Grieving Prisoners, Double Confinement: - PowerPoint Presentation

1. Grieving Prisoners, Double Confinement: Who Cares About Prisoners’ Experiences of Death and Grief Prior to and/or During Custody?School of Social Work and Social Policy Student: Tia SimanovicSupervisors: Dr. Sally Paul and Dr. Beth WeaverFunded by: REA Scholarship for PhD in Social WorkContact: tia.simanovic@strath.ac.ukDate: 31st August 2018

2. Overview of my PhD StudyResearch on Death, Bereavement, and ImprisonmentSignificance of Bereavement among Prison Population ConclusionContent:2018 European Society of Criminology Annual Conference2

3. What? Bereavement and Imprisonment: an exploration of prisoners’ experiences of death and grief prior to and/or during custodyHow?Exploratory Qualitative StudyLocation: ScotlandSample: Male and Female Adult PrisonersMethods: In-depth Interviews with Prisoners and Focus Groups with Prison OfficersMy PhD Study2018 European Society of Criminology Annual Conference3

4. Bereavement:A state of having suffered a loss (Hall, 2014; Hopmeyer and Werk, 1994; Worden, 1991)Physical loss, but also a symbolical one (Doka, 1999; Hopmeyer and Werk, 1994)Emotionally charged experience displayed through physical, psychological, spiritual, and social/behavioral reactions (Ferszt, 2002; Hall, 2014; Hopmeyer and Werk, 1994; Stroebe et al., 2017; Thompson, Allan, Carverhill, Cox, Davies, Doka, ( … ), Wittkowski, 2016)Mourning:Necessary to reach homeostasis (Worden, 1991)Individual coping mechanisms developed within societal norms (Negy, Woods, and Carlson, 1997; Stroebe and Schut, 2010). Death, Bereavement, and Imprisonment2018 European Society of Criminology Annual Conference4

5. Disenfranchised grief:Mourning or grief not supported/recognized by others (Olson and McEwen, 2004)Losses that do not fit norms (e.g. an ex-partner)Morally debatable losses (e.g. an abortion)Lost opportunities due to death (e.g. inability to meet a person)Mourning or grief by an unrecognized population (Doka, 1999; Ferszt, 2002; Masterton, 2014; Schetky, 1998; Stroebe, Stroebe, Schut, and Boerner, 2017)Children, minorities, elderly, or institutionalized populationDeath, Bereavement, and Imprisonment2018 European Society of Criminology Annual Conference5

6. Prisoners’ lives  a plethora of lossesEconomic deprivation, lack of opportunities, high rates of multiple and traumatic deathsStudies on bereavement and imprisonment  virtually nonexistent Anger, shame, guilt, embarrassment (Harner, Hentz, and Evangelista, 2011; Potter, 1999; Rodger, 2009; Rosenblatt, in: Parkes, Laungani, and Young, 1997; Taylor, 2002; Vaswani, 2014)Higher suicide risk (Ferrera-Pena, 2010; Finlay and Jones, 2014; Liebling, 1995)Death as a memory trigger to other losses (Rosenblatt, in: Parkes, Laungani, and Young, 1997)Death, Bereavement, and Imprisonment2018 European Society of Criminology Annual Conference6

7. Prisoners experience multiple losses prior to and during custody (Ferszt, 2002; Finlay and Jones, 2014; Vaswani, 2014)Especially young offenders and womenUnresolved grief  complicated grief  mental health problems and socially unacceptable behavior (Hall, 2014; Hopmeyer and Werk, 1994; Worden, 1991)Could bereavement affect reoffending? Significance of Bereavement among Prison Population2018 European Society of Criminology Annual Conference7

8. Scarce research on this topicVirtually no research from a multidisciplinary perspective, and very little on female offenders overallPotential link between bereavement and reoffendingDouble confinement (restriction of physical movement and restriction of emotional expression)Is bereavement in prison an (unintended) additional punishment due to strict behavioral norms?Conclusion2018 European Society of Criminology Annual Conference8

9. Questions/Concerns/Suggestions?2018 European Society of Criminology Annual Conference9

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