting the importance of strict infection control practices for patient populations who cannot socially distance.Funding: NoDisclosures: None


Author(s):  
Julia J. Yi

In this study, the relationships between literacy, computer experience, and age among and between the general (i.e., "household") and prison samples were examined using the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (2012, 2014). Literacy scores and computer experiences were significantly lower (p < .001) for the prison sample than for the household sample. There were significant differences in the mean literacy scores between the household and prison samples for those with no computer experience, t(2048) = -3.58, p < .01 and for those with computer experience, t(7721) = 8.99, p < .01. Computer experience predicted literacy proficiency across both samples (R-squared = .10, SE = .01, p < .01). Lastly, there was an inverse relationship between age and computer experience, with a widening gap between the household and prison samples as age increased. The inequalities in the essential skills of print and computer literacy between the general and prison populations are concerning and indicate a need for literacy and computer education in prisons.


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