A Scoping Review of Family Focussed Interventions to Prevent Prison Violence

• Author: Andrew Day,Danielle Newton,Armon Tamatea
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211023917
• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Date: 01 February 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211023917

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2023, Vol. 67(2-3) 151 –163

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0306624X211023917

journals.sagepub.com/home/ijo

Article

A Scoping Review of Family

Focussed Interventions to

Prevent Prison Violence

Andrew Day1, Danielle Newton1,

and Armon Tamatea1,2

Abstract

Violence is an ongoing concern for many people who live and work in correctional

settings and yet relatively little is known about the effects of institutional violence

prevention efforts. This paper reports the findings of a scoping review of recent

research relevant to understanding the influence of one factor, contact with family,

that potentially influences institutional violence in countries such as Aotearoa

New Zealand where Indigenous peoples are over-represented in prison settings. A

total of 15 different studies were identified that provided consistent evidence of

an association between family contact and prison violence. The implications of this

work for the development of evidence-based prison violence prevention strategies

are discussed.

Keywords

family, prison, violence, visits, prevention

Introduction

Although fictional and media portrayals promote a stereotype of prisons as places that

are largely defined by violence (Fleisher & Krienert, 2006), it is widely accepted that

for prisons to serve their purpose in society they need to remain as safe and orderly as

possible. Even though some of those who live and work in institutional settings may

view aggression as a normal and inevitable—and, at times, even desirable—aspect of

institutional life (Levan, 2012), the identification of policies and practices that can

1University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia

2University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

Corresponding Author:

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

Parkville Campus, Melbourne, VIC, Australia 3000.

Email: day.a@unimelb.edu.au

1023917IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X211023917International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyDay et al.

research-article2021