Imprisonment is consistently associated with high levels of psychological distress, self-harm, and suicide. The prison environment can exacerbate feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, and physical complaints. This has implications for the safety of incarcerated individuals and staff working conditions. However, these negative effects are not wholly inevitable: they are shaped by how imprisonment is organised. Both physical conditions and the relational context affect the wellbeing of people in prison. Physical and material conditions include factors such as the design of the living environment, the degree of privacy, and access to activities. Spatial and material choices can promote wellbeing, dignity and humane treatment for incarcerated people. The relational context involves interactions between staff and incarcerated individuals, as well as the social relations among those imprisoned.
Positive and fair contact with staff and safety are important elements of prison climate. While incarceration is inherently restrictive, some environments are experienced as more punitive or degrading than others - with measurable consequences for mental health and safety. Recent research has made advances in mapping (differences in) prison conditions within and between countries, and linking these to relevant outcomes. These findings show that (policy) choices on national and institutional level translate directly to the lived experience of imprisonment. This means that policymakers and prison managers have options to reduce psychological harm and improve wellbeing of incarcerated people. Wellbeing is therefore not a secondary or merely individual matter, but deeply embedded in the prison system itself - and thus shaped by policy, architecture, and everyday practices. A positive prison climate, characterised by space for autonomy, safety, meaningful relationships, and preparation for release, can reduce psychological distress, help prevent incidents, and improve prospects for reintegration. Ethical architecture can reinforce this by demonstrating that prison environments can also embody values such as dignity and rehabilitation.
Moderated by Frank Porporino, Chair, Research and Development Network, ICPA, Canada
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Dr Esther van Ginneken
Associate Professor, Leiden University, Netherlands
Dr. Esther van Ginneken is an associate professor in criminology at Leiden University’s Faculty of Law. She has conducted extensive research on imprisonment, in England and the Netherlands. As former principal investigator of the Life in Custody Study, she worked with colleagues to develop the Prison Climate Questionnaire. This is periodically used to measure prison conditions in the Netherlands, and has also been adopted by researchers in various other countries. Using data from all prisons in the Netherlands, Dr. Esther van Ginneken has examined the relationship between prison conditions and wellbeing, misconduct, and recidivism. She has also conducted research on cell sharing, and posttraumatic growth among incarcerated individuals. Recently, Dr. Esther van Ginneken completed an ethnographic study in three women’s prisons in the Netherlands, with a particular emphasis on boundaries and safety in interactions among staff, among incarcerated women, and between staff and incarcerated women. She is currently principal investigator of a five-year project (2023-2027) on violence in prisons, which includes interviews with prison managers, staff, and incarcerated individuals; an experiment with virtual reality; and an ethnographic study on staff use of violence. This study shows the importance of considering situational factors, in addition to environmental and individual influences.
