Prisoners’ participation and involvement in prison life: Insights from a research project in the prison of Ghent

Activiteit: Talk or presentation at a conference

Description

Prisoners’ participation and involvement in prison life are becoming important topics featuring on European political agendas. To investigate the different types of prisoners’ involvement in the organisation of prison life that exist within one remand prison in Belgium, as well as the profile of prisoners involved, 11 focus groups were conducted with prisoners (N=36) and professionals (N=42). Findings indicate that many participation initiatives are formally organised (e.g. prisoner council, surveys), but also informal participation initiatives take place (e.g. consulting prisoners on the daily working of the working places). Classifying the initiatives in the pyramid of citizen participation makes clear that most prisoners are informed about all sort of things, but the higher in the pyramid, the smaller the group that is reached.
Periode27 mrt 201729 mrt 2017
Evenementstitel1st International Correctional Research Symposium: Enhancing comparability and understanding
EvenementstypeConference
LocatieGhent, Belgium