To disentangle the alcohol-related needs of short stay, revolving door, male prisoners, and offer a theoretically driven but practical approach for allocation of scarce service resources.
A ...prospective longitudinal interview, questionnaire and records study of pre-trial men newly imprisoned in Wales and SW England.
Two hundred and forty-one pre-trial men completed an interview and questionnaires within a week of a new reception into prison; 170 completed follow-up 3 weeks later. Questions about problems with alcohol or illicit drugs revealed that problem drinkers were less likely than problem drug users to recognize their difficulty or seek or get help for this during their first month of imprisonment. Co-morbidity was common, but a third of the men had alcohol problems alone. Use of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire identified 80% (195/241) men likely to require some intervention, twice the number identified by direct questions relying on prisoners' judgment about problem use. Furthermore it allowed categorization according to likely risk (dependency), need (problem recognition) and responsivity (wish for help).
Alcohol misuse is recognized, worldwide, as fuelling crime and more common among prisoners than the general population. In England and Wales, it is a particular factor in brief but recurrent periods of imprisonment. There have been calls to pay more attention to its use in this context, albeit without any increase in resources. Adding two questions to standard screening enables application of the risk-need-responsivity model to problem drinkers and may identify those most likely to benefit from treatment.
Improving mental state in early imprisonment Taylor, Pamela J.; Walker, Julian; Dunn, Emma ...
Criminal behaviour and mental health,
July 2010, Volume:
20, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Subjective experience of early imprisonment Williams, Hannah Kate; Taylor, Pamela J.; Walker, Julian ...
International journal of law and psychiatry,
05/2013, Volume:
36, Issue:
3-4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Some say ‘prison works’, others say that it only harms. Overall, longitudinal studies of prisoners suggest some positive impact on mental state, but post-release recidivism is high. How do men at ...high risk for repeated imprisonment experience it?
To explore prison (gaol) experience among men awaiting trial in custody.
In a prospective longitudinal study, 170 men were interviewed just after reception about their social context and mental state and again three weeks later, when each was asked to describe his current prison experience; 75% had been in prison before. Data were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively.
Each man had views on his imprisonment. Data were saturated after 20 interviews. The core concern was its overall emotional impact, in full negative to positive range, with recognition that this could and did change in either direction, both passively and through active processes. Underpinning themes were along the dimensions of missing people to asylum from the outside world; in-prison bullying to positive staff and/or inmate relationships; boredom to relief in routine; and ‘doing my head in’ to salvation from drug-induced decline. Testing the model in the whole sample confirmed no association between prison impact and pre-prison factors. Negative experience was associated with severe depression within but not before this imprisonment. More positive experience related to good in-prison relationships.
During pre-trial custodial detention, there is a greater range of experience than generally previously reported. The simple expedients of prison staff developing good relationships with prisoners, and facilitating these between prisoners, could be life-saving. Highly positive experiences may be more an indictment on community services than an endorsement of imprisonment.
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