Abstract

Incarceration should allow inmates an opportunity for rehabilitation and correcting their criminal thinking and inappropriate behavior that contributed to their imprisonment. The current study gathered data from a Prison Culture Questionnaire administered to inmates from a state correctional system. The analysis examined inmates’ perceptions of treatment staff who were employed in the prison. This was an exploratory analysis. Overall, responses to Likert-scale items revealed that inmates believed treatment staff were fair, polite, respectful, helpful, good communicators, interested in listening to their concerns, understood living in prison was stressful, and had a good working relationship with them; however, they were undecided about whether treatment staff showed compassion, could reduce conflict, enforced rules consistently, were good role models, explained their decision making, cared about the impact of their behavior, or valued inmates as human beings. Also, findings from a content analysis revealed five broad themes about inmates’ experiences and interactions with treatment staff (competent professionals, critical and inappropriate, respectful, minimal contact, and hybrid/mixed responses). Responses provided by male and female inmates about their experiences and interactions with treatment staff were similar; however, several gender-specific findings were uncovered. A narrative compiling the most comprehensive inmate responses is shown.

摘要

监禁应该让囚犯有机会改过自新，纠正导致他们被监禁的犯罪思维和不当行为。目前的研究收集了对州惩教系统囚犯进行的监狱文化问卷调查的数据。该分析调查了囚犯对在监狱工作的治疗人员的看法。这是一个探索性分析。总体而言，对李克特量表项目的回应表明，囚犯认为治疗人员公平、有礼貌、尊重他人、乐于助人、善于沟通、有兴趣倾听他们的担忧、了解监狱生活压力大，并与他们有良好的工作关系；然而，他们不确定治疗人员是否表现出同情心，是否可以减少冲突，是否始终如一地执行规则，是良好的榜样，解释他们的决策，关心他们行为的影响，或将囚犯视为人。此外，内容分析的结果揭示了关于囚犯的经历和与治疗人员互动的五个广泛主题（称职的专业人员、批评和不当、尊重、最少接触和混合/混合反应）。男性和女性囚犯对他们的经历以及与治疗人员的互动做出的回应是相似的；然而，发现了一些针对特定性别的调查结果。显示了汇编最全面的囚犯反应的叙述。内容分析的结果揭示了关于囚犯的经历和与治疗人员互动的五个广泛主题（称职的专业人员、批评和不当、尊重、最少接触和混合/混合反应）。男性和女性囚犯对他们的经历以及与治疗人员的互动做出的回应是相似的；然而，发现了一些针对特定性别的调查结果。显示了汇编最全面的囚犯反应的叙述。内容分析的结果揭示了关于囚犯的经历和与治疗人员互动的五个广泛主题（称职的专业人员、批评和不当、尊重、最少接触和混合/混合反应）。男性和女性囚犯对他们的经历以及与治疗人员的互动做出的回应是相似的；然而，发现了一些针对特定性别的调查结果。显示了汇编最全面的囚犯反应的叙述。