NCJ Number
129842
Date Published
1991
Length
191 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the inmate riots at Peterhead Prison in Scotland in 1979 and the early 1980's draws lessons for corrections policy and prison management.
Abstract
In 1986, the Gateway Exchange in Edinburgh held public meetings, and its directors decided to appoint an independent committee of inquiry to examine the protests at Peterhead prison. In November 1987, following a survey of inmates at the prison, the committee published its findings. This book has been written by the three researchers and coauthors of the independent inquiry's report. It provides a more thorough presentation of the evidence provided to the inquiry by Peterhead's prisoners and a more detailed analysis of the issues raised by prison protest. It also assesses the change in Scottish penal policy since 1988 that culminated in the publication of the Prison Service's corporate strategy in 1990. In April 1990, prisoners at Strangeways jail and other English penal establishments staged protests. Government ministers and prisonservice officials were apparently surprised at the severity of the protest. The widespread belief that these inmate protests were an aberration ignored events at Scottish prisons during the 1980's. Scotland's penal crisis has been systematically ignored and marginalized in England. Although prison protests have a range of manifestations, involve varying degrees of violence, and occur for diverse reasons, there has been a consistency and gradual escalation in the Scottish protests. Much of the protest has arisen from prisoners' collective responses to harsh regimes and an inflexible occupational culture which prevail in the operational policies and practices of the Scottish prison system. Lessons are drawn for the future role and direction of long-term imprisonment in the United Kingdom. Chapter notes, appended inmate questionnaire, and a subject index