Citation

Brown E. Aggress. Violent Behav. 2020; 52: 101389.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.avb.2020.101389

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Segregation in prisons has existed for some time and we have seen, during the past 50 years, an exponential growth in the number of studies exploring the impact of segregation on prisoners and the prison institution. Segregation has been associated with a range of outcomes such as: psychological distress (Miller, 1994; Miller & Young, 1997), anxiety (Grassian, 1983), depression (Grassian & Friedman, 1986; Haney, 2003; Sestoft et al., 1998), self-harm (Jones, 1986; Kaba et al., 2014; Lanes, 2009; Lanes, 2011), suicide (Joukama, 1997; Lowen & Isaacs, 2012), violent ruminations (Rhodes, 2005), institutional violence (Mears and Bales, 2009; Medrano et al., 2017) and increased reoffending (Motiuk & Blanchette, 2001). However, the impact of segregation has not been without controversy and there are clear discontinuities in the current literature. This systematic review is, therefore, an attempt at reconciling such discontinuities by examining the effect of segregation in prison. Comprehensive searches were undertaken to identify control studies carried out during 1 January 1979 to 20 March 2018. 5168 results were screened based on (1) study design (2) intervention (3) population and (4) outcomes. The design of the studies was assessed according to the quality of study design and risk of bias. I identified 21 studies with considerable variation in study design, quality and the outcomes examined. The outcomes are organised into two broad categories: (i) those examining the psychological impact (mental illness, self-harm and suicide); and (ii) those examining post-segregation outcomes (recidivism, subsequent misconduct or violent infractions). Within those two categories, segregation is classified as either having a negative, negligible or positive impact. The review reveals support for the contention that segregation can be psychologically harmful to those confined within and identified some consistency in reported psychological symptoms. The review revealed mixed results for post-release outcomes although it is evident that segregation does little to mitigate institutional violence or subsequent reoffending. The review concludes with a critique of current psychological instruments which fail to adequately capture the lived experience of segregation - the pains and harms involved - which fail to comfortably fit within psychological frameworks of analysis.

Language: en