Psychology in Prisons

Pamela Baldwin, David Cooke, Jacqueline Howison

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN: 9781138462687
• eBook ISBN: 9781134861941
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Storia e teoria della psicologia

Psychology in Prisons illustrates how a knowledge of psychological principles can lead to a better understanding of the prison environment and the problems that occur within it. The authors show how psychology can be used to increase understanding of prisoners and to deal with day-to-day problems in prison life. They focus on key problem areas such as sex offenders, violent criminals and the issue of AIDS. The book also explores the effects of the prison environment on staff and suggests means of reducing the levels of stress.

Chapter one

Psychology and its role in prisons

To do their job, and indeed sometimes in order to survive, all prison officers need to use some psychology. Many do this from years of experience or from well-developed instincts. In this book we will describe psychological ideas and techniques which may be of some value in the day-to-day tasks of the prison officer. We hope that it will help staff to understand the usual and unusual behaviour of prisoners; to help them to deal with the aggression, the distress and the difficulties of the prisoners in their charge. We hope to demonstrate that it is helpful to look at prisoners as individuals rather than a mass of stereotypes and that it is useful to try to observe prisoners’ behaviour and work out what makes them tick.

Think about disruptive prisoners; they are not all alike: some are disruptive because they are bloody-minded, others in order to achieve status, some just to break the monotony of prison life, yet others as a cry for help. You will know examples of the individual who lashes out at other prisoners to show his strength, the prisoner who breaks up his cell so that he will be put in isolation and the young man who takes a hostage because he is bored. It can be seen that the psychology behind these various disruptive acts is different. To understand, control and manage prisoners we have to understand their motivation, their thought processes and their individual approach to life.

This is just a taste of why we think that psychology should be of interest to people who work in prisons. We hope that we can show that psychology can be used to make the job of the prison officer easier and provide more job satisfaction.

Isn’t everyone a psychologist?

Isn’t everyone a bit of a psychologist? Don’t we all study the behaviour of others and try to predict what they will do next? We spend our lives predicting; predicting whether an angry prisoner is going to become violent, whether our superior is going to believe why we are late, whether someone is friendly or hostile, whether the other driver will cut in front of us. We all study behaviour. We all make predictions. However, we are not all practising psychology. A basic principle of psychological science is that the study of behaviour should be exact and systematic. It is also the study of how things happen (the ‘process’), for example, how and why an angry prisoner becomes violent, whether this will happen and the thought processes that lead up to it. The amateur psychologist may have ‘gut feelings’ about a person or a prisoner and he may be right, but he will not be able to identify the processes which lead to this view. Many people are good at describing other people, but their descriptions are not systematic, nor are they always complete. This means that their descriptions cannot be analysed, described or conveyed to other people. It is like the explorer who can find his way unaided through the Amazonian jungle. He may possess a useful skill, but its value is limited if he cannot convey his knowledge to other people. Others cannot benefit or learn from his skill. So if we have no ‘map’ of psychological process we cannot check to see if it is really the best way to do something, we cannot fully understand the process. The professional psychologist tries to map the ‘gut reactions’ of the non-psychologist, he tries to work out the rules which influence the behaviour of people. With this type of information it is often possible to either explain or predict the behaviour of individual people. This is the aim of the professional psychologist.

Psychology and its role in prisons

So what are psychologists interested in and why might this be of interest to people who work in prisons? These are the questions which we will try to answer in this book. In this first chapter we will look at what psychologists do and what they study, and try to show that psychological ideas can help people in their day-to-day work with prisoners.

There are many definitions of psychology and what it is about, but the most straightforward one is that ‘Psychology is the study of brain and behaviour’. What does this mean? Psychologists are interested inhow the brain works. They study the processes whereby the light which passes into our eyes is turned into colour, movement and shapes. They investigate how we remember what we hear or see. They analyse how we learn and how we use language and so on and so forth. Equally, psychologists are interested in behaviour so they may be able to predict what will calm a violent person. They may monitor the way that group pressure affects what you decide to do. They may explain why a disturbed child continues to bang its head on a wall. Unlike psychiatry, which is mainly concerned with medical problems, disordered brains and behaviour, psychology is concerned with the whole range of human activity, the normal as well as the abnormal. The subject of psychology is now so large that psychologists have to specialise in small areas. It might give a clearer picture if we look at what the different types of psychologist do or study.

Psychologists can be divided into those who apply psychology and those who do research and have an academic interest. We will start by looking at the applied psychologists.

There are four main types of applied psychologist: clinical, educational, occupational and sports psychologists. They all work in different settings and although they all know about ‘brain and behaviour’, they apply this knowledge to the particular problems which they come across in their specialist fields.

What do clinical psychologists do? Clinical psychologists usually work with people who have psychological difficulties in their everyday life and with those who help them. Their clients may be anxious or depressed, they may have learning difficulties, they may be suffering from brain damage or they may have been in hospital so long that they have lost the ability to survive on their own. If a person is anxious the clinical psychologist will use his knowledge of ‘brain and behaviour’ to help them reduce their anxiety. If the person is anxious about talking to other people they will be taught basic social skills; how to start a conversation, how to be a good listener or how to stand up for their rights. These are skills that we all find useful; prison officers can use the same skills to improve their management of prisoners (Chapter 8).

Clinical psychologists are interested not just in those people who are clearly disturbed but also in psychological problems of any degree, large or small. They are also concerned about preventing difficulties from arising in certain situations. For example, a prison can be a difficult place in which to work and it can create problems of anxiety and depression. The skills which clinical psychologists teach patients can beusefully applied by any prison officer who is under stress (see Chapter 12).

Educational psychologists work with schoolchildren, in particular, those with special educational needs. They might test a child to find out why he is unable to read. The educational psychologist will then advise the teacher how to structure his lessons in order that the child might learn this skill more easily. If a child is disrupting the class, then the teacher will be advised on how to alter the way he controls the child to stop the child being disruptive.

Occupational psychologists are found in many work places, in factories, offices, and even in prisons. Occupational psychologists apply their knowledge of psychology to help people cope effectively and efficiently with work. Occupational psychologists might help design aircraft controls so that the pilot is not given too much information at one time. They may design ways of selecting the right people for particular jobs or occupations. A good example of this activity is the new selection procedure for prison officers in England. To begin with, psychologists assessed the many jobs which prison officers undertake. They looked at 28 different types of job and systematically measured the skills, aptitudes and personal qualities needed to carry them out. They found that prison officers had to be alert, vigilant and observant; they had to be able to make decisions quickly and communicate fluently and accurately. These were the important skills and aptitudes. The personal qualities which were important included being considerate towards others, being reliable and possessing a sense of responsibility. Other qualities seen as useful in a prison officer were having a sense of humour, being confident and assertive without being aggressive, and being able to tolerate strained relationships and conflicts.

Discovering the skills, aptitudes and personal qualities required to be a good prison officer was only the first part of the task. Once they had identified these qualities they designed paper-and-pencil tests and an interview to detect people with these qualities.

Occupational psychologists design assessment procedures for all sorts of occupations, even for the SAS. When assessing soldiers for their suitability for the SAS, psychologists look for individuals who are above average in intelligence, assertive and self-sufficient. They do not look for extremely stable individuals, but rather for people who are forthright and not dependent on orders.

Sports psychologists and their work emphasise the point that psychologists are interested in all human behaviour, not just abnormalbehaviour. It is widely recognised that with top level athletes or sportsmen the level of skill, fitness and physical prowess is often similar. The small difference between the good and the great sportsmen is psychological: the difference is in the individual’s concentration, motivation and belief in themselves. When John Betrand won the America’s Cup for Australia, breaking the longest winning run in sporting history, he used a sports psychologist. This psychologist helped him detect the strengths and weaknesses in his crew and taught them how to go through the pain barrier. He helped Betrand to control his explosive temper because temper outbursts distracted him from sailing the boat He also taught Betrand the techniques of mental visualisation: Betrand had to get through the psychological barrier that no challenger had won the America’s Cup in the previous 132 years. By repeatedly visualising himself in front of the American boat and crossing the line first, he built up his self-confidence and broke through this psychological block. These techniques can be used whenever we have a challenge to face, be it a promotion board, having to negotiate in a hostage situation or trying to quell a prison riot. Psychological techniques are now used routinely in a wide range of sports from football and basketball to tennis, golf, track events and downhill skiing.

We have looked at some of the activities of applied psychologists. Applied psychologists depend on other psychologists, the academic psychologists, to develop ever more detailed understanding of ‘brain and behaviour’. What do academic psychologists do?

As with applied psychology, academic psychologists specialise. Some will study personality and intelligence, some will study how children develop language, others will study how we remember or how brain cells detect the different shapes which we see, still others will study the signals or ‘body language’ which we use when we are communicating. The range of topics is endless.

Psychology in prisons: the layout of this book

This book is in two sections. In the first five chapters we look at some of the reasons why people commit the crimes which result in them receiving prison sentences—the origins of criminal behaviour. How important is the prisoner’s early development? Is material deprivation important? How important is parental love, discipline and violence? Do criminals learn to be criminals from their parents or from their friends? All these questions will be explored in the second chapter.

Sex offenders often have a difficult time when they are in prison, and in the third chapter we will describe some of the reasons why people rape, expose themselves or engage in sadistic behaviour.

While alcohol has always had a role in criminal behaviour, drugs and solvents are now also having an important impact. In the fourth chapter we look at some basic facts about drink and drugs and at why people drink, what alcohol does to someone and what is a safe level of drinking. We will look at the long term effects of drinking. These will include physical and psychological effects as well as the effects it may have on family and friends. We will look at similar effects from the use of drugs and solvents.

Dealing with violent behaviour is one of the most dangerous and difficult parts of the job for any prison officer and in the fifth chapter we look at different types of violence. Some people may be violent because their sub-culture demands it, others are violent because they are trying to get something for themselves, others are violent because they are naturally very angry and cannot control this anger. In the fifth chapter we look at how violence develops and the factors which promote and diffuse it.

It is becoming more widely realised that prison officers have to deal with people who are psychologically disturbed. Some prisoners may be psychologically disturbed when they come into jail, others become disturbed while they serve their sentence. Some become disturbed because of the experience of imprisonment and others because of problems affecting their families outside. In the sixth chapter we will examine what effects being imprisoned can have.

The close association between drug abuse and HIV infection means that prison officers will have to understand and assist prisoners who are suffering from AIDS. In the seventh chapter we provide basic advice on the nature of AIDS and HIV infection and examine some of the psychological effects for the infected and those working with them.

In the first section of the book we try to show how psychology can be used to increase our understanding of prisoners, how they became involved in crime, how they cope and adapt to prison life. In the second half of the book we try to show how psychology can be used or applied to make us more effective in the day-to-day job of dealing with prisoners.

Prison officers need to be alert and observant. More and more they are expected to write down their observations in reports. In Chapter 8 we show that observed behaviour can be analysed systematically andprecisely and how behaviour can be described in a concrete, systematic and objective fashion. We will also demonstrate how such descriptions can make report writing less of a chore and make the reports of greater value. Many of the difficulties in the prison system can be reduced by good communication between staff and inmates. In the chapter we also look at communication skills. We show how a prison officer can calm an angry or distressed prisoner by using the skills of the ‘good listener’. We describe how a prison officer can get his view across in an assertive rather than an aggressive manner and we look at the problem of giving orders effectively.

We start Chapter 9 by looking at the psychological effects of being imprisoned and we describe the signs which tell whether someone is depressed or anxious. We consider why people might be driven to take or even attempt to take their own lives, and we describe the methods that a skilled officer can use to alleviate some of the psychological pressures on prisoners in his charge. In Chapter 10, we look at how to prevent face-toface violence. The experienced prison officer can often pick up instinctively changes which are likely to lead to violence. We discuss the signs to look out for so that early action in such a situation can be taken. In the next chapter, we look at one of the most extreme forms of violence that can occur in a prison, the taking of a hostage. We will describe what the hostage-taker is likely to do and what you should do if you are taken hostage.

People are beginning to recognise that the work which prison staff undertake can be stressful. In Chapter 12 we examine stress and describe how to recognise it and what you can do to avoid or manage it. By applying the ideas we discuss earlier in the book, we hope you can make your job less stressful.

More and more prison officers have to appear in court to give evidence about offences that they have witnessed during the course of their work. Giving evidence can be an unnerving experience. There are skills that can be learned which make the experience less unnerving and your evidence sound more convincing.

There is a lot more to psychology than it is possible to cram into this small book. However, we hope that we can demonstrate the value of psychology in prisons, and that you will find it useful.

Chapter two

Criminal behaviour—how it develops

Many people who work with offenders often wonder why individuals first enter into crime, and why they keep offending. This seems especially curious if the offender keeps being punished by imprisonment or fines. It hardly seems worth it. So why do some people become criminals? Is it merely because they are evil, wicked or bad—or is it more complicated than that?

The first thing to say is that criminals are all different, so they are all likely to offend for different reasons: there is no one simple explanation for criminal behaviour. Someone who steals cars to go joy-riding has a different reason for committing that crime than the man who embezzles thousands of pounds in a computer fraud. In the first case, the offender is likely to be someone who seeks excitement from the thrill of taking and driving away. He (since it is usually a man) will probably come across an opportunity that he just cannot resist, and he will act impulsively. In the second case, the offender is likely to be someone who has carefully planned the fraud over a long period of time and who is intent on gradually and systematically acquiring large sums of money. They are very different crimes and very different criminals.

What we know about crime and criminals is based on people who are caught, and convicted. This can distort the picture. We should not forget that many people break ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• 1 Psychology and its role in prisons
• 2 Criminal behaviour—how it develops
• 3 Understanding sex offenders
• 4 Alcohol and drugs—their role in criminal behaviour
• 5 Understanding violence and aggression
• 6 Psychological disturbance in prison
• 7 The impact of AIDS on prison life
• 8 Communication skills
• 9 Coping with disturbed prisoners
• 10 Coping with face-to-face violence
• 11 Hostage-taking in prisons
• 12 Stress and working in prisons
• 13 Giving evidence in court
• Index