The fact of being incarcerated and deprived of liberty brings with it important psychological consequences. These can develop a chain of reactions and distortions of affect, cognition, emotion and perception, all of which are caused by emotional tension within the prison environment. In addition, a capacity for adaptation and resilience is required to withstand the stripping away of familiar and proper external symbols.

In this article we will see what are the psychological effects of imprisonment , and how this situation affects the minds of the inmates.

Prisonalization

There is a variable called prisionalisation which intervenes in the behaviour of prisoners. It is the process by which a person unconsciously assumes the code of conduct and values of the prison subculture as a result of being in direct contact with it.

A differentiation can be made between a superficial prisionalisation, which is the minimum necessary for a person to adapt to the prison environment, and a deep one, which would already be an institutionalisation. This occurs when the acquired behaviours and ideas go beyond the individuality of the inmate.

On the other hand, there are factors that determine the degree of prisionalization in individuals:

  • Personality : talking about maturity, emotional intelligence, intellectual capacity, stability, etc.
  • Set of external circumstances around the person: frequency of re-entry, duration of stay, type of crime and expectations, both family and personal.
  • Age and cultural level : understood as personal experiences and knowledge and skills, respectively. The more experiences, knowledge and skills you have, the easier it is to adapt.

Types of offenders

Another classification about the degree to which prisonalization affects the type of offender one belongs to:

1. Primary offender

This is his first time in prison , he maintains prosocial behaviour and therefore refuses to adhere to the prison code. Incarceration is a big shock.

2. Occasional offender

An individual who has no problem living by society’s standards , but at the time of opportunity, commits a crime. He usually tries to minimize the act and justify it.

3. Habitual offender

Crime is like their lifestyle ; they consider illegal activities give them more satisfaction than legal ones. They are already completely familiar with the rules of the prison.

It could be said that the longer the prison stay, the greater the degree of prisionalization. While this may be true, it is also influenced by the fact that the inmate knows that he or she will soon be released from prison and return to society. So he can begin to recover values and attitudes forgotten or not applied within the prison, in order to prepare himself for a reintegration and to recover his life .

The psychological effects of prison

Now, moving on to the psychological effects of the inmates, these are the following:

1. Anxiety

The level at which this appears depends on the circumstances in which the imprisonment occurs and the personality of the subject himself. They face the unknown.

2. Depersonalization

Loss of your individuality . The fact that when you enter prison, you are assigned a number, that diminishes your personhood. Furthermore, he becomes part of a collective rejected by society.

3. Loss of privacy

It arises from forced coexistence with other inmates. They have little or no time to concentrate on themselves. This is aggravated when the environment is violent and their safety is at stake.

4. Low self-esteem

It comes from not fulfilling one’s expectations or disappointing one’s self-image, and from being imprisoned. However, there are many others whose self-esteem is not negatively affected , since they feel satisfied leading a criminal life.

5. Lack of control over your own life

It occurs because of a certain impossibility to make personal, family or social decisions; there may be a margin of decision, but the range of options is not great. What is most limited is the control of the intern in the face of the evolution of external events. This situation causes frustration .

6. Absence of expectations

There are few expectations in the life of the prisoner beyond his desire for freedom . People are conditioned by a recurring idea: all the time that was lost and the fastest way to recover it.

7. Changes in sexuality

There can be frustrations for not having the usual sexual routines , dysfunctions can appear and the normal development of a proper practice can be blocked.

The need to understand the inmate

An analysis of the personal background and life circumstances that led the person to commit a crime is required in order to provide an optimal therapeutic approach that takes into account all aspects of the person’s personality.In this way, the objective of prison can be directly fulfilled: a re-education of the deficiencies or lost values and a subsequent positive reintegration into society.

It is essential that there be quality intervention by professionals, specifically psychologists, to encourage their social reintegration. The prison environment can affect inmates to a great extent and it is important that, before they are released, they recover their positive essence, rebuild values and rediscover themselves.

It is not enough to make general proposals to address the issue, you have to have an individualized plan with each one as they have different personalities and needs. Even if they are criminals, they are still human beings.