Inspection and monitoring bodies have an important role in the protection of prisoners’ rights. Although these bodies are seen as widely beneficial, there is limited research examining their operations in practice. This study addresses this gap in the existing literature by identifying unique profiles of prisoners based on their familiarity with prison oversight bodies. In addition, the relationship between profiles and key factors (personal characteristics, sentence-related variables and those related to life in prison) was examined using multinomial regression. Participants were 508 males randomly selected from three prisons in Ireland. Data were collected between November 2018 and February 2019, using self-administered surveys. Latent class analysis revealed four subgroups of prisoners characterized by distinct patterns of awareness and contact with prison oversight bodies: (1) Low familiarity (44.1 percent); (2) High awareness with low contact (26.4 percent); (3) High familiarity with the Visiting Committees but low with other oversight bodies (14.2 percent); and (4) High familiarity (15.4 percent). Notably, the largest group was the low familiarity group, and few prisoners belonged to the high familiarity group. Nationality, sentence length, confidence in staff and complaint usage were linked to class membership. The results of this study point to the importance of increasing awareness of inspection and monitoring bodies among prisoners in general, and among certain groups in particular.

检查和监测机构在保护囚犯权利方面可发挥重要作用。尽管这些机构被广泛认为是有益的，但在实践中研究其运行的研究却很少。这项研究通过根据囚犯对监狱监督机构的熟悉程度来确定囚犯的独特特征，从而解决了现有文献中的这一空白。此外，使用多项式回归分析了个人资料与关键因素（人格特征，与句子相关的变量以及与监狱生活有关的变量）之间的关系。参与者是从爱尔兰的三所监狱中随机选择的508名男性。使用自我管理的调查收集了2018年11月至2019年2月之间的数据。潜在类别分析显示，囚犯分为四个亚组，其特征在于与监狱监督机构的了解和接触方式不同：（1）熟悉程度低（44.1％）；（2）意识高，接触少（26.4％）；（3）对访问委​​员会的熟悉程度高，但对其他监督机构的了解程度低（14.2％）；（4）高度熟悉（15.4％）。值得注意的是，最大的群体是低熟悉度群体，很少有囚犯属于高熟悉度群体。国籍，句子时长，对工作人员的信心和使用投诉与班级成员身份有关。这项研究的结果表明，必须提高一般囚犯，特别是某些特定群体对检查和监测机构的认识。（2）意识高，接触少（26.4％）；（3）对访问委​​员会的熟悉程度高，但对其他监督机构的了解程度低（14.2％）；（4）高度熟悉（15.4％）。值得注意的是，最大的群体是低熟悉度群体，很少有囚犯属于高熟悉度群体。国籍，句子时长，对工作人员的信心和使用投诉与班级成员身份有关。这项研究的结果表明，必须提高一般囚犯，特别是某些特定群体对检查和监测机构的认识。（2）意识高，接触少（26.4％）；（3）对访问委​​员会的熟悉程度高，但对其他监督机构的了解程度低（14.2％）；（4）高度熟悉（15.4％）。值得注意的是，最大的群体是低熟悉度群体，很少有囚犯属于高熟悉度群体。国籍，句子时长，对工作人员的信心和使用投诉与班级成员身份有关。这项研究的结果表明，必须提高一般囚犯，特别是某些特定群体对检查和监测机构的认识。很少有囚犯属于这个知名度很高的群体。国籍，句子时长，对工作人员的信心和使用投诉与班级成员身份有关。这项研究的结果表明，必须提高一般囚犯，特别是某些特定群体对检查和监测机构的认识。很少有囚犯属于这个知名度很高的群体。国籍，句子时长，对工作人员的信心和使用投诉与班级成员身份有关。这项研究的结果表明，必须提高一般囚犯，特别是某些特定群体对检查和监测机构的认识。