NCJ Number
211252
Date Published
2005
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This chapter reports on a study of four Belgian prisons to determine whether there was a relationship between various forms of prison violence and prison regimes.
Abstract
The types of violence considered in the study were determined by inmates' and staffs' view of violence in prison. Violence encompasses aggression by prisoners against staff and staff against inmates, collective forms of inmates' resistance, auto-aggressive inmate behaviors, violence between inmates, and institutional violence. Verbal aggression was mentioned mainly by staff and institutional violence only by inmates. Researchers who visited each prison conducted observations and informal conversations with staff and inmates over a period of 3 months at each prison. Researchers observed daily routines, interactions, conflicts and their resolution, outdoor exercise, and activities in the cell areas, the workplace, during daytime and nights, and on weekdays and weekends. Following the 3-month period of observation and informal conversations, 187 semistructured interviews were conducted over the next 3 months. Prison violence was found to be relatively low in the prisons compared with some other countries; no violent riots have occurred since the 1980s, and older guards agreed that the level of violence between inmates and guards has decreased over the years. The decrease of authoritarianism in prison regimes, the introduction of more activities, and more transparency for prison operations has contributed to this decrease in violence. Still, the deprivation of liberty and its consequences produce frustrations, tensions, and conflicts that can erupt into violence. Prisons that are aware of these frustrations and manage them constructively tend to have fewer violent incidents. There was no relationship between the liberalization of prison regimes in Belgium and any increase in violence among inmates. 43 references