Interventions to Prevent Prison Violence: A Scoping Review of the Available Research Evidence

• Author: Andrew Day,Danielle Newton,David Cooke,Armon Tamatea
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00328855221136201
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Interventions to Prevent

Prison Violence: A

Scoping Review of the

Available Research

Evidence

Andrew Day

1

, Danielle Newton

1

,

David Cooke

2

, and Armon Tamatea

3

Abstract

Although a reasonably large body of knowledge is now available to describe

prison violence, much less is known about the effectiveness of violence pre-

vention interventions. In this scoping review, ten different research data-

bases were searched to identify recent evaluation studies that adopted an

experimental or quasi-experimental design. A total of 18 separate evaluation

studies met the study inclusion criteria which were then categorised in rela-

tion to whether they aimed to address individual, situational, or social driv-

ers of violence. The strength and utility of the evidence base in terms of

selecting and implementing new prevention initiatives in prison settings is

considered.

Keywords

prison violence, prevention, evidence, review

1

University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

2

Australian Catholic University, Australia

3

University of Waikato, Hamilton, Aotearoa, New Zealand

Corresponding Author:

Andrew Day, University of Melbourne School of Social and Political Science, John Medley

Building, Parkville Campus, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Email: day.a@unimelb.edu.au

Article

The Prison Journal

2022, Vol. 102(6) 745–769

© 2022 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00328855221136201

journals.sagepub.com/home/tpj

Introduction

For many years, correctional professionals and researchers alike have

expressed signif‌icant concern about the high economic, social, and human

costs of prison violence. A reasonably large body of high-quality work is

now available that describes not only under which circumstances violence

is more likely to occur (e.g., Toch, 1982), but also the characteristics of

those who are most likely to act violently (e.g., Cao et al., 1997). Some

studies have considered how aspects of life before incarceration directly con-

tribute to the likelihood of violent behaviour in prison (e.g., McCorkle et al.,

1995), with others focusing more on how violence can emerge in response to

institutional conditions (e.g., Byrne & Hummer, 2007)

1

. In addition, a range

of organizational and systemic inf‌luences have now been identif‌ied, with

Dilulio (1987) and Wener (2012) both pointing to the importance of the phys-

ical design, the philosophy, and the culture of prisons. Cooke (1991) has also

drawn particular attention to the role that correctional staff training, experi-

ence, and morale has to play in creating the conditions under which violence

is most likely to occur.

Although the identif‌ication of risk factors for violence –whether these are

individual or environmental –remains an important task, it can be argued that

the main value of this line of research lies in improving the design of violence

prevention interventions, whether these are programs, policies, and proce-

dures, or even assessment protocols. Consistent with a more ecological under-

standing of violence (see Krug, 2002), Cooke (2019) has recently suggested

that these might involve a broad range of different responses that address how

individual actors/perpetrators interact with the physical, social, technological,

and cultural aspects of their environment. In this sense, prison violence is con-

ceptualised as a product of functional social ecologies—spaces where people,

the presence and f‌low of resources, and the built environment inter-relate.

Single-factor perspectives of violence (e.g., those that focus on individual

risk), while elegant in their simplicity, may be expected to result in overly

simple solutions to what are inevitably complex problems. Thus, in practical

terms, Cooke proposes that violence prevention efforts should not only

involve improving responses to violent incidents and treating those who per-

petrate violence, but also developing, among other things, clear policy about

how violent acts are recorded and responded to, daily activities and regimes,

and measures to improve communication between staff and those in prison.

And, yet, there appear to have been relatively few attempts to evaluate the

impacts of any of these different levels of intervention, with decisions

about policy and practice more likely to be based on the observations and

experiences of practitioners and managers than on the basis of any attempt

746 The Prison Journal 102(6)