NCJ Number
239090
Journal
Criminology & Criminal Justice Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2012 Pages: 3-23
Date Published
February 2012
Length
21 pages
Annotation
The authors of this study examined what prisoners defined as respect.
Abstract
Interpretations of 'respect' in prison have tended to be narrow, focusing on courteous and considerate staff-prisoner relationships. In a recent study, the authors found that respect was defined by prisoners not just in terms of interpersonal relationships but also 'getting things done' (what might be called 'organizational respect'). The authors expected prisoners in the study, which compared quality of life in public and private sector prisons, to rate private prisons well in terms of respect, due to previous research findings and the history and self-declared values of the companies who run them. The findings from the study revealed a more complex picture. There was mixed support for previous claims that the private sector offers a more courteous prison environment than the public sector, and, among the matched prisons in this study, the public sector establishments were better than the private sector prisons at 'getting things done': a distinct component of respect in prison, according to prisoners. These differences influenced prisoners' evaluations of the 'respectfulness' of their treatment in each sector. (Published Abstract)