Prison research support group

Add a Comment

Comment by Fabio on January 28, 2012 at 13:14

Hello everyody! 

Just a question for those who are or already did some research within prison: is taking hand written notes the only option to record interviews? 

Has anybody had the authorisation to record (in a way or another) the interviews? I am struggling to get the authorisation for recording the interviews and, although still good, I am not completely happy to have to write my interviews instead of recording. 

Any hints? 

Thank you very much, 

Fabio

Comment by Dominic Kelly on December 8, 2011 at 20:30

Thanks Gergely, much obliged... I'll have a look!

Comment by Gergely Fliegauf on December 8, 2011 at 18:57

You should go to visit Turkey, a huge prison reform supported by the EU is going on there.

http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/turkey/ipa/2010/123_tr201001361... 

Comment by Dominic Kelly on December 8, 2011 at 17:40

Hey everyone, I've started started my PhD. I'm looking at the impact that organizational reform has on the prisoner-staff relationship. I'm aiming to look at it from Bourdieu's standpoint of field, capital and habitus. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Comment by Gergely Fliegauf on August 2, 2011 at 8:07

Hi Maggie, the prison system changed a lot. Being a prison officer since 1992 I can tell only my impression. There are four levels of the changes:

1. Inmates: new crimes appear like organized crime, drug misuse or abuse (we do not have drug courts), several economic crimes. Violent crime increased in general. Further segregation of Romani (Gypsy) population occurred by societal changes i.e. larger unemployment. Also other foreign inmates emerged in the prison service (mainly from ex-Yugoslavia, Romania and Turkey).

2. Staff: Salaries dropped. Time spent in duty also dropped. Education level and SES decreased among the NCOs. Prestige of the prison service went to the bottom.

3. Architecture: Hungarian prisons are mainly old buildings, most of them are more than 100 years old. Two semi-private prisons were also built. Prison budget is underdeveloped as regards as demands. No fund for renovation.

4. Regimes: There were several positive changes, rehabilitation emphasized. Open regimes were closed down almost completely after a media hyped incident in 1999. Employment recently is about 30-40%, however it was 70% in 1995. Drug-prevention units were introduced from 1999.

I could write a lot on this issue. If you are interested visit the homepage of the CPT or the ECHR for more details in Europe.

On the rehabilitation: since the low budget prisons have to apply for financing inmate programs. Some prisons are successful some are not. In the oldest prison of Hungary a chapel was renovated by inmate work and "mural therapy". Prison directors have to be creative and somehow also tricky to get the proper donation for their programs. Public awareness is very low concerning prisons and rehabilitation.

I agree with your opinion on gangs. There is a dramatic situation in Hungary. Prisoners misuse benzodiazepines (Clonazepam - Rivotril) and the trade is organized by so called prison groupings. This movement destroys almost all the work of the prison staff to serve some rehab programs for the inmates.      

Comment by Prof GS Bajpai on August 2, 2011 at 4:26

@Gergely Fliegauf . Thanks for sharing very useful information..

Comment by Maggie Hall on August 1, 2011 at 23:36

Hi Gergely - How much has the prison system generally changed in Hungary since the fall of communism? I'd be interested to know about rehabilitation programmes in your prisons too.

Interesting to hear about employment - here, prisoners do mainy low skilled work which does not seem to equip them for employment on the outside unfortunately.

Prisoners here also often have problems with drugs or alcohol. While methadone is available for opiate users  and we have Drug Courts, there is not a lot available in the way of drug rehab within or outside the prison system. Interesting that you mention gangs - here, the Department separates the inmates on ethnic lines ( like the US) in one prison which they say has reduced violence. I often wonder if rhetoric about gangs hides a much more complex situation - it is understandable that people in such a threatening environment will seek out others that they can relate to.

Comment by Gergely Fliegauf on August 1, 2011 at 21:45

Hi Maggie, thank you for you comment! The only prison graffiti related scientific article comes from your country as far as I know:

Jacqueline Z. Wilson (2008) Pecking orders Power relationships and gender in Australian prison graffiti Ethnography, Vol. 9, No. 1, 99-121

Mme Wilson wrote two more articles on this issue.

I think the recidivism rate is almost the same in the world not depending on treatment in prisons.

After privatizing the former state prison industries in Hungary the employment of the inmates dropped dramatically. Right after this the drug and gang related issues also appeared in the Hungarian prison system. This era started after 1990.  

 

Comment by Maggie Hall on August 1, 2011 at 21:34

Hi all - good to have some contact with oher prison researchers. Gergely - your prison graffiti project sounds very interesting. I am a Phd student and part of the Australian Prison Project http://www.app.unsw.edu.au/

I have interviewed prisoners about their experience of sentencing and imprisonment with a view to identifying some of the barriers to rehabilitation.

In NSW ( Australia) about 40% of prisoners return to prison within 2 years so clearly the impact of imprisonment is not to reduce recidivism!

Would love to chat more about prison conditions in different countries

Comment by Gergely Fliegauf on August 1, 2011 at 21:31

Here is a quite weird prison art object which I found in Poland. This is a treasure box made from small pieces of cigarette packets. If you open it you can see Jesus Christ with the lost lamb, and you can listen to a surprise song!   

 

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next ›
• Page