Abstract
Empirical literature has revealed that social isolation can affect the rehabilitation of sex offenders after serving their sentence. This process of social isolation can already start during incarceration due to strained relationships with fellow prisoners and correctional staff. The current study examined to what extent sex offenders felt socially isolated during incarceration, using survey and registered conviction data on a large sample of male adult prisoners from the Prison Project. It was found that support from and relationships with correctional officers and fellow prisoners were perceived less positive by sex offenders than nonsex offenders. No evidence was found for higher levels of loneliness in sex offenders compared with prisoners convicted for a nonsexual offense. In sum, although the effects were small, sex offenders reported more social isolation during imprisonment compared with nonsex offenders.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 828-845 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| Early online date | 4 Apr 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2018 |
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study is part of the Prison Project, which is financially supported by Leiden University, the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (VICI Grant 453-08-005), and Utrecht University.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement | |
| Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research | |
| VICI | 453-08-005 |
| Universiteit Leiden | |
| Universiteit Utrecht |
Keywords
- loneliness
- prison
- sex offenders
- social isolation
