Purpose

Young offenders are disproportionately represented in the Irish Prison Service (IPS) and are a population with complex needs and highest risk of re-offending. Subsets of young offenders in IPS are placed on Protection for their own and/or other’s safety. There is limited research regarding the experiences of young offenders, and there is none on the subjective experiences of young offenders on Protection that could be identified. This study aims to address a limitation of a previous study on the experiences of young offenders in an Irish prison (Hughes et al., 2017) by providing insight into experiences of young offenders on Protection in Mountjoy Prison.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a non-experimental, qualitative, semi-structured interview design, a purposive sampling method was used, and six young offenders participated. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with potentially identifiable information removed to ensure anonymity. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to interpret the data.

Findings

Two superordinate themes provided an overview of the young offender’s experiences of Protection in an Irish prison: ‘Social Order on Protection’ and ‘Adjustment on Protection’.

Research limitations/implications

Even though it is a relatively small sample size, this study contributes to existing literature and considers sentence management and clinical implications.

Originality/value

This study helps to address a gap in literature by providing insight into the overall experiences of young male offenders (aged 18–21) on Protection in an Irish prison. The findings are in line with most researches, which highlight additional negative consequences of “restrictive prisons regimes” such as Protection. This study provides information to prisons for the development of best practice guidelines and better sentence management and delivery of services to young offenders on Protection.

中文翻译：

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年轻罪犯（18-21 岁）在爱尔兰监狱中的保护经历：使用解释性现象学分析 (IPA)

目的

年轻罪犯在爱尔兰监狱服务局 (IPS) 中的比例过高，他们是一个需求复杂且再犯风险最高的人群。为了他们自己和/或他人的安全，IPS 中的年轻罪犯子集被置于保护之下。对少年犯的经历的研究有限，也没有关于少年犯在保护方面的主观经历可以确定的。本研究旨在通过深入了解年轻罪犯在 Mountjoy 监狱中的保护经历，解决之前对爱尔兰监狱中年轻罪犯经历的研究的局限性（Hughes等人，2017 年）。

设计/方法/方法

采用非实验性、定性、半结构化访谈设计，采用有目的的抽样方法，有六名年轻罪犯参与。采访被录音并逐字转录，删除了潜在的可识别信息以确保匿名。解释性现象学分析被应用于解释数据。

发现

两个上级主题概述了年轻罪犯在爱尔兰监狱中的保护经历：“保护的社会秩序”和“保护的调整”。

研究限制/影响

尽管样本量相对较小，但本研究对现有文献做出了贡献，并考虑了句子管理和临床意义。

原创性/价值

本研究通过深入了解年轻男性罪犯（18-21 岁）在爱尔兰监狱保护方面的整体经历，有助于解决文献中的空白。这些发现与大多数研究一致，这些研究强调了保护等“限制性监狱制度”的额外负面影响。本研究为监狱提供信息，以制定最佳实践指南和更好的判决管理以及向年轻罪犯提供保护服务。