There is not a single jot of evidence that shows that long term imprisonment causes lasting psychological damage. Hmmm.
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Ben
Lecturing
About Me
- prisonerben
- United Kingdom
- Previously known as "one of Britain's best known prisoners...he constantly questions authority and exposes the futility of the system" The Times, Ben was finally released from prison after 32 years in August 2012. Pleading guilty to the murder of a friend when he was 14 years old, he renounced violence and fought for the recognition of the inherent dignity of all human beings. As a result of speaking truth to power, he served far longer than the recommended 10 years, leading Education Secretary Michael Gove to argue that he had "been punished excessively for a crime committed as a child". One of the more intellectual of prisoner-campaigners, Ben chose to educate himself from schoolboy level to having both undergraduate and post graduate degrees. He is currently one of very few prisoners in Britain ever to attempt a Doctorate. Ben's speciality is non-violent action and the Human Needs Theory. Now on Life Licence, He is forging a career as a CJ policy consultant, writer and - as ever - campaigner.
Interesting and thought provoking
ReplyDeleteIs that because research has been done and couldn't find any, or because research hasn't been done?
ReplyDeleteWigarse: I think Ben is challenging that observation. There is quite a bit of research indicating that it is harmful.
ReplyDeleteIf long-term imprisonment did not cause psychological change it would have had no effect at all. The problem is to determine which changes are beneficial and which ones should be described as damage.
ReplyDeleteresearch by sapsford on british prisoners showed no deterioration in cognitive functioning, emotional capacity or social skills. But that doesnt mean it has no effect at all, only no obvious damage.
ReplyDeleteSapsford is interesting, but how can you explain the fact that men are kept inside until their supposed risk of offending has fallen to a safe level, possibly below that of the general population - something has changed, surely?
ReplyDeletewhile there is psychological change, this is not deterioration- which seemed to be prisonerben's claim.
ReplyDeleteBen is a lifer inside, I am a lifer outside. I think it possible that we may know things that are unknown to criminologists, or are perhaps unpalatable to people who have chosen to work among prisoners.
ReplyDeleteResearch by such as Sapsford can be criticised in various ways: how many cases did they study, did they measure even one man before he was first sent to prison (or to a mental institution), over what period of years was their research done, what exactly did they attempt to measure, etc?
The Victorian reformers gave each prisoner what they thought was the minimum space a person needed, a 6x12ft cell. If I remember rightly, they considered four years to be the maximum sentence a man could stand. At the height of the politically induced prison crowding in the 1990s four prisoners, their bunks and a slop-bucket were squeezed into some of these Victorian cells.
Prison conditions have improved, but the prison experience remains one of living in a very limited, repressive, repetitive environment. If you think a prisoner can spend up to thirty years in such conditions without developing 'bars inside the head' you really ought to try the experience for yourself.
Ben is a great fighter, and you know a fighter by his scars.